WEBSITE ACCESSIBILY TESTING

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."
-- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Copyright Info The below information is a replication of copyrighted material. See copyright attribution below.
URL http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html
Author(s) Wendy Chisholm, Judy Brewer. Previously: Len Kasday.
Document Status Unknown

Testing Tools

Introduction

This is a collection of information about Evaluation, Repair, and Transform Tools to be used by Web content developers and users to make the Web more accessible.

How this document is organized

Tools are classified in 3 different sets:

  1. Evaluation tools - Perform a static analysis of pages or sites regarding their accessibility, and return a report or a rating.
  2. Repair tools - Once the accessibility issues with a Web page or site have been identified, these tools can assist the author in making the pages more accessible.
  3. Filter and transform tools - These tools assist Web users rather than authors to either modify a page or supplement an assistive technology or browser.

There is also a list of other resources at the end of the document.

Evaluation Tools

Perform a static analysis of pages or sites regarding their accessibility, and return a report or a rating. Validation tools that check HTML and CSS without an accessibility focus are included since validating to a published grammar is one step towards accessibility.

This list has been divided into three categories:

  1. General- Tools that perform tests for a variety of accessibility issues.
  2. Focused - Tools that test for one or a limited aspect of accessibility.
  3. Services - Tools that run on an ongoing basis such as proxies, web services, and monitors.

General

AccessEnable&trade
AccessEnable™ is an online website evaluation and correction product line that is able to make site-wide automatic fixes as well as interactive fixes to satisfy Federal and other web accessibility standards. Developed by RetroAccess. (WAC 14 Jan 2002)
AccVerify&trade
AccVerify ™ implements programmatic verification and reports all errors/non-compliance with the standards, plus checklist for criteria that can't be verified programmatically. Verifies the "all else fails" text version. Differentiates between 508 and WCAG. It allows for a variety of report formats, including EARL, and provides an API for developers to incorporate it in other projects. AccVerify can run as a standalone product for Microsoft Windows, or as an extension to Mercury TestDirector and Microsoft's FrontPage, Office, and .NET server products.
AnyBrowser.com
Tools relevant for accessibility include viewing in various screen sizes, view with images are replaced by ALT text. Also HTML and link validation, search engine tools, and other browser compatibility tests.
Bobby
Developed by CAST, Bobby helps authors determine if their sites are accessible. It does this through automatic checks as well as manual checks. It also analyzes Web pages for compatibility with various browsers. You may either download Bobby and run it locally, or use it through a Web interface on CAST's site. The downloadable version is written in Java and takes advantage of the accessibility support in Java. (1999)
Cynthia Says
This tool is designed to identify errors related to Section 508 standards and the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The main purpose of this portal is to educate Web site developers about accessible Web design. It validates one page at a time. Either download and run it locally or use the free Web interface. The downloadable version is a special edition of the ACCVerify tool by HiSoftware. (2003)
Dr Watson
Dr. Watson is hosted as a free service by Addy & Associates (2000). Watson checks per HTML 3.2, as well as Netscape and Microsoft extensions up through version 4.x. Watson can also check many other aspects of your site, including link validity, download speed, search engine compatibility, link popularity, word count, and spelling. No specific accessibility checking. It only runs on the Addy & Associates server.
Dreamweaver 508 Accessibility Suite
See Lift for Dreamweaver
InSight
SSB Technologies. Interactive evaluation tool designed to help developers create accessible web pages. Also see InFocus (a repair tool). Runs on both the desktop and a server. Runs on Windows 95/98/00/NT, Linux, Unix, and Mac OS. The server software available for installation on local intranets. Support and upgrades are available to users of the software This software claims to be designed so that it is accessible to all users.
Lift
Lift Online and Lift Site are both Developed by UsableNet, Inc.
Lift for Dreamweaver, Lift for FrontPage, Lift NNg
Lift for Dreamweaver / FrontPage are extensions for those Authoring tools. Lift allows customisation of accessibility tests (WCAG Priority 1, US government section 508), and provides continuously updated test results during editing as well as a wizard-based repair tool that can be run in a context-sensitive mode while editing. It generates reports in HTML format or as an XML file that can be used for further processing. It incorporates heuristics for distinguishing different types of tables and images to provide appropriate suggestions for repair. The current version 1.3 is now available for Dreamweaver 4.01 or Dreamweaver MX. Lift NNg adds usability testing and repair functionalities to Lift for Dreamweaver.
PageScreamer
From Crunchy Technologies

