Use WAVE Tool to Test Web Pages for Accessibility

Are you someone who creates or maintains web pages? Are you concerned about making sure they’re accessible for everyone, including people with disabilities? Here at ProfHacker, we’ve published several posts over the years about accessibility and digital resources, including the following:

• “Using Lynx to Test Modern Web Sites for Accessibility”
• “How to Use Pa11y for Automated Accessibility Testing of Web Pages”
• “User-Friendly Advice for Accessible Web Design – ProfHacker”
• “How to Evaluate Your Web Pages for Accessibility”
• “Accessibility for Web Writers”
• “To Test for Accessibility, Try Navigating Without Your Mouse”
• “Teach Access Tutorial: Best Practices for Digital Accessibility”

A browser-based, accessibility-checking tool that I’ve always liked is the WAVE Accessibility Extension, available for Firefox and for Chrome. (This tool is a product of WebAIM, which I’ve written about before.) For awhile now, this extension was no longer compatible with the most recent updates to Firefox. Recently, though, WebAIM announced an update to the extension:

It works again!

If you’re interested in using this tool, check out these links:

• “WAVE Chrome Extension”: The main page for the browser extensions.
• “WAVE Accessibility Extension :: Add-ons for Firefox”: Download the Firefox extension.
• “WAVE Evaluation Tool - Chrome Web Store”: Download the Chrome extension.
• “WAVE Help”: Learn how the WAVE tool works.

How about you? Do you use the WAVE accessibility tool? What are your thoughts about its strengths and weaknesses? Alternately, what are your favorite methods for ensuring accessibility?

[CC-licensed Flickr photo by Shane Watson]