Evaluating Accessibility
Jason Morningstar
UNC Chapel Hill | ITS Communications | Web Services
Why Should I Evaluate?
- Improved product
- Helps maintain user focus throughout the development process
- Ultimately a cost-saver
- Legal mandates
When Should You Evaluate?
- Now, on existing sites
- During development
- Prior to going live
Evaluation Tools
- Web-based
- Desktop applications
- Toolbars
- Browser Extensions
- Emulation
Emulation
- Using assistive technology can also be useful. Screen readers vary in price from $150 (IBM Home Page Reader) to $1000+ (the JAWS screen reader, UNC Chapel Hill's campus standard)
- Recent builds of the Opera browser include basic text-to-speech functionality, and Firefox extension foxyvoice is also a useful free tool
- Try linearizing your site by using a non-graphical browser, like LYNX. Delorie.com kindly hosts a LYNX emulator or fangs
The Role of Judgment
- Accessible design is fraught with judgment calls. Some accessibility guidelines simply can't be checked off by an automated tool. Consider screen contrast - it is a subjective value, and you need to actually see it to decide if it is acceptable or not. You cannot rely exclusively on tools. Treat any site with a 'Bobby Approved' label as suspect - just because a Web page 'passes' Bobby means very little in practical terms.
Handy Links
