Accessibility

• Cynthia Says! offers an online accessibility test that validates a single web page at a time.
• The Illinois Center for IT and Web Accessibility offers a tool to evaluate the functional accessibility of a single web page.
• Accessify.com’s Quick Page Accessibility Tester is a bookmarklet/favelet that gives a quick analysis of any web page.
• The W3C Markup Validation Service checks the markup validity of Web documents in HTML, XHTML, SMIL, MathML, etc.
• The W3C has compiled a complete list of web accessibility evaluation tools.
• WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM that provides feedback by showing the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the page’s accessibility.
• Buy Accessible Wizard Tutorial - The Buy Accessible Wizard is a tool that helps Government agencies who acquire E&IT products or services make decisions that result in compliance with Section 508. It will create and maintain records for use in solicitation and demonstrating due diligence in compliance.

Colorblindness

• The Colorblind Web Page Filter lets you view a specific URL through various color filters to simulate colorblindness.
• Vischeck lets you check images or a web page for colorblind visibility.

Checklists

• The Texas Health and Human Services Commission developed a checklist for Section 508 accessibility (XLS, 80KB) – information about file formats.
• The Section 508 checking tool compares your html code against the Section 508 checklist.
• NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center offers comprehensive best practices for accessibility development and testing.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers these training modules for testing common documents for Section 508 compliance.

Screen Readers

• Developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content JAWS reads aloud what is on the computer screen. Check WebAIM for tips on using JAWS to evaluate web accessibility and a list of JAWS keyboard shortcuts, especially for new or occasional JAWS users.
• Windows-Eyes is a software application for the blind and visually impaired that converts components of the Windows operating system into synthesized speech allowing for complete and total access to Windows based computer systems.

Standards and Guidelines

• Section 508 requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Visit this site for detailed and summarized information on the Section 508 Standards.
• The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops guidelines widely regarded as the international standard for web accessibility including Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).