1. A method for evaluating compliance of a user interface design, the method comprising: receiving, from a first application executing in a client data processing system, a hierarchy of elements of a user interface, wherein a second application presents the user interface including a set of user interface elements at the client data processing system; selecting a compliance rule from a set of compliance rules; evaluating, using a processor and a memory, whether an attribute associated with a user interface element meets a condition specified in the compliance rule; and reporting, responsive to the evaluating being negative, the user interface element as being non-compliant with the compliance rule.