RampWEB

Section 508 Toolbar User Guide

The evaluation of a web page has been broken down into four areas:

  • Validate Code - Check your page for HTML and CSS code validation using third party tools.
  • Section 508 Tests - Perform manual tests that help to check for Section 508 compliance.
  • Internationlization - View the language specification and use tools to determine the readability of your page.
  • Page Information - Lean information about the page such as download speed, view the generated source, and page properties.

This next section describes each menu option and what it does.

RampWEB

About RampWEB
Information on RampWEB.
Accessibility Services
Information on RampWEB accessibility services including Section 508 compliance verification, Adobe PDF accessibility, accessible web development, and accessibility/usability testing.
Accessibility Training
Information on RampWEB's accessibility training.
Accessiblity Resources
Quick link to get to RampWEB's accessibility resources.
User Guide
Link to this user guide.
Update Toolbar
The toolbar will automatically ask you if you would like to update when new updates are available. This option allows you to manually check for updates.
Uninstall
This will uninstall the toolbar.
Last Updated
This will tell you when the toolbar was last updated. When new versions are available the toolbar will automatically download and update with the new version.

Validate Your Site

W3C HTML
Verifies the compliance of the page code with the W3C HTML standards using the W3C HTML Validator.
W3C CSS
Verifies the CSS code of the current page is valid using the W3C CSS Validator.
Check Links
Looks at the anchors (hyperlinks) in a HTML/XHTML document(s) to find broken links, etc. using the W3C Link checker.
W3C Spell Checker
Check the spelling of the text on a page using the W3C Spell Checker.

Section 508 Tests

Presentation

Toggle Stylesheets
This will turn off or on the associated style sheets. Use this function to ensure that the web page si readable without requiring the stylesheet.
View Grayscale
Shows the page in black and white. You can use grayscale along with the color contrast test to check for compliance with Section 508 1194.22(c).
Remove Tables
Removes any tables and displays the data linearly.
Show DIVs
Displays the DIV containers along with the container name.
Color Contrast
Checks the contrast of background and foreground colors used on the page according to the W3C WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 guidelines. This applies to Section 508 1194.22(c).
Magnify Screen
Allows you to magnify the screen from 200-800% to similate screen mangifier for the visually impaired.
Resize Browser
Resizes the current browser window to the width and height selected. There are options for standard window sizes, WebTV, PDA, and custom window sizes.
Lynx Viewer
View the web site as it would be seen using the text-only browser Lynx. This function uses Yellowpipes Lynx Viewer

Navigation

Navigation plays a very important role in how effectively users with and without disabilities can use your web site. Using skip navigation links, heading, descriptive link text, lists, and appropriate tab order will improve the accessibility of your page and will help you satify Section 508 §1194.22 (o) - skip navigation.

Display Skip Navigation
Displays the skip links found on the page. Note: this does not always show all of the skip links. If no skip links are found, you will also need to check the HTML code.
Display InPage Links
Shows all anchors and targets on the page.
Show Links
Shows all links on the page
Show External Links
Shows all external links on a page
Display Headings
Displays the HTML heading tag and the heading level.
Display Lists
Displays the HTML markup for the list items
Display Tab Order
Shows the tab order of the items on the page.
Show All
Shows all navigation items all at the same time.

Images

Screen readers and other devices rely on the text descriptions of images and other non-text elements to translate it into speech or to accurately interrupt the page. Text Equivalents for Images - Section 508 1194.22(a) requires that an alternative text for every image on the web page. Using the following functions, you can test for valid alternative text for images and image maps.

Test Images
Displays the alternative text beside every image found on the page. If no alternative text is found, a red X icon will show beside the image.
Toggle Images
Displays the alt text instead of the image.
List Images
Opens a new window and shows the images found on the page along with their properties.
Test Image Maps
Opens in a new window and shows image map with associated alt attributes for regions.
Show All
Shows the alternative text for both images and image maps.

Structure

The structure of your page are the different types of HTML elements that are contained on the page. For example, your page may contain headings, tables, and/or forms. In order for screen readers and other assistive devices to understand the meaning of your Web page, it is important to use the HTML elements appropriately for the use that they were intended.

Semantic Mark-up
Use this to show the different semantic mark-up used on the page including:
  • Headings
  • Lists
  • Quotes
  • Acroymns & abbreviations
  • Access keys
  • Specified elements
  • Deprecated mark-up
  • All of the above
Tables
Shows table mark-up including th, td, caption, summary, and headers/id or scope elements if they exist. Tables - Section 508 1194.22 (g) & (h) require that row and column headers be defined and that all data cells be associated with the appropriate header cells.
Frames
Test Frames - Displays a list of the frames in a separate window with a link to the individual page.
Display Frames - Displays the frame borders and tells the frame title.
Forms
Displays the form fields and their corresponding labels if it exists.

Scripts

View JavaScript Links
Shows all JavaScript links
Disable Mouse
Disables the mouse and only the keyboard will work for navigating and accessing information on the page
Event Handlers
Opens in a new window and shows a count of all event handlers used on the page.

Applets & Plug-ins

View Plug-ins
Shows all plug-ins used on the page.
Disable Plug-ins
Disables plug-ins.
List PDF, Doc, Spreadsheets
Lists all PDF, documents, and spreadsheets linked to on the page.
Show Multimedia Links
Shows all multimedia links.

Internationlization

Test Readability
Readability is an important part of ensuring that your audience can understand your page and also determines the ease in which it can be translated into other languages. This uses Juicy Studios readability test.
Display Language
Displays the language set in the html header and also any changes of language specified on the page.
Internatization Services
Link to the internationalization and translation serices of Bridge360. Unlike traditional translation vendors, Bridge360 is a team of software experts. Our knowledge allows us to work with you in all stages of the software development process. The result? Efficient delivery of your product to your customers, wherever they may be.

Page Information

Show DocType
This will display the HTML document header
Page Properties
Show the page properties including title, source, domain, referrer, cookie, CharSet, Modified Date, File Size, CSS links, Scripts, Document Size
View Source
Shows the page source code in a new window
View Generated Source
Shows the DOM HTML code for the page
Download Speed
Shows the download speed of the page

Resources

RampWEB 508 Testing Roadmap
Not sure how to test or use the toolbar effectively? The roadmap suggests ways to use the toolbar to effectively test for Section 508 compliance.
RampWEB Seaction 508 Explanations
RampWEB along with Jim Thatcher have created explanations on the 16 provisions of Section 508
Section 508 Guidelines
Link to Section 508 guidelines
Section 508 Tutorial
Jim Thatcher's tutorial on Section 508
WCAG vs 508
Jim Thatcher's comparison between W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Section 508
Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C WAI)
Link to the W3C WCAG 1.0 guidelines
UT Accessibility Institute
University of Texas Accessibility Institute's how tos and demos.