[Accessibility_sig] Best way to test accessibility offline

[Moore, Michael]

Most of the testing methods that are available for sites on-line are
also available off-line.  The free automated testers that I know of do
require that the site be publicly available over the internet.

Here is a one recommended methodology.

1. Select your criteria.  Are you going to be testing to section 508?
WCAG A AA or AAA or do you have a custom set of criteria that you will
be using.  Will you include usability and web standards testing as part
of your testing criteria?

2. Choose your toolset.  Some things can be efficiently tested using
automated tools, these tools will also serve as a reasonable guide for
follow-up manual testing. Here are a few resources
	Jim Thatchers Favelets: http://www.jimthatcher.com/favelets/
      Web Accessibility Toolbar (IE):
http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ais/toolbar/
      Developer Toolbar (FF):
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
      Accessibility Toolbar (FF): http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu/index.php
      TAW: http://www.tawdis.net/taw3/cms/en
      HTML/Tidy Based Extension (Includes accessibility checks)
http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/
      Lots more resources can be found at http://www.knowbility.org and
at http://www.jimthatcher.com 

3. Run your tests, evaluate the results and make the corrections. Do the
manual checks too (alt text is appropriate, heading structure makes
sense, links make sense out of context, no unannounced/unrequested
pop-ups).
4. Make sure that all functions work with the keyboard.
5. Test your site with some assistive technologies JAWS or WindowEyes
are best for screen reader tests but an approximation can be made with
either the IBM home page reader or fireVox.  Do not rely or either Fangs
or Lynx for this testing.  TEXT BROWSING IS NOT THE SAME THING!!!
6. Test using some sort of screen magnification.  ZoomText and Magic are
best because they also include contrast controls and some speaking
components, that function differently than the screen readers.  For
instance, label/for/id does not work with the zoom text speech engine,
which relies on the title attribute.
7. If you really want to be thorough test your site with Dragon to
ensure that it works with a speech interface.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Specialist
Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS)
(512) 424-4159

-----Original Message-----
From: accessibility_sig-bounces at knowbility.org
[mailto:accessibility_sig-bounces at knowbility.org] On Behalf Of Bechara
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:25 PM
To: wgreer at cotwd.org; Discussion list for web and software accessibility
issues
Subject: [Accessibility_sig] Best way to test accessibility offline

What is the best way to test accessibility web sites offline?
 
Thanks,
Everaldo