(15 Jan 2002)

Page Valet
Page Valet combines formal validation with accessibility testing based on the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Page Valet generates XML, with a choice of report formats including HTML versions for Web browsers. The "document view" shows page source, normalised by a validating parser, with Validation Errors and Accessibility Warnings shown inline wherver they are detected. This is part of the Site Valet suite of tools (see below) (23 January 2002)
RAMP™
From Deque Systems. Supports 508 and WCAG. Written in Java for platform independence and claims to be accessible to people with disabilities. Provides evaluation and repair. (9 July 2002)
RAMP™Lite
The RAMP™ analysis engine without the remediation. It generates reports and documents the non-compliant issues. Aimed at Project Managers and senior level executives who want to monitor the accessibility of their projects. (9 July 2002)
Site Valet
Site Valet is a comprehensive Quality Assurance product for Web and Intranet sites. An online toolkit is complemented by a site maintenance programme, both of which are available to the public at the website. Site Valet can be extensively customised for corporate users. Of particular interest to accessibility are the Page Valet tool for markup analysis (see above), and a user feedback programme for raising and dealing responsively with problem reports. Online toolkit includes an HTML Validator, Link Checker, toolkit for testing and debugging forms and scripts, SGML tools for content analysis and transformation, an online version of Tidy, and a website monitoring service to notify users of potential problems.
TAW.
Developed by Fondo Formación Asturias in collaboration with SIDAR, TAW tests accessibility of a page, marking automatically detected errors with the priority level of the WCAG checkpoint. It also marks manual tests that are required in the page. Each marker is linked to a report (after the marked version of the original) which explains the checkpoint (in Spanish) and the locations that need to be checked.

El TAW, desarollado por Fondo Formación Asturias en colaboración con el SIDAR, hace un evaluación de una pagina. El informe presenta una versión de la página original con iconos que significan la prioridad (de las pautas WCAG) de cada problema, y enlazan a una explicación del problema. También marca las cosas que necesitan un verificación manual.

Torquemada
Torquemada is an Italian-language tool designed to assess the accessibility of Websites. The initial version is an online service, but the tool is under development and a downloadable version is promised soon.

Torquemada é un strumento per testare l'accessibilità dei siti web. Funziona in italiano, adesso come servizio on-line, ma é in fase di sviluppo, e il suo sito promette una verzione scaricabile, disponible a breve.

The Web Page Accessibility Self-Evaluation Test
Created by the Public Service Commission of Canada. It is a 27 question, multiple choice survey available in English or French that produces 5 accessibility ratings
  1. highly inaccessible,
  2. much improvement required,
  3. partially accessible,
  4. fairly accessible,
  5. accessible.

An e-mail address is provided to give feedback. There are two versions of the test, one written in HTML 2.0 that requires the user to tally their rating. The other uses JavaScript to tally the rating.

