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Approved Section 508 Evaluation Tools |
While there are many tools for evaluation of accessibility and Section 508 compliance, there are guidelines and standards that no automated tool can programmatically diagnose with any certainty and most, if not all, will suggest manual checking both for items detected and for items that may or may not appear on a page. One example is use of color, "Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup." Another example is organization, "Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. Yet another example is whether the required alternative text for an image is descriptive and/or meaningful.
FREE TOOLS
Three well-known tools are available on line for evaluating Section 508 compliance. These will evaluate public, not internal, web sites but see the WAVE note. All three are approved tools.
(1) Watchfire WebXACT (formally Bobby Online)
WebXACT lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues.
Note: User selectable advanced options are provided and the Section 508 compliance option, NOT the default evaluation option, should be used.
(2) WebAIM WAVE
WAVE from the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University also lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues.
Note: User selectable preferences provided include evaluation of Section 508 compliance (recommended) and a useful feature is the option of uploading a page from the user's computer that allows for content evaluation of internal pages and pages under development.
(3) Cynthia Says Portal
Cynthia Says is a free content accessibility validation solution designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines.
Note: One of the sponsors is a vendor, HiSoftware, listed below.
This is not a complete list by any means. Less well known free tools are available, for example
A-Prompt
A-Prompt is a free downloadable Windows program developed and made available by the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre of the University of Toronto.
COMMERCIAL TOOLS
Three vendors provide the leading and best known commercial products for evaluating Section 508 compliance. GSFC has a licence for and recommends use of the Lift Machine.
(1) Usablenet: LIFT Machine
LIFT Machine is an enterprise-wide web site testing solution to test and monitor for compliance with W3C and U.S. Section 508 accessibility guidelines.
Note: The LIFT Machine is available to evaluate internal and public GSFC web sites.
(2) HiSoftware: AccVerify and AccRepair
AccVerify is a tool that evaluates a site for accessibility using the Section 508 or WAI guidelines. AccRepair includes the functionality of AccVerify and helps in the repair of documents so they meet accessibility standards.
Note: HiSoftware provided a free download of an accessibility checker called AccVerify SE that allowed FrontPage designers to check their site for potential accessibility issues.
(3) SSB Technologies: InFocus
InFocus allows developers to check Web pages for accessibility violations and automates the repair process.
Note: It is not obvious whether captioning or a transcript is provided for the media object (Flash 6) on the SSB home page.
A comprehensive list of accessibility evaluation, repair, and transformation tools can be found on the W3C site at http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER//existingtools.html
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Curator:
Responsible NASA Official:
Last Updated: March 6, 2009
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