Rutgers.eduHere are some free tools and browser toolbars that web developers may use to check a website’s accessibility according to international standards and guidelines.
Accessibility markup analyzers
- Accessibility Bookmarklets
- These bookmarklets contain Javascript and run on your page. By clicking the bookmark in a page, it highlights landmarks, headings, lists, images, and forms. They also list out the contents of each item including alt text.
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- AIS Web Accessibility Toolbar
- Provided by AIS, the Web Accessibility Toolbar (WAT) functions on Windows XP with Internet Explorer 5+. The WAT can be used to check many of the Checkpoints from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
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- Accessibility Evaluation Toolbar
- Provided by Firefox, the toolbar aids web developers in testing resources for accessibility based on iCITA HTML Best Practices.
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- AInspector Sidebar
- AInspector Sidebar is an add-on for Firefox. Once downloaded, the sidebar evaluates the current (and then each subsequent) page that the user loads in the browser within a single tab. AInspector also provides screen reader support for column header information.
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- aXe
- Developed by Deque, aXe is an open source JavaScript library that allows for automated testing inside of your browser of choice. It is also available in plugins for both Chrome and Firefox.
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- Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) 2.0
- Developed by the Open Accessibility Alliance and OpenAjax Accessibility Task Force, the FAE analyzes web pages for the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
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- Web Accessibility Toolbar (WAT) for IE
- The WAT can be downloaded and used to manually examine webpages for accessibility
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- WorldSpace Attest DevTools
- Created by Deque, this tool is built into the Chrome inspect tools to scan for accessibility issues within a website and outputs solutions to fix these. It also provides screen reader simulation, utilize custom rulesets, and be integrated with WorldSpace Comply.
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HTML/CSS validators
- W3C CSS Validator
- May be used to check CSS and (X)HTML documents with style sheets.
Available for: - W3C HTML Validator
- May be used to check the markup of Web documents.
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Color contrast analyzers
- Accessible Colors
- Accessible Colors uses the combination of hex colors and data on the text size to output a pass or fail by WCAG 2.0 standards. It also provides possible solutions if the inputed color combination fails.
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- Color Pallet Accessibility Evaluator
- Developed by North Carolina State University, the Color Palette Evaluator compares submitted color combinations to see which colors comply with WCAG 2.0 specifications.
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- WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
- Allows you to enter a selected foreground and background color and produce a score for contrast, as well as an example. It also provides functionality to lighten or darken selected colors to find a more accessible luminosity.
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