RE: France Telecom's expert system for accessibility evaluation

Thanks so much, Yvette, for this thorough and helpful report!
 
John
 
-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Yvette P. Hoitink
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 2:10 PM
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: RE: France Telecom's expert system for accessibility evaluation
 
Hello John and others,
 
The website offers the possibility to test your own site ("testez votre
site"). The service feels like a mix between the W3C HTML validator and
Bobby. The page you refer to is the error-page which isn't very
insightful but does have a form where you can enter a URL that will be
checked for accessibility. 
 
The result page starts by giving your statistical information about the
site, like the number of links. It then continues to give remarks on
different categories:
*         General recommendations, for example HTML validation errors.
*         Windows
*         Page organization, for example the use of <b> instead of
<strong>
*         Frames, for example missing frame titles.
*         Text presentation
*         Tables
*         Hyperlinks
*         Buttons, menus, roll-overs
*         Forms, for example missing labels
*         Search engines and other functions
*         Images, for example missing alt-text 
*         Scripts, applets and multimedia objects
*         The site
At the bottom it shows the HTML of the page where the problem areas have
been highlighted. 
 
My own impression of this service isn't very good. The result page only
lists problems without explanation or references to standards. Also, you
cannot select what to test for, like the level of accessibility you're
aiming for. Last, by only listing the problems, it gives the impression
that fixing those problems is all you need to make the website
accessible. It does not mention necessary manual testing at all. 
 
Yvette Hoitink
Heritas, Enschede, the Netherlands
E-mail: y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl
WWW: http://www.heritas.nl
 
	
________________________________

	From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org
[mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of John M Slatin
	Sent: vrijdag 19 november 2004 16:48
	To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
	Subject: France Telecom's expert system for accessibility
evaluation
	Came across this on the France Telecom site. My French isn't
quite up to the demands of the site, but I'd be very interested in
learning more about this tool and what it does.
	 
	http://www.ocawa.com/probleme.htm
	 
	John
	 
	
	"Good design is accessible design." 
	John Slatin, Ph.D.
	Director, Accessibility Institute
	University of Texas at Austin
	FAC 248C
	1 University Station G9600
	Austin, TX 78712
	ph 512-495-4288, f 512-495-4524
	email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu
	web http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/
<http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/>