Evaluation Directions

Setting things up

  1. Get Bobby installed
  2. Set up Bobby to only check for certain items. The list of items is as follows:
    • Provide alternative content for each OBJECT
    • Provide alternative text for all images map hot-spots (AREAs)
    • Provide alternative text for all images
    • Provide alternative test for each APPLET
    • ALT text>150 characters, consider providing a separate description
    • Provide a synchronized textual transcript for the audio in videos
    • Provide transcripts for all audio files
    • Provide text links that duplicate all server-side image map hot-spots
    • Provide an auditory description of the visual track for multimedea presentations
    • Next headings properly
    • Make sure BLOCKQUOTE is used only for quotations, not indentiation
    • Provide a NOFRAMES section when using FRAMEs
    • Avoid blinking text created with the BLINK element
    • Avoid scrolling text created with the MARQUEE element
    • If possible, use a client-side image map instead of a server-side image map
    • Avoid use of obsolete language features if possible
    • Give each frame a title
    • Provide alternative text for all image-type buttons in forms
    • Explicitly associate form controls and their lables with the LABEL element
    • Do not use the same link phrase more than once when the links point to different URLs
    • Include a document TITLE
    • Make sure there is a link to download accessible plug-ins
  3. Install the latest version of Opera on your computer.

Manual Checks

These checks are listed so that the most common problems are listed first. Pay attention to the first 3.

Common

  1. Skip Navigtion Link. Look for a skip navigation link. Either it will be visible or else they might be using an invisble gif. To check for an invisible gif, click on the camera icon so you can see the alt text for the images. A skip navigation link will be obvious to see. Most Web sites will fail this check.
  2. Is there a data table? If so then make sure there are proper use of header tags. In the user mode of opera, click on the box that says show stuctural elements. Any headers will show up with their <th> tag. If you don't see the <th> tag then the headers aren't there.
  3. Is there any Javascript on the pages besides rollovers? Look for pulldown menus. Some pages have rollovers that changes another image with words somewhere else on the page. That's bad.

Rare

  1. Colors. Are the colors bad? If something jumps out at you as being hard to read then write that down.
  2. Do Graphics Flicker? It's pretty obvious to see a flickering graphic.
  3. Alternative Text only Page? Only make note of this if there IS a text only page.
  4. Is there a timed response on a page? This is harder to find. You will usually find this in forms. You could also find this in Active Server Pages (ASP) that are remembering information about users as they go from page to page. ASP pages end with .asp instaed of .htm or .html.
  5. Does the page work with out a style sheet? Switch to user mode (the little person icon) to make sure things look O.K. without a style sheet. All of the text should be a Times New Roman font and very basic. Note if you see some other fonts or diffent font sizes. Problems could pop up on pages that use a Javascript menu or else use Cascading Style Sheets instead of layout tables to arrange things on a page.

Additional Checks (Non 508)

  1. Proper use of headers and lists. In the user mode of opera, click on the box that says show stuctural elements. It then highlights all of the headers and list items (<ol> or <ol>) so you can see if they are there.

Notes

  1. Once you find a couple pages without the skip navigation link then it's pretty obvious that the other pages don't have them also so you can start skipping this check and maybe just periodically check again.
  2. You only need to check for table headers when it's obvious that there is a data table. It should only take a quick glance at a page to see a data table.
  3. Menus in Javascript should be obvious to see when you quickly use the page. Just try a few mouseovers to see if anything else on the page changes.

Quick Summary of Manual Checks

  1. Check for a skip navigation link.
  2. Look for data tables.
  3. Look for Javascript.
  4. Look for Color problems.
  5. Look for flickering graphics.
  6. Look for a text only page.
  7. Look for a timed response.
  8. Look for proper headers.