Accessing Accessibility Tools
Last week I went to download the latest version of Bobby, an IBM tool that tests web pages to ensure they meet accessibility guidelines set by the W3C’s Web Access Initiative and Section 508 from the U.S. Federal Government. To my dismay, IBM has stopped offerring this tool for free, as of February 1, 2008. Going forward, IBM will be incorporating Bobby’s functionality into the product IBM Rational Policy Tester Accessibility Edition solution (previously known as WebXM Accessibility Module).
I realize that, as designers, we need to do more than scan our code to ensure our pages meet federal guidelines; we need to test pages with screen readers and ideally conduct usability tests with visually impaired users. But Bobby was a handy tool for taking a first pass at accessibility and identifying key problems. It has been the tool of choice for every company I have ever worked for or with on a web project. What tools should we turn to now that Bobby is no longer Freeware?
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