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Universal Web
Accessibility
Evaluating Web Accessibility
Some quick ways for you to evaluate
the accessibility of your web site:
| 1. |
Turn off all multimedia
content (images, sounds, etc.), or check your page in a text-only
browser, and then review the page's content.
Be sure no communicative content is lost. |
| 2. |
Navigate the page with keyboard
commands. |
| 3. |
Is there excellent contrast between the text and the background?
Is there any information communicated by color alone? |
| 4. |
Would the text hyperlinks make sense if you heard them out of context? |
| 5. |
Does the text in the web page adjust appropriately when you change
the text size through your browser settings? |
Online resources for evaluating
your site:
| Color Deficit Tool |
| Vischeck
Online |
Displays a web page as if were viewed by someone with
a red/green color deficit, one of the most common forms of color blindness. |
| Accessibility Evaluation Tools |
| Bobby |
The online version can only check single web pages.
It provides accessibility evaluations based upon the Web Accessibility
Initiative's Priority 1-3 Checkpoints or the United States Section
508 standards. To have it analyze a site, simply type the URL into
the textbox on the Bobby site. After the page is submitted, Bobby
generates a report with: an approved or "repair needed"
logo; the original page annotated with marks for non-compliant or
questionable issues; and a list of problems or questions. [See below
for more information.] |
| The Wave |
User-friendly. Particularly helpful in exposing images with no alt
text and images with nonfunctional or suspicious alt text. With the
new beta 3.0 version, users can choose between the complete WAVE or
only certain standards, such as WCAG 1.0 or Section 508, and can add
the WAVE "bookmarklet" to your browser for quick evaluation
of a page. |
| A-Prompt |
Requires downloading from the Internet. Is probably the most user-friendly
detect and repair utility available. Its useful repair feature requires
access to the web page's file. |
| Cynthia Says |
Designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards
and the WCAG guidelines. Validates one page at a time. |
| LIFT |
Packaged by UsableNet. Will partially evaluate up to 5 pages on
a trial basis. To use, enter a URL on the UsableNet home page along
with your e-mail address. You will be notified by e-mail when an analysis
is ready.[See below for information on the full version software] |
Accessibility Evaluation Software
Bobby WorldWide
One of the most commonly used accessibility checking tools and has been
around the longest. Developed by the nonprofit Center of Applied Special
Technology (CAST). Once free, the full downloadable version is available
for $99 for single users.
LIFT from UsableNet
UsableNet produces multiple LIFT accessibility products, among which are
LIFT for Mdacromedia Dreamweaver and LIFT for Microsoft FrontPage.
Application-specific Tools
DreamWeaver
MX 2004 accessibility feature
Gives a basic overview of website accessibility validation using the new
Dreamweaver MX 2004.
DreamWeaver
MX
Has a video on how DreamweaverMX can validate your page for Accessibility
HiSoftware: AccVerify, AccRepair, AccMonitor
Includes AccVerify SE for
FrontPage
Once the software is installed, you access it by opening FrontPage's Custom
menu and choosing Run HiSoftware AccVerify SE.
Comprehensive Site Evaluation Tools
John Yoder, Internet and Web Services Coordinator, is currently evaluating
the efficacy of the InFocus evaluation tool for checking the accessibility
of Santa Monica College Web pages.
NOTE:
Accessibility tools are one strategy for assessing the accessibility of
our web sites. However, accessibility tools are fallible. In addition,
there are some aspects of accessibility that can only be checked by a
thoughtful person. A tool may check if there is an alt tag, but it takes
human judgement to decide whether the language of the alt text adequately
explains the image.
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For more detailed reviews of accessibility evaluation and repair tools,
See:
Jim Thatcher's Evaluation
and repair page
Jim Thatcher's 508 Web
Tutorial - Check
Accessibility page
Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility
(Web Accessibility Initiative)
Evaluation and Repair
Tools (Web Accessibility Initiative)
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