open-scans

Scan Report: Nova Scotia

Issue: https://github.com/mgifford/open-scans/issues/54
Submitted by: mgifford
Scanned at: 2026-02-28T18:32:08.021Z
Engines used: All engines (AXE, ALFA, Equal Access, AccessLint, QualWeb)
Scan duration: 4.6 minutes
Total URLs submitted: 23
Accepted public URLs: 23
Rejected URLs: 0
ALFA outcomes: 3293 passed, 217 failed, 77 cantTell, 201 inapplicable
axe outcomes: 2729 passed, 5 failed, 69 cantTell, 183 inapplicable
Equal Access outcomes: 8610 passed, 58 failed (53 unique, 5 duplicate), 49 cantTell, 0 inapplicable
AccessLint outcomes: 89 passed, 3 failed (3 unique, 0 duplicate), 0 cantTell, 0 inapplicable
QualWeb outcomes: 791 passed, 24 failed, 312 cantTell, 3 inapplicable
Duplicate findings caught by later scanners: 218

🎯 Priority: Pages with Most Errors

Focus your efforts on these pages to make the biggest impact (combined scanner unique failures):

Page	axe Unique	ALFA Unique	Equal Access Unique	AccessLint Unique	QualWeb	Total Unique	Page Title
View Page	2	6	22	0	8	38	Government of Nova Scotia
View Page	2	7	18	3	0	30	Budget 2026 to 2027 - Government of Nova Scotia, Canada
View Page	1	5	7	0	8	21	Programs and Services - Government of Nova Scotia
View Page	0	4	6	0	8	18	Copyright - Government of Nova Scotia

🔧 Priority: Most Common Issues (ALFA)

These ALFA accessibility issues appear most frequently across your pages:

Rule	Pages Affected	Documentation
SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size	4 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R18: ARIA states are consistent with element semantics	4 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R57: Landmarks don’t repeat the same content	1 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R78: Headings of same level have text content between them	1 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R53: Headings follow a logical hierarchy	1 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R12: Links have an accessible name	1 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R56: Landmarks with the same role are distinguishable	1 of 23	View Rule
SIA-R66: Text has enhanced contrast with its background	1 of 23	View Rule

💡 Tip: Click on the rule documentation links to learn how to fix each issue.

🔧 Priority: Most Common Issues (axe)

These axe accessibility issues appear most frequently across your pages:

Rule	Pages Affected	Documentation
region	1 of 23	View Rule
heading-order	1 of 23	View Rule
button-name	1 of 23	View Rule
landmark-unique	1 of 23	View Rule

💡 Tip: Click on the rule documentation links to learn how to fix each issue. Consider fixing the most common issues first for maximum impact.

🤖 Future Enhancement: This report will soon include AI-powered fix suggestions for authenticated GitHub users (opt-in only, no auto-run AI).

🔍 Cross-Page Patterns: Common HTML Issues

These HTML patterns cause the same accessibility errors across multiple pages. Fix the pattern once in your codebase to fix it everywhere!

🎯 Top Patterns to Fix (Highest Impact)

Pattern 1: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<button class="search-box-button">Search</button>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/button[@class="search-box-button"]

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/button[@class="search-box-button"]')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 2: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="https://www.x.com/nsgov" hreflang="en">X (formerly Twitter)</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 3: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/nsgov" hreflang="en">YouTube</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 4: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/nsgov" hreflang="en">Facebook</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 5: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="/privacy">Privacy</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 6: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="/terms">Terms</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 7: Affects 3 page(s) - 3 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="/copyright">Crown copyright © Government of Nova Scotia</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies
https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Pattern 8: Affects 2 page(s) - 2 occurrence(s)

Scanner: ALFA Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size Issue: Target has insufficient size

HTML Pattern:

<a href="https://data.novascotia.ca/">Open Data</a>

XPath (use in browser DevTools):

/a

How to Replicate:

Open any affected page in your browser
Press F12 to open DevTools
Go to Console tab
Run: $x('/a')
The element will be highlighted

Affected Pages:

https://novascotia.ca/
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies

💡 Pro Tip: These patterns likely come from shared components or templates in your codebase. Fix them in the component/template source, and the fix will propagate to all affected pages.

📊 Detailed Results

Complete scan results for all tested pages:

