Accessibility Evaluation Types
Automatic Evaluation
There are a variety of software tools that carry out automatic accessibility evaluations of websites.
They are best for finding blatant violations of Section 508 and WCAG 1.0 standards on all pages throughout the site.
The results of their evaluation require an evaluator to determine whether a true issue exists or not.
They can miss many problems that require human judgment to interpret as a problem.
Manual Evaluation
Manual accessibility evaluations involve an evaluator going through pages (both marked and unmarked as having a problem by accessibility software tools) to check for accessibility.
Usability Testing with Disabled Users
In usability testing, users from whatever population a system (e.g., website) is being designed for are brought in to work with the system.
As good as an expert usability evaluator is at their job, it is always necessary to bring in users to see how they work with a system to determine whether it works for them or not. The same is true for accessibility, because the user group to be designed for is the disabled population.
AChecker checks single html pages for conformance with accessibility standards to ensure the content can be accessed by everyone.
wave is a free, web-based tool to help web developers make their web content more accessible. wave allows anyone to quickly and effectively evaluate the accessibility of their web content.
wave api new in 2013 - proprietary
wave Flavors
Fujitsu 
Web Accessibility Inspector examines the accessibility of a website and points out any important problem that affects mainly the elderly and visually disabled people. Accessibility Inspector | Fujitsu Download 
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ColorSelector is a software for judging the legibility of background and text colors. Download ColorSelector 
ColorDoctor is software that simulates the display content according to grayscale and color characteristics. Download ColorDoctor 
HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
HandBrake Supported Sources:a
Most common multimedia files that libavformat and libavcodec support.
Any DVD or Bluray-like source which is NOT copy-protected. (removal of copy protection is not supported)
Outputs:
File format: MP4(M4V) and MKV
Video: MPEG-4(ffmpeg), H.264(x264), or Theora(libtheora)
Audio: AAC, CoreAudio AAC (OS X Only), MP3, or Vorbis. AC-3 pass-through, DTS pass-thorugh (MKV only)
Misc features:
Chapter selection, Chapter Markers
Subtitles
Vobsub and Closed Captions
SRT import and passthru
SSA passthru or burn-in (experimental)
Constant Quality or Average Bitrate Video Encoding
Support for VFR, CFR and VFR
Video: Deinterlacing, Decomb, Detelecine, Cropping and scaling
Live Video Prievw
Blind Browser tests retina displays on 1x displays
The most important accessibility feature in iPhone is VoiceOver, the world’s first gesture-based screen reader. Instead of memorizing keyboard commands or pressing tiny arrow keys, you simply touch the screen to hear a description of the item under your finger, then double-tap, drag, or flick to control iPhone.
VoiceOver speaks over 30 languages and works with all of the applications built into iPhone 4. And new in iOS 4, a language rotor lets you select a spoken language temporarily without changing the systemwide settings.
Video calling with FaceTime.
FaceTime on iPhone 4 makes it possible to have video calls with friends and family across the globe — perfect for sign-language conversations. It works iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi, and it requires no setup or special accounts. In fact, making video calls is as simple as it gets: Just tap the FaceTime button right from a contact to start a call. If somebody wants to start a video call with you, you’ll receive an invitation — along with a vibrating alert — on your iPhone 4 asking you to join. Simply tap yes, and the video call begins.
Support for wireless braille displays and international braille tables
iPhone 4 supports more than 30 Bluetooth wireless braille displays right out of the box. Just pair one and start using it to navigate your iPhone with VoiceOver — no additional software needed. In addition, iPhone includes braille tables for more than 25 international languages.
Typing improvements
Touch Typing is an optional new way for blind or visually impaired people to type on the onscreen keyboard. With Touch Typing, you can run your finger across the keyboard, listening to VoiceOver speak each letter aloud. When you get to the letter you want, lift your finger to select it.
Enhanced rotor
VoiceOver also features a virtual control called the rotor. Turning the rotor — by rotating two fingers on the screen as if you were turning a dial — changes the way VoiceOver moves through a web page based on a setting you choose. For example, a flick up or down might let you move through a page by header, link, or image. In iOS 4, you can add settings to the web rotor such as lists, tables, text fields, and buttons. And the rotor is now visible to sighted users to make it easier for them to assist you or to use the rotor themselves.
Zoom and Magnify
Zoom on iPhone lets you magnify the entire screen of any application up to five times normal size. Move left, right, up, and down to view any portion of the screen close up. Zoom works everywhere, including the Home, Lock, and Search screens, and with every app — even those you purchase from the App Store. In addition to Zoom, a new Large Font feature in iPhone 4 lets you further increase the font size of key elements in Mail, Contacts, Notes, and Messages.