Focused

Clear Language and Effectiveness Tool (CLAD)
Based on the Simple Measure Of Gobbledegook (SMOG) readability formula and developed by the Toronto East End Literacy Project. This tool asks a series of questions then using client-side scripting calculates a reading level. This is more thorough than the Reading Level Calculator (also listed in this list). (WC 27 June 2001)
Colorfield Insight
Allows designers to model and predict image legibility for color deficient viewers. Developed by Colorfield Digital Media (2000).
Doctor HTML
Created by Thomas Tongue and Imagiware, Inc. (1997). performs minimal accessibility checking ("alt" on IMG) but it also verifies links, spell checks and performs some syntax checking. Licenses may be purchased to run the software on a local intranet. An e-mail address is available for feedback.
NetMechanic.
NIST WebMetrics Tool Suite
This is a set of four tools used to test the usability and accessibility of a site. It is suggested that you register to receive bug reports and update information. An e-mail address is provided for feedback and questions. (1999)
Pehtoori
HTML validation service
Reading level calculator
Developed by Linda Wasmer Andrews and based on the SMOG readability formula. This form relies on client-side scripting to calculate the reading level. (27 June 2001)
Style and Diction
Diction identifies wordy and commonly misused phrases. Style analyses surface characteristics of a document, including sentence length and other readability measures. (16 Jan 2002)
The Schematron
An XML Structure Validation Language using Patterns in Trees - WAI Content Guidelines. Compares the pattern of a file to the patterns defined by WCAG schema.
Vischeck
Available as a downloadable application, a Photoshop plug-in, or online, this tool simulates colorblind vision. (27 June 2001)
The Wave
A tool that helps people perform those tasks that require human judgment (e.g. "Does this ALT text a functional equivalent for this image?" "Does this reading order make sense?").  The Wave displays the ALT text of images and AREAS on the page for comparison with the images, provides numbered arrows to show the linearized reading order, and shows the HTML equivalent (if any) provided for applets.  The Wave performs automatic checks (detects missing or suspicious ALT text). However, at this time it is far from covering all accessibility checkpoints.(25 Feb 2000).
Webbot - the libwww Robot
From the W3C. It is a programmable robot that can report missing "alt" attributes or other specific anomalies. Its primary design goal was to test HTTP/1.1 pipelining features. It runs locally on Unix or Windows. Users may subscribe to the discussion forum to find examples or discuss issues. (1999)
WDG HTML Validator
From the Web Design Group (WDG). It uses the same engine as the W3C HTML Validator (David Clark's nsgmls) but produces easier to understand error messages. It also supports a wider variety of character encodings than the W3C validator. It is available online or can run locally (supposedly, although information for running it locally was not available on 18 February 2000). You can also run a batch of pages through it. (1999)
Weblint
By Neil Bowers (1997). It is a syntax and minimal style checker for HTML: a Perl script which picks fluff off html pages, much in the same way traditional lint picks fluff off C programs. It is available for download on Unix, Windows NT, Mac or OS/2. Over 20 sites support a Web-based interface in a variety of languages. E-mail and a feedback form are available.
W3C CSS validator.
Validates the CSS used in documents. You may run it through the interface on the W3C server or download it and run it at a Java command line. Since it is Java it runs wherever there is a Java Virtual Machine. There is a mailing list for questions. (1998)
W3C HTML validation service
It is "an easy-to-use HTML validation service based on an SGML parser. It checks HTML documents for compliance with W3C HTML Recommendations and other HTML standards." The service is available through the W3C Web site, although the source code is available for mirroring on other sites. It is known to run on Unix platforms but may work on others (it has not been tested). A discussion list is available. (2000)

Services

AccMonitor™ and AccessibilityWATCH™
AccMonitor™ by HiSoftware is designed for Web site Accessibility Management. It monitors the accessibility status of an entire Web site or a subdirectory of the site around the clock for WCAG priorities 1 to 3 as well as section 508 requirements. You can send email alerts to any number of recipients, or get results provided as EARL. can test Web Sites around the clock and report Accessibility issues based on development, content management requirements and scheduling. AccessibilityWATCH™ esults of manual tests can be recorded using the Interview Wizard via the Web-based interface to the service. AccMonitor includes an API to allow developers to incorporate it in other projects, or extend it.

Repair Tools

Once the accessibility issues with a Web page or site have been identified, these tools can assist the author in making the pages more accessible.