Submitted URL	Final URL	Status	HTTP	Redirected	Time (ms)	axe Unique	ALFA Unique	Equal Access Unique	AccessLint Unique	Duplicates	Notes
https://novascotia.ca/	https://www.novascotia.ca/	OK	200	yes	11844	2	6	22	0	36	page.addScriptTag: Refused to execute inline script because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: “script-src ‘self’ https://novascotia.ca https://*.googletagmanager.com www.google-analytics.com https://static.cloudflareinsights.com”. Either the ‘unsafe-inline’ keyword, a hash (‘sha256-iLB/qGn2fKTfTYFKNKTMDW4mWOq+TwpFIWKi5guSmvk=’), or a nonce (‘nonce-…’) is required to enable inline execution.
										ALFA failed rules: SIA-R111 (Interactive elements have a sufficient target size), SIA-R18 (ARIA states are consistent with element semantics), SIA-R57 (Landmarks don’t repeat the same content), SIA-R78 (Headings of same level have text content between them)
										axe failed rules: region
										Equal Access failed rules: aria_attribute_valid, aria_content_in_landmark, aria_role_redundant, element_id_unique, element_tabbable_unobscured, element_tabbable_visible, form_submit_button_exists, style_color_misuse, style_focus_visible, style_highcontrast_visible, svg_graphics_labelled, target_spacing_sufficient, text_sensory_misuse
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services	https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services	FAIL	-	no	10496	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies	https://www.novascotia.ca/programs-and-services	OK	200	yes	15603	1	5	7	0	158	page.addScriptTag: Refused to execute inline script because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: “script-src ‘self’ https://novascotia.ca https://*.googletagmanager.com www.google-analytics.com https://static.cloudflareinsights.com”. Either the ‘unsafe-inline’ keyword, a hash (‘sha256-iLB/qGn2fKTfTYFKNKTMDW4mWOq+TwpFIWKi5guSmvk=’), or a nonce (‘nonce-…’) is required to enable inline execution.
										ALFA failed rules: SIA-R111 (Interactive elements have a sufficient target size), SIA-R18 (ARIA states are consistent with element semantics), SIA-R53 (Headings follow a logical hierarchy)
										axe failed rules: heading-order
										Equal Access failed rules: aria_attribute_valid, aria_role_redundant, element_tabbable_visible, form_submit_button_exists, style_color_misuse, style_highcontrast_visible
https://novascotia.ca/budget/	https://novascotia.ca/budget/	OK	200	no	39909	2	7	18	3	13	Budget 2026 to 2027 - Government of Nova Scotia, Canada
										ALFA failed rules: SIA-R111 (Interactive elements have a sufficient target size), SIA-R12 (Links have an accessible name), SIA-R18 (ARIA states are consistent with element semantics), SIA-R56 (Landmarks with the same role are distinguishable), SIA-R66 (Text has enhanced contrast with its background)
										axe failed rules: button-name, landmark-unique
										Equal Access failed rules: aria_attribute_valid, aria_navigation_label_unique, aria_role_redundant, element_attribute_deprecated, element_tabbable_unobscured, element_tabbable_visible, form_submit_button_exists, input_label_exists, input_label_visible, label_content_exists, style_color_misuse, style_highcontrast_visible, text_sensory_misuse
										AccessLint failed rules: keyboard-accessible/tabindex, labels-and-names/button-name
https://novascotia.ca/contact-us	https://novascotia.ca/contact-us	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/copyright	https://www.novascotia.ca/copyright	OK	200	yes	6589	0	4	6	0	11	page.addScriptTag: Refused to execute inline script because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: “script-src ‘self’ https://novascotia.ca https://*.googletagmanager.com www.google-analytics.com https://static.cloudflareinsights.com”. Either the ‘unsafe-inline’ keyword, a hash (‘sha256-iLB/qGn2fKTfTYFKNKTMDW4mWOq+TwpFIWKi5guSmvk=’), or a nonce (‘nonce-…’) is required to enable inline execution.
										ALFA failed rules: SIA-R111 (Interactive elements have a sufficient target size), SIA-R18 (ARIA states are consistent with element semantics)
										Equal Access failed rules: aria_attribute_valid, aria_role_redundant, element_tabbable_visible, form_submit_button_exists, style_color_misuse, style_highcontrast_visible
https://novascotia.ca/government	https://novascotia.ca/government	FAIL	-	no	10499	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/news/	https://novascotia.ca/news/	FAIL	-	no	10493	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/privacy	https://novascotia.ca/privacy	FAIL	-	no	10496	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/residential-tenancies-tenants-and-landlords/	https://novascotia.ca/residential-tenancies-tenants-and-landlords/	FAIL	-	no	10494	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/tariffs/	https://novascotia.ca/tariffs/	FAIL	-	no	10494	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/terms	https://novascotia.ca/terms	FAIL	-	no	10491	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topics	https://novascotia.ca/topics	FAIL	-	no	10493	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/documents/budget-documents-2026-2027	https://novascotia.ca/documents/budget-documents-2026-2027	FAIL	-	no	10494	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/births-deaths-marriage-and-identity	https://novascotia.ca/topic/births-deaths-marriage-and-identity	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/business-non-profit-and-self-employed	https://novascotia.ca/topic/business-non-profit-and-self-employed	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/education-training-and-skills	https://novascotia.ca/topic/education-training-and-skills	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/housing-property-and-community	https://novascotia.ca/topic/housing-property-and-community	FAIL	-	no	10493	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/how-government-works	https://novascotia.ca/topic/how-government-works	FAIL	-	no	10493	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/industry-and-economy	https://novascotia.ca/topic/industry-and-economy	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/law-justice-and-safety	https://novascotia.ca/topic/law-justice-and-safety	FAIL	-	no	10495	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/topic/money-tax-and-benefits	https://novascotia.ca/topic/money-tax-and-benefits	FAIL	-	no	10494	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed
https://novascotia.ca/just/regulations/consregs.htm	https://novascotia.ca/just/regulations/consregs.htm	FAIL	-	no	10494	0	0	0	0	0	fetch failed

