Testing tools for the accessibility of websites

Abstract

The rapid development of the Information Communication Technologies and the Internet, and their ever growing use makes it necessary to satisfy the needs of all users, including those with disabilities, having accessibility problems. Therefore we have developed a new validator software called XValid, which is a human controlled testing tool for specific needs in light of “Design for All”, and based on the recommendations of WCAG 2.0. We used the well-known WebXACT, as well as our newly developed XValid validator for testing web pages. The testing was carried out in 15 categories: journals, web shops, government sites, websites related to health, TV channels’ sites, educational sites, commercial sites, news sites, time-tables, sites related to leisure activities... Museums, Assistive technologies, Chat sites, sport news, and web pages of banks. We made a comparison between the results of the two testing tools. The paper provides a summary of the most typical shortcomings to be taken into account by the designers of future websites.