1. Testing for Accessibility
Sandra Clark
Sr. Software Developer
The Constella Group

2. Types of Disabilities
Accessible web sites are not only for blind people.
Inability to use a mouse
Arthritis
Can’t use hands
Cognitive
ADHD
Blind
Vision Issues
Color Blindness
Focus Issues
Dyslexia
Deaf/Hard of Hearing

3. Testing for Accessibility
So many types of issues require different solutions. How to test to everything?
Follow Standards and Guidelines
WCAG 1.0
WCAG 2.0 (Still in the proposal stage)
Section 508 (Federal Sites)

4. Accessibility Evaluation
Human
Testing performed by an actual person
Quality of results depends on the knowledge and experience of the tester.
Computer
Often very fast and efficient
Can run completely automated
Not everything can be computationally tested. Many accessibility items require human evaluation.
Computer Aided
Individual assisted by a computer process.

5. Automated Testing Certain software claims to test for accessibility.
Can be useful to point out areas but its dangerous to rely on.
Very few areas of accessibility are totally objective.
Can use automated tools for specific points, but don’t think that’s all there is to it.

6. Accessibility is Subjective
Why can’t we use automated tools?
Consider an image
<img src=“3women.html” alt=“three women” />

7. Best Accessibility Testing Tool?
YOU!

8. What makes a good tester
Attention to Detail
Not part of the original team.
Knowledgeable about
HTML
JavaScript
CSS
Flash Action Script

9. Testing Tools Best Testing tool is a source code editor.
Computer Aided Tester
Wave 4 Toolbar
Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox (
Color Tester (for color blind)
Color Contrast Analyzer
(Windows)
(online)
Photosensitivity Epilepsy Analysis Tool
List of Testing Tools available

10. Wave 4 Toolbar Computer/Human Aided Testing Browser Toolbar – Firefox
Can test Intranets, password protected sites.
Aids in testing Ajax Sites.

11. WebDeveloper Toolbar Most useful toolbar for testing
Aids in testing many areas of accessibility
Images – Alt Text
Forms – ID
Easily Disable JavaScript and/or CSS

12. Screen Readers - Windows
Needs time to get good with them.
Jaws Demo
Window-eyes Demo
Both Jaws and Window-Eyes have 40 and 30 minute demo programs (respectively).
Both programs need a reboot of your computer to continue.
Useful in a Virtual Machine.
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access)
Open Source for Windows

13. Screen Readers - Others
ORCA – (Sun)
Linux and Solaris
Runs under GNOME
Voice Over (Apple)
Bundled with Max OSX

14. Testing PDF
Adobe Acrobat Professional has a reading mode. Use that and the included accessibility checker.
Best Accessibility in PDF’s is achieved from Good source.
Remember Garbage In, Garbage Out

15. Testing Flash/Flex No tool exists that helps with testing.
Flash/Flex is only accessible within Internet Explorer.
Gecko Browsers and Opera should support the keyboard browsing.
Ask 2 questions before starting to test Flash/Flex Applications
Is the applications accessibility set to enabled?
Flash/Flex applications are not enabled by default.
Are the components being used the standard ones supported by Adobe?
These items are able to be made accessible.
If the components are custom built, are they also accessible?

16. How to know what to Test
All the guidelines are fairly vague and especially for someone new, its hard to know what it all means.
In 2006, a consortium of 23 EU countries collaborated on a methodology to standardize testing.
Consists of a variety of Test Cases under WCAG 1.0 (Priority 1 and 2). Covers most of Section 508

17. 140 Pages???? Relax Two excel templates for testing
One for WCAG 1.0 (P1 and P2)
One for Section 508
Both based on the wabcluster methodology
SMART
Specific
Measurable
Accessibility that is
Realistic and
Testable.

18. Excel Templates can be downloaded from shayna.com
Section 508 Template
WCAG 1.0 (P1 and P2) Template

19. What about Priority 3?
WCAG 1.0 Priority 3 contains the guidelines to help make web pages more accessible to specific disabilities.
Some of the these priorities actually can inhibit accessibility for certain groups.
Case in point.
9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
With the exception of just a few keys. Any accesskey that is defined within a web page, is going to conflict with a screen reader application which is totally keyboard dependent.

20. Future of Accessibility
IS BRIGHT
WCAG 2.0 makes it easier to include Ajax/Flash features
Section 508 Refresh takes Ajax/RIA’s into account
Dojo – An Accessible JavaScript Toolkit
ARIA – The Accessible Rich Internet Applications Standards
Mostly supported in FireFox 2.0
Supported fully in FireFox 3.0

21. Questions?