Category: testing

Categories
screenreader testing

Screenreader Emulator Firefox Extension

So you would like to test your web site for screenreaders. It may not the final test, maybe it is. Maybe you don’t have screenreader software, or the resources to hire testers, or the time. What do you do?

Here comes the Fangs Screen Reader Emulator for Firefox 1.5 to the rescue. It’s by Peter Krantz of Standards-Schmandards. It’s yet another valuable Firefox extension for development. Fangs will open a new window with a text sampling of what a screenreader would “say”. It also has a tab for a basic headings list and a list of links. Very nifty.

[Fangs] renders a text version of a web page similar to screen reader output. Helps developers find accessibility issues fast.

Direct Download the Fangs Screen Reader Emulator

Categories
podcast testing toolbar web

Podcast #32: Testing for Web Accessibility

All about testing for web accessibility — the tools, methods, hows and whys.
Download Episode 32 (Testing for Web Accessibility)
[Transcript for Web Axe 32]

News

General

  • (Generally) Follow guidelines by WCAG, WebAIM, Accessify, this podcast
  • Follow any guidelines required by law (ADA, Section 508, DDA [UK])
  • Ensure multimedia and PDF are accessible
  • Use web standards
  • What CANNOT be tested by most automated tools:
    • Color contrast
    • Simple language
    • Tab order (tabindex) [tabindex no longer recommended]

Methods

  • Automated tools
  • Review site with keyboard only
  • Review site with screenreader, if available
  • Have impaired users test your site
  • Headings used appropriately

Tools

Cynthia Says
  • by HiSoftware
  • Returns long table, listed by checkpoint, if web page passed that checkpoint or not
  • Select WCAG levels or Section 508
  • Included in Firefox Developer Toolbar
A-Prompt
  • Adaptive Technology Resource Centre, University of Toronto
  • Computer application–Windows only
  • Performs automatic repairs
  • Select WCAG levels or Section 508
Watchfire WebXACT
  • Used to be known as Bobby
  • Besides accessibility checks, it gives:
    • Page download size
    • Metadata summary
    • Broken links
    • Browser compatibility
Firefox Web Developer Toolbar
  • turn on/off CSS
  • validate XHTML and CSS
  • disable javascript
  • hide images, display alt tags
  • resize browser
  • edit CSS
  • much, much more!
Accessibility Toolbar
  • IE only
  • validate XHTML and CSS
  • resize browser
  • toggle javascript, images/alt
  • heading structure
WAVE from WebAIM
Lynx viewer
  • by Yellowpipe Internet Services
  • Just enter URL and give your Lynx text-only rendering
  • Also can download and install Lynx application
Opera
  • “User Mode” with text browser emulator and more
  • Easily turn off images
  • Screen sizing
Firefox Speech Browser Extensions
Mobile Web Emulators
Categories
testing

Free Recommended Web Accessibility Tools

Here are a few good, free, web accessibility tools:

Here are a couple good related tools:

Categories
testing toolbar

Accessibility Toolbar for Opera

Presenting, for Opera users, the Web Accessibility Toolbar for Opera. The teams from Web Accessibility Tools Consortium, Vision Australia and The Paciello Group have developed for the Opera browser the useful toolbar that they built for Windows IE.

Web Accessibility Toolbar for Opera

Categories
testing wcag2

WCAG 2.0 and Accessibility Testers