White on Black (Higher Contrast)
If you prefer higher contrast, iPhone 4 lets you change the display to white on black. Use the White on Black feature in any application, as well as the Home, Lock, and Search screens, and with Zoom and VoiceOver.
Optional mono audio
If your hearing is limited in one ear, tap a checkbox to route both right- and left-channel audio into both earbuds, so you can hear both channels in either ear.
Support for Closed Captioning
iPhone supports the playback of open captions, closed captions, and subtitling. Captions appear onscreen just like the closed captions you see on TV. You can buy, rent, or download captioned movies and video podcasts from the iTunes Store to watch on the go. Or you can create and watch your own closed-captioned videos.
Apple strongly encourages developers to support these APIs in all of their apps so they are compatible with features built into iOS such as VoiceOver. Xcode makes it easy to add accessibility labels and information to standard controls. Interface Builder, for example, has an inspector that allows you to enter descriptions supported by VoiceOver for controls in the user interface.
VoiceOver interacts with objects in your app to allow people with disabilities to drive the user interface in an alternative manner. For example, a VoiceOver user relies solely on an alternative set of gestures for control, and on speech synthesis or braille for feedback. Users with low vision will view your app differently as well, using the built-in zoom and white-on-black display mode options to adapt the onscreen experience to their specific needs. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing may rely on vibration and visual alerts instead of audio.
When designing your app, you should consider how all users may interact with your app. If your app does not implement the accessibility API or uses custom controls that have not been made accessible, a VoiceOver user may not be able to use the app. Similarly, if your app uses a non-standard gesture set without providing alternate means for performing actions, it may be inaccessible to users with motor disabilities. By following a few simple guidelines, you can ensure that your app will work as intended for those who rely on these assistive features in iOS.
With built-in accessibility features, Accessibility APIs and a host of developer tools and utilities, iOS provides an extraordinary opportunity to deliver a superior mobile experience to every customer, including those with special needs.
VoiceOver, the accessibility technology built into Mac OS X and iOS (on iPads, iPhones and iPods).
In a nutshell, VoiceOver allows the user to navigate between, and interact with, accessible elements in an application. An accessible element might be a control, static text, an image or any other kind of content. It’s up to the app (with a lot of help from UIKit) to make suitable items available as accessible elements. Additionally, VoiceOver provides audio cues when the user moves between interface elements, or when the screen layout alters in some way.
VoiceOver has a concept called the rotor, which you can think of as a mode-toggle. With VoiceOver enabled, you adjust the rotor by literally making a two-finger rotation gesture on screen. In Safari, the rotor changes what type of element on the page that VoiceOver navigates between. In “Links” mode, VoiceOver will move between links. In “Headings” mode, it will move between headings on the page. There are modes for images, form elements, visited or unvisited links, and more. It allows users to perform a sort of parallel search without even looking (or scrolling). The rotor exists system-wide too, for example toggling between reading out characters or words when entering text, and so forth.
The rotor is an example of how robust accessibility support entails allowing differently-abled users to not only access the same functionality and content, but (crucially) also to benefit from similar navigational optimisations as unimpaired users. It’s a very important point to grasp.
UIKit controls are accessible by default.
Accessible elements have three primary properties which are of interest for accessibility: an accessibility label, an accessibility hint, and one or more accessibility traits. Note that the accessibility label is independent of any other label the element might have (such as a button’s label), but that if you don’t specify an accessibility label and your control does have a regular label, VoiceOver will of course use it.
There are three further accessibility properties (the accessibility frame, which specifies the element’s location and size on screen; the accessibility value, which gives the element’s current value as a string; and the accessibility language which specifies the language in which to speak the item’s accessibility information, if that language should differ from the user’s chosen default), but you’ll only need to set them if your control isn’t a subclass of a standard UIKit control or view.
You can set accessibility labels, hints and traits in the Identity inspector in Interface Builder.
ACTF aDesigner is an Eclipse RCP application disability simulator that helps designers ensure that their content and applications are accessible and usable by the visually impaired.
Voice browsers and screen readers read aloud the text on Web pages and are used by visually impaired people. However, these devices are less effective with certain kinds of content, such as highly graphical material.
Web developers can use aDesigner to test the accessibility and usability of Web pages for low-vision and blind people.
aDesigner also helps users to check accessibility of ODF documents and Flash content. It also has accessibility information (MSAA/IA2) inspection functions.
Browsers
ie
Firefox
Pressing ALT+ENTER on a graphic containing a long description (londesc now opens and displays the description in a new tab.
Firefox Add-Ons
Toolbars
A jQuery plugin that lets you easily check HTML for adherence to accessibility standards. It comes with over 200 tests which implement Open Accessibility Tests and comes with WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0, and Section 508 guidelines.