Detailed Failure Information (ALFA)

https://novascotia.ca/

Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size

Failure 1:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <button class="search-box-button">Search</button>
XPath: /button[@class="search-box-button"]

Failure 2:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="/documents/budget-documents-2026-2027">Budget documents 2026-2027</a>
XPath: /a

Failure 3:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <button class="floating-dialog-close" aria-label="Close" type="button">×</button>
XPath: /button[@class="floating-dialog-close"]

Rule: SIA-R18: ARIA states are consistent with element semantics

Failure 1:

Message: The attribute is prohibited for the element on which it is specified

Rule: SIA-R57: Landmarks don’t repeat the same content

Failure 1:

Message: The text is not included in a landmark region

Rule: SIA-R78: Headings of same level have text content between them

Failure 1:

Message: There is no content between this heading and the next
HTML: <h2>What government is doing</h2>
XPath: /h2

https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies

Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size

Failure 1:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <button class="search-box-button">Search</button>
XPath: /button[@class="search-box-button"]

Failure 2:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="/fr/programmes-et-services" class="language-link" hreflang="fr" data-drupal-link-system-path="programs-and-services">Français</a>
XPath: /a[@class="language-link"]

Failure 3:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="/programs-and-services/911-emergency" hreflang="en">911 Emergency</a>
XPath: /a

Rule: SIA-R18: ARIA states are consistent with element semantics

Failure 1:

Message: The attribute is prohibited for the element on which it is specified

Rule: SIA-R53: Headings follow a logical hierarchy

Failure 1:

Message: The heading skips one or more levels
HTML: <h3>More programs and services</h3>
XPath: /h3

https://novascotia.ca/budget/

Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size

Failure 1:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <button id="top-link" class="" style="display: block;">...</button>
XPath: /button[@id="top-link"]

Failure 2:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="https://www.novascotia.ca/documents/budget-documents-2026-2027" class="btn-lg btn-success" data-analytics="action=Button;label=Download Budget Documents">...</a>
XPath: /a[@class="btn-lg btn-success"]

Failure 3:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="/government/finance-and-treasury-board" data-analytics="action=Link;label=Department of Finance">Department of Finance and Treasury Board</a>
XPath: /a

Rule: SIA-R12: Links have an accessible name

Failure 1:

Message: The button does not have an accessible name
HTML: <button class="search-box-button" name="btnG" />
XPath: /button[@class="search-box-button"]

Rule: SIA-R18: ARIA states are consistent with element semantics

Failure 1:

Message: The attribute is prohibited for the element on which it is specified

Rule: SIA-R56: Landmarks with the same role are distinguishable

Failure 1:

Message: Some navigation have the same name.

Rule: SIA-R66: Text has enhanced contrast with its background

Failure 1:

Message: The highest possible contrast of the text is 4.65:1 which is below the required contrast of 7:1

https://novascotia.ca/copyright

Rule: SIA-R111: Interactive elements have a sufficient target size

Failure 1:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <button class="search-box-button">Search</button>
XPath: /button[@class="search-box-button"]

Failure 2:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="/fr/droit-dauteur" class="language-link" hreflang="fr" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/1187">Français</a>
XPath: /a[@class="language-link"]

Failure 3:

Message: Target has insufficient size
HTML: <a href="https://www.x.com/nsgov" hreflang="en">X (formerly Twitter)</a>
XPath: /a

Rule: SIA-R18: ARIA states are consistent with element semantics

Failure 1:

Message: The attribute is prohibited for the element on which it is specified

Detailed Failure Information (axe)

https://novascotia.ca/

Rule: region

Impact: moderate

Failure 1:

Message: All page content should be contained by landmarks
HTML: <div class="floating-dialog-content">Try Scottie, our new virtual assistant.</div>
XPath: .floating-dialog-content

Failure 2:

Message: All page content should be contained by landmarks
HTML: <span>Ask a question</span>
XPath: .floating-dialog-button > span

https://novascotia.ca/programs-and-services/registry-joint-stock-companies

Rule: heading-order

Impact: moderate

Failure 1:

Message: Heading levels should only increase by one
HTML: <h3>More programs and services</h3>
XPath: h3

https://novascotia.ca/budget/

Rule: button-name

Impact: critical

Failure 1:

Message: Buttons must have discernible text
HTML: <button class="search-box-button" name="btnG"></button>
XPath: .search-box-button

Rule: landmark-unique

Impact: moderate

Failure 1:

Message: Landmarks should have a unique role or role/label/title (i.e. accessible name) combination
HTML: <nav class="skip-links"> <a href="#main" class="skip-to-link">Skip to main content</a> </nav>
XPath: .skip-links

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