A-Prompt
from the University of Toronto is a freely available tool that may be used in several ways. It both identifies problems and helps the author correct them.
AccRepair™
AccRepair ™ by HiSoftware provides for the verification and correction of Accessibility policy and standards required for Web sites. AccRepair supports the WCAG Guidelines at all three levels, as well as Section 508, and through the Usability Test Manager provides usability testing. AccRepair is designed to work as a standalone client or integrated with Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Office 2000 and XP. AccRepair ™ includes a Repair Library Editor allowing for team services and automated repairs of common accessibility errors, and all the verification functions of AccVerify ™ , as well as Hi-Caption ™ and metadata management. A developer's kit including API's and sample source code is available to allow extension or integration with other products.
ALT repair kit
developed by Sonicon, allows ALT text to be added to page inline.
CSSize (HTML => HTML+CSS) and HTTPtool (HTTP ftp-alike using GET/PUT) software
By Daniel Glazman
Demoronizer
developed by Tom Christiansen. It removes vendor specific html conventions and extensions.
Hi-Caption™
From HiSoftware. This tool allows authors to edit SMIL or SAMI presentations (for Windows Media format) to add caption tracks (RealText and Qtext formats for SMIL, or SAMI), providing a visual interface for users who don't want to directly edit code as well as full source editing functions. Also available in Spanish (Castellano)

De HiSoftware. Esta herramienta permite el autor editar presentaciones SMIL o SAMI para crear o editar subtitulos (formatos RealText o QText para SMIL) con una interfaz visual o del codigo fuente. Disponible en version Castellana o Ingles

InFocus
SSB Technologies. Interactive repair tool designed to help developers create accessible web pages. Also see InSight (an evaluation tool). Runs on both the desktop and a server. Runs on Windows 95/98/00/NT, Linux, Unix, and Mac OS. The server software available for installation on local intranets. Support and upgrades are available to users of the software This software claims to be designed so that it is accessible to all users.
Lift for Dreamweaver, Lift for FrontPage, Lift NNg
Lift for Dreamweaver / FrontPage are extensions for those Authoring tools. Lift allows choosing which accessibility tests to apply (from WCAG Priority 1 and US government section 508 checkpoints), and provides continuously updated test results during editing as well as a wizard-based repair tool that can be run in a context-sensitive mode while editing. It generates reports in HTML format or as an XML file that can be used for further processing. It incorporates heuristics for distinguishing different types of tables and images to provide appropriate suggestions for repair. The current version 1.3 is now available for Dreamweaver 4.01 or Dreamweaver MX. Lift NNg adds usability testing and repair functionalities to Lift for Dreamweaver.
MAGpie
Produced by NCAM. This tool allows users to add captions to QuickTime, Windows Media or SMIL, and to add audio descriptions to SMIL. Available for Windows.
PageScreamer
From Crunchy Technologies

(15 Jan 2002)

Powerpoint Accessibility Wizard
From Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services, University of Illinois. "Accessibility Wizard simplifies the task of converting PowerPoint presentations to text pure HTML ... and automates much of the conversion of Power Point Presentations to an HTML format that includes required accessibility information." (20 April 2001).
RAMP™
From Deque Systems. Supports 508 and WCAG. Written in Java for platform independence and claims to be accessible to people with disabilities. Provides evaluation and repair. (9 July 2002)
RAMP™ARC
RAMP™ARC can generate tagged PDF and accessible HTML from your original source. (9 July 2002)
Site Valet
See above description for Site Valet.
TOM (Text-Only Maker)
from NCSA.
Tidy
By Dave Raggett. Repairs errors, improves style in HTML/XML.  Converts HTML to XHTML.  Removes proprietary XML tags from HTML output.  An online version is available at Site Valet (not all tidy options are available in this version however).
TOC Maker
An add-on for Mozilla composer by Daniel Glazman. This allows you to generate a table of contents for a page, and then add it to a page or site index.

Filter and Transform Tools

These tools modify a page or supplement an assistive technology or browser. Some of these tools integrate into the browser although most of them work by proxy: using a piece of software that sits between the user and the target server to transform a page to make it more accessible. In some cases the tools are designed for users to enhance their personal setup, in other cases they are for content providers to provide content that is particuarly optimised. The second process is similar to what is done by systems that provide web services or information services adapted to several delivery contexts - such as mobile devices, or telephone interaction. (In a sense all of these tools are also evaluation tools, since pages that can not transform in a decent way are probably broken beyond repair).