Developers can build their own guidelines github, or easily build a custom guideline that integrates with their project. While the project supports checking entire html pages, integration with a CMS to check partial html content is probably the most popular use case.
actf (Accessibility Tools Framework)
The actf is a collection of tools and building blocks developed by ibm. By using the framework, developers can create accessibilitytools and applications easily and cost effectively, as they no longer need to spend time creating a tool or an application from scratch. With the reusable accessibility technology components of ACTF, and the standardized design and application programming interfaces the framework offers, developers can quickly and easily build various accessibility tools, such as an accessibility validation tool or a usability visualization tool.
actf will allow developers to build and use various types of accessibility tools, such as those for accessibility compliance validation, usability visualization, and alternative accessible interfaces for persons with disabilities. These tools will be integrated into a single, comprehensive accessibility tooling environment as part of the Eclipse platform. Initially, ACTF will support content based on html, odf, Flash, Java application graphical user interfaces such as Java Swing and Eclipse SWT, and accessibility apis such as msaa and IAccessible2 to provide unified accessibility to Web content and applications.
DUMP
MsaaVerify
MsaaVerify is a testing tool that verifies whether properties and methods off of the IAccessible interface (aka Microsoft Active Accessibility) meet the guidelines specified in the msaa documentation on msdn.
STOP! - PLEASE READ - Update 12 Feb 2008
So you are looking for an accessibility testing tool... that's pretty cool in my book. So here are a few things you should know. I've uploaded the original MsaaVerify (from GotDotNet in 2004) as its own release here on CodePlex. In that release, you'll find its source code, a specification document (make sure to read to see what is tested and what isn't), and a test app. In other words, use this version for actual testing!
ORIGINAL MsaaVerify: Original Version From GotDotNet
MsaaVerify
MsaaVerify is a testing tool that verifies whether properties and methods off of the IAccessible interface (aka Microsoft Active Accessibility) meet the guidelines specified in the msaa documentation on msdn.
STOP! - PLEASE READ - Update 12 Feb 2008
So you are looking for an accessibility testing tool... that's pretty cool in my book. So here are a few things you should know. I've uploaded the original MsaaVerify (from GotDotNet in 2004) as its own release here on CodePlex. In that release, you'll find its source code, a specification document (make sure to read to see what is tested and what isn't), and a test app. In other words, use this version for actual testing!
ORIGINAL MsaaVerify: Original Version From GotDotNet
The fae analyzes web pages for markup that is consistent with the use of icita abbr Best Practices for the development of functionally accessible web resources that also support interoperability. Use the fae form to evaluate the functional accessibility of a single web page.
wet includes reusable components for building and maintaining innovative Web sites that are accessible, usable, and interoperable. These reusable components are open source software and free for use by departments and external Web communities.
wet complies with new (Canadian Government) Standards on Web Accessibility and Web Usability; the toolkit will also ease compliance with the Standard on Web Interoperability.
AChecker is an open source Web accessibility evaluation tool. It can be used to review the accessibility of Web pages based on a variety international accessibility guidelines. Use the Public AChecker to evaluate the accessibility of a Web site you know. Download AChecker to setup your own version.
FireEyes is offered free of charge from the makers of WorldSpace Sync, the most powerful accessibility software suite available.
FireEyes is for individual, non-commercial use, and provides developers and QA testers the ability to check pages for accessibility issues, and provides help and support to solve the issues.
aDesigner is an accessibility extension for the Eclipse Development Platform; it's a disability simulator that helps designers ensure that their content and applications are accessible and usable by the visually impaired.
In the context of web site design, accessibility is a measure of how easy it is to access, read, and understand the content of a web site. Accessibility is complicated by the fact that a web site is not a published piece of work so much as a living document that can be interpreted in different ways by different browsers and on different platforms. Web sites are not a print medium- although they are most often read in a visual manner, there are many different ways a web page can be experienced, such as via a speech browser or via an indexing robot. A web page is a combination of textual information which is interpreted appropriately by a browser and linked to files of various types, such as graphics, movie clips and sound files.
Since a web page can be interpreted differently by different browsers with different capabilites, and since the language of a web page- HTML, is constantly evolving, accessibility must be considered to make a page usable by as many people as possible. The keys to making your page accessible are graceful degradation, standards compliance, fast loading, and intelligent organization.
Accessibile Web Development
Automated Tools
- The WAVE by WebAIM is an automated accessibility checker used for testing individual web pages
- Web Accessibility Checker by the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre at the University of Toronto checks single HTML pages for conformance with accessibility standards
- Functional Accessibility Evaluator evaluates the functional accessibility of web pages
