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Re: Web accessibility testing procedure.

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Jun 10, 2009 7:20AM

Yes, the WAVE evaluation tool does work with screen readers. The tool,
by it's nature, is a visual tool, but it does include alternative text
and other accessibility features. In general, WAVE will insert icons
into the original page to indicate accessibility errors, alerts,
features, or semantic/structural elements. If you hear these key words
on images, you'll know that the icon applies to an element adjacent to
that icon.

WAVE does not fix accessibility issues in the page, so if you evaluate
a page with accessibility problems, those problems won't automatically
go away as you read it, but they will be identified by the WAVE icons.

In Firefox, you can run a WAVE report by selecting Alt + T... then
navigate to WAVE..., then select the right arrow key, and then select
the WAVE report you want to run. This opens the Tools... WAVE...
report functionality. You can also run a WAVE report by opening the
context menu (the key between right the right Alt and Control keys),
then arrowing up WAVE, and then arrowing over to the desired option.
You can also go to the WAVE... Options... menu and set your own custom
shortcut key for each WAVE report type.

If you have any feedback on how we can make WAVE more screen reader
friendly, please send them to me off-list.

Jared Smith
WebAIM