Testing Accessibility

After a Web site or template has been created, check the site to ensure that it complies with accessibility requirements. Several techniques are available to verify that the content on your Web pages is accessible to people with disabilities. See the individual requirements for specific tests for each 508 requirement. The tools used to test accessibility are outlined below.

Testing Tools

  • Review Pass/Fail examples of compliance with Section 508.
  • WebXACT - Former creators of Bobby, the Center for Applied Special Technology is a non-for-profit organization that provides an online evaluation to help increase your page accessibility. Running even just one page through the page checker will give you a good idea of the things to watch out for on your particular pages. While this is not necessarily the best or definitive tool, it gives you an overview of your pages. http://webxact.watchfire.com/
  • Lynx - Allows you to see your Web pages would look in a text-only Web browser. http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html
  • Opera - Opera is a highly standards-compliant browser available for free download. The convenience and flexibility of user controls make it a much better tool for accessibility checking than Netscape or Internet Explorer. With Opera, you can:
    • Toggle images on and off; which is good for evaluating alt tags in Standard (a).
    • Toggle style sheets on and off; which is good for ensuring pages are readable without requiring style sheets in Standard (d).
    • Disable frames; which is good for checking Standard (i).
    • Linearize tables; which is good for checking compliance with Standards (g) and (h).
    • Disable Java and javascript; which is good for checking Standard (l).
    • Disable sound and streaming video; which is good for checking Standard (b).
    • Turn off animated GIFs.
    • Disabling these features better replicates how your pages look and behave in other types of browsers. http://www.opera.com/
  • W3C Link Checker -The World Wide Web Consortium's FREE link checker. Checks anchors (hyperlinks) in a HTML/XHTML document. Useful to find broken links, etc. http://validator.w3.org/checklink

W3C Alternative Browsing Tools

For informtion and reference, this is a listing at the W3C site of some different types of assistive technology that people may be using to connect with the Internet. http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing

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