Checking out your web site

Use an automated accessibility tool and browser validation tool available in Dreamweaver and at the W3C Website. Here is a list of some things to focus on when reviewing your web pages for accessibility:

• Validate syntax (e.g., HTML, XML, etc.).
• Validate style sheets (e.g., CSS).
• Use a text-only browser or emulator.
• Use multiple graphic browsers, with:
  • sounds and graphics loaded,
  • graphics not loaded,
  • sounds not loaded,
  • no mouse,
  • frames, scripts, style sheets, and applets not loaded
• Use several browsers, old and new.
• Use a self-voicing browser, a screen reader, magnification software, a small display, etc.
• Use spell and grammar checkers. A person reading a page with a speech synthesizer may not be able to decipher the synthesizer's best guess for a word with a spelling error. Eliminating grammar problems increases comprehension.
• Review the document for clarity and simplicity. Readability statistics, such as those generated by some word processors may be useful indicators of clarity and simplicity. Better still, ask an experienced (human) editor to review written content for clarity. Editors can also improve the usability of documents by identifying
• Use the Firefox extension to create a text version of your website so you can read over your material and determine if it makes sense to someone using assistive technologies.

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