Accessibility Bookmarklets
Some javascript bookmarklets designed to perform various functions to repair accessibility problems, from Jim Ley. These are designed for Internet Explorer 5.5 but may work in other Javascript-enabled browsers. (added 3 September 2002)
Accessible Web Browser Project
At Univ. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Goal is to create a web browser using Internet Explorer as a COM object, to improve accessibility for people with visual impairments.
AYE
By Henrik Quintel, it is a web page transformer (part of PRISMA)
Altifier
by Michael Vorburger
BBC Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer: BETSIE
"deGrade" browser simulator.
By Kynn Bartlett
LaTeX2HTML
Lynx-me service.
By Gerald Oskoboiny. It shows a textual version of how a site looks in Lynx.  However, links are not clickable, and doesn't show the ALT text or URL's corresponding to AREA's of image map like Lynx does (2/25/2000)
Delorie Lynx viewer
Shows how a page will look in Lynx. Links are clickable.  If you click on links in the resulting page, they will also be filtered through Lynx viewer. It also handles frames the way Lynx does.  However, doesn not give menu of the ALT text or URL's of the AREAS like lynx does.  Perl Source is posted at the site. (2/25/2000)
Internet Explorer Web Accessories
Muffin filtering proxy server
Navigation Power Toys for IE.
Developed at the Trace Center by Mark Novak
Microsoft Power Point WWW Publishing Accessibility Wizard
This Power Point Point Accessibility Wizard simplifies the task of converting PowerPoint presentations to text pure HTML through an easy- to-use user interface, and automates much of the conversion of Power Point Presentations to an HTML format that includes required accessibility information. (WAC 17 January 2002)
Office 2000 HTML Filter
The Office HTML Filter is a tool, provided by Microsoft, that you can use to remove Office-specific markup tags embedded in Office 2000 documents (e.g. Word) saved as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
PDF to HTML Converter
Developed by Adobe.
The Proxomitron
A filter that gets rid of a variety of elements from a page (such as ads and pop-up windows) or replaces elements (such as blink with bold). (WAC 10 Dec 2001)
RTFtoHTML
Converts RTF to HTML
rfc2html.pl
Special purpose filter that converts Internet Society Request for Comments into HTML.  Model of a converter for a special text format for people who like to program in Perl.  For an example of this filter in action, see http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html.
Spyglass Prism
Server-based content conversion.
Silas S. Brown's Web access gateway
for disabled users.
{textualise;}
A proxy service that can adjust content delivered from the source to provide a version more suited to people with visual impairments. It is designed to be customised for each site, and targetted at site providers who want a solution for improving accessibility of their site. (CMN 2002-03-06)
Web Intermediaries (WBI) ("Webbie")
An open source development kit from IBM, an architecture and framework for creating intermediary applications on the web.  It's a programmable proxy and web server that can run on the user's machine or remotely.  A very promising platform for building filters and transformation tools to repair web sites.  Java based, so it should run anywhere. (LRK 1/19/2001)
Web page Purifier
Removes tags and/or attributes not explicitly allowed by the DTD).
WebCleaner
An Open-Source (GPL) filtering HTTP proxy. "It can disable animated GIFs, compress documents on-the-fly (with gzip), enhance your privacy (remove user-agent: header and obfuscate IP address), and remove all HTML crap. It can be completely customized to your needs.". Although not advertised an an accessibility tranform tool, the customization feature (an XML file BTW) would facilitate that use. (LRK 4/18/2001)

Other pages of interest

Copyright Info The above information is a replication of copyrighted material. See copyright attribution below.
URL http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html
Author(s) Wendy Chisholm, Judy Brewer. Previously: Len Kasday.
Document Status Unknown

 

SEMESTER I

3755A: Create a simple mark-up language document to specification
3755L: Build a basic website to meet specification
3756D: Develop Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
3755E: Transfer content to a website
3755D: Confirm accessibility of website design

SEMESTER II

3755R: Ensure site usability
3756W: WWW Client Server Environment - Core
3756X: Emerging Web Technologies And Standards - Core
3756Y Complex Mark up Language Documents - Core

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