Introduction: Tim Springer of SSB Technologies

Members of the WAI I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and
tell you about the project I am working on.

My name is Tim Springer, and I am the CIO at SSB Technologies.  Founded by
technologists with disabilities, SSB Technologies makes automated software
tools that diagnose and retrofit web sites to make them accessible to people
with disabilities according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG).

Last week, we released the 2.0 versions of our diagnostic tool, InSight, and
our retrofitting tool, InFocus.  Our automated tools are designed to be
incorporated into the web development process, integrating web accessibility
in all stages of web site development, from HTML creation to QA.  These
Java-based tools are intuitive enough to be used by junior technical staff,
and we have worked hard to make the tools universally accessible.

InSight checks for over 85 violations of the WCAG.  InFocus offers 62
automated and piloted fixes of accessibility violations.  InFocus steps
through the HTML code, highlights the violations, describes the problems and
offers automated solutions.  Version 2.0 of the tools includes enhancements
such as generation of diagnostic reports in XML, full support of Cascading
Style Sheets, and a solution for animated GIFs.  Our customers have found
that our tools reduce the time it takes to retrofit a page to make it
accessible by 75% compared to doing it manually.

Representatives from my company have contacted many of you individually.
However, I write to the general Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Interest
Group for three reasons.  First, I sincerely thank the WAI Working Group for
developing, publishing and revising the WCAG, and the WAI Evaluation and
Repair Tools Working Group for the development of the Techniques for
Accessibility Evaluation and Repair Tools document.  Both were invaluable in
the design of our software.  I hope that we can contribute the knowledge
that we developed while creating our solution to these groups in the future.

Second, I want to invite all members of the WAI Working and Interest Groups
to evaluate our software tools.  We have presented our software to some of
you and have received extremely beneficial feedback that we have
incorporated into subsequent version releases.  The feedback from the
individuals defining accessibility will allow evaluation and repair tools to
be effectively used by the widest possible audience, allowing more of the
Web to become accessible faster and more affordably than previously
possible.

Third, I want to make it clear that SSB Technologies is committed to the
realization of the mission of the WAI.  As a company founded by people with
disabilities, accessibility issues affect us personally.  I hope that we can
enter into an open dialogue in which our company can contribute to our
shared goal of making the Web accessible to all users.

If you are interested in participating in a demonstration of our tools or
have any further questions about our software or our company, please contact
me or Kevin Gough at timsp@ssbtechnologies.com or kevin@ssbtechnologies.com
respectively.  You can reach us by phone at 415.865.9500 or 415.553.8617.  I
would be happen to answer any technical questions, while Kevin will be able
to answer any questions you may have about our company and demonstrate our
tools.  Our new web site, www.ssbtechnologies.com, will be launched next
week

Once again, I would like to extend my thanks to the WAI for putting together
such a phenomenal set of resources for web developers, and hope that our
company can work with the WAI in the effort to implement the WCAG.

Sincerely,
Tim Springer

Received on Monday, 18 September 2000 19:53:57 UTC