Announcement-HiSoftware's Accessibility Interview Wizard provides the bridge between automated and visual testing

HiSoftware's Accessibility Interview Wizard provides the bridge between
automated and visual accessibility testing.

New features expand Acc-Product line, a global test management solution for
organizing and managing the accessibility testing process.

Concord, NH, May 7, 2002-HiSoftware, Inc. today announced the upcoming
release of its Accessibility Interview Wizard, which will provide a
comprehensive solution for managing the visual verification required for
complete accessibility reporting and auditing practices. The Accessibility
Interview Wizard will be an integrated new feature in HiSoftwares acclaimed
AccVerify, AccRepair and AccMonitor Solutions, that will dramatically
decrease the cost of making Internet, Intranet, and Extranet content and Web
based applications accessible and usable. The new product releases will be
available on May 20. For more information, please visit
http://www.hisoftware.com/access/index.html.

The Accessibility Interview Wizard introduces the first solution available
with the interface necessary to produce complete reports on Web sites
compliance with accessibility standards (both programmatic and Visual) and
is integrated with AccVerify, AccRepair and AccMonitor. Prior to the
Accessibility Interview Wizard, commercial accessibility testing solutions
provided a mechanism to complete the programmatic testing and repair of Web
content, only. However, Section 508 accessibility standards and W3C WCAG 1.0
Priority 1-3 accessibility guidelines require a combination of programmatic
and visual testing as well as programmatic and manual repair.

The Accessibility Interview Wizard allows users to combine the visual
testing process with the automated verification to produce a complete report
for management or other distribution. The wizard, like a manual test plan,
provides prompts, cues, and test completion steps to empower developers or
quality assurance specialists to test for Accessibility and usability
regardless of their individual experience with the topic.

The final result is a complete and concise report on the total accessibility
status of Web pages that have been tested as well as a document to stand by
and present to the groups coordinating Accessibility for an organization.

The Accessibility Interview Wizard utilizes XML and the Evaluation and
Reporting Language, (EARL) and/or its open database, to enable users to
record the checks and repairs they have conducted visually and manually.

The Evaluation And Report Language is an RDF based framework for recording,
transferring and processing data about automatic and manual evaluations of
resources. The purpose of this is to provide a framework for generic
evaluation description formats that can be used in generic evaluation and
report tools. (see http://www.w3.org/2001/03/earl/#introduction )

The Accessibility Interview Wizard defines a new level of accessibility
test management, enabling organizations to fully recognize, implement and
record their accessibility management process through a single interactive
interface, said Robert B. Yonaitis, CEO and President of HiSoftware
Company. The fusion of our automated test management systems, with the
efforts of the quality assurance teams provides a comprehensive reporting
system that will enable accountability and will allow organizations to
consider all aspects of accessibility testing from a Project Management
perspective.

HiSoftwares Open database architecture and Open APIs provide extensible
systems that enable Systems Integrators and Users to integrate AccVerify and
AccRepair into their Web site publishing or testing architectures thus
providing the ability to run Accessibility verification and repair solutions
as part of the process from within their content delivery system.
Additionally, organizations that utilize proprietary content creation
systems can incorporate HiSoftware solution functions into these systems
without exposing their Intellectual Property outside of the organization.

HiSoftwares Web site accessibility solutions, AccVerify, AccRepair,
AccMonitor Server, Hi-Caption and AccessibilityWATCH, assist organizations
in achieving and maintaining accessible Web sites. These solutions,
available as desktop applications and as automated server solutions, help
organizations develop long-term strategies to achieve Web content
accessibility. They allow multiple users to work collaboratively on Web site
accessibility-resulting in reductions in time and resources allocated to
accessibility.

Company Contact:
Dana Louise Simberkoff,
HiSoftware Company
Tel (603) 229-3055
Danalouise@hisoftware.com

Received on Tuesday, 7 May 2002 14:10:07 UTC