My main focus lately has been coding in and of itself. But testing comes after coding, right? And nothing is more important than including testing to verify that your page is compliant with accessibility standards. I attended a webinar by David Berman today that introduced some helpful tools for having a machine test if your page is friendly for people with a variety of disabilities.
These were the most interesting to me which are free to download:
- Berman Accessibility Ribbon for Word - add-on to Microsoft Word that brings accessibility tools together under one ribbon
- CynthiaSays - validates your site as accessible
- WAVE: Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool - scores how accessible your site is
- Diagnostic.css - bookmarklet that checks for HTML & CSS accessibility blunders
- Colour Contrast Analyzer
- Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT)
- NVDA - screen reader for Windows
- Window-Eyes - screen reader for Windows, free with Microsoft Office license
- Fangs - screen reader emulator
- WCAG Contrast Checker - Firefox add-on
- AChecker - web accessibility checker
Not from his presentation, but other sites I've discovered on my own:
- lowvision.support - emulates what it's like being colorblind and looking at your page
- Color Contrast Checker
Keep in mind that machine-testing is wonderful, but nothing can replace how invaluable it is to test with real people with real disabilities!
What tools do you use to test how accessible your webpage or documents are?