Bobby

Bobby tests web pages using the guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Access Initiative (WAI), as well as Section 508 guidelines from the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) of the U.S. Federal Government.

Bobby allows developers to test web pages and generate summary reports highlighting critical accessibility issues before posting content to live servers. It provides automatic checks for a limited number of accessibility problems. For instance, it's is useful for locating missing text alternatives to visuals and for checking for untidy HTML coding.

Bobby can't, however evaluate a site for layout consistency, ease of navigation, provision of contextual and orientation information, or the use of clear and easy to understand language. Nor can the program check what a site will look like without graphics or colours, under different resolutions, or using different font sizes or through a text-only browser.

Bobby produces a large report, much of which consists of recommendations that you carry out manual checks (which may actually turn out to be unnecessary). For every guideline, advice is readily available on how to make your document comply, and why it's important for accessibility.

You can use Bobby in two ways. If you only want to test a few pages, it is available as a free on-line tool. You enter the URL of the document you want to check and receive a report that details where you comply and where you don't. If you want to check many pages, you should buy the downloadable version, so you can check as many pages as you like.

To find out more, visit http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp.