There are many tools available to help make your EIT content accessible, some of which are fee.
Web Accessibility in Mind
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) has been one of the best resources on the web for accessibility since 1999. WebAIM is a non-profit organization based at the Institute for Disability Research, Policy, and Practice at Utah State University.
Website evaluation
These tools and checklists can help you to evaluate the pages on your site for accessibility. Some will note specific concerns that you can update as you make improvements.
Tools
- WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (by WebAIM)
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker (by Siteimprove)
Checklists
- Evaluating Web Accessibility, including Easy Checks (by W3C)
- Quick Reference and Checklist (by WebAIM)
More Tools
Content creation cheatsheets
- Web Accessibility for Designers (WebAIM) is also helpful for content creators and editors.
- The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE) offers several one-page cheatsheets on creating accessible content.
Color contrast
Color contrast checkers can verify text and link colors have sufficient contrast against background colors.
- WebAIM’s Contrast Checker and Link Contrast Checker
- Contrast Checker, particularly helpful in Word documents (by Acart Communications)
- ColorZilla color picker, eye dropper, and other tools (by iosart labs)
- Color Blind Webpage Filter
- Accessible Colors
Screen readers
- Download the NVDA screen reader for Windows (free from NV Access). An extensive user guide for NVDA is available.
- VoiceOver is included with Apple MacOS and iOS devices (iPhone and iPad).
- Microsoft now includes Narrator, a built-in screen reader for Windows 11.
- JAWS (Job Access With Speech) by Freedom Scientific is still the world’s most popular screen reader. It is available by either a one-time purchase or an annual subscription basis.
- TalkBack is available for Android devices
Video and Audio
- Making Accessible Podcasts
- Captioning, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions (by WebAIM)
- Captions and Transcripts and Audio Descriptions, Oh My! (by The Paciello Group)
- YouTube videos can be configured to autogenerate captions, they are fairly accurate but still require a manual check to verify accurate translations. Refer to YouTube’s Help page on adding subtitles and captions.
Keyboard testing
Testing tools like WAVE can identify many accessibility errors, however some testing must be conducted manually, including keyboard testing.
All web content should be accessible without the user needing a mouse. You can perform a keyboard access test by using the Tab, Escape, Return/Enter, and arrow keys, as well as the space bar, on any keyboard. You should be able to access and operate all interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields). No element should trap the cursor without an obvious way to exit or close the element.
Learn more about Keyboard Accessibility from WebAIM.
Document conversion
SensusAccess: is an online document conversion system that converts text and image-based files into more accessible formats. It can also be used to transform text and image-based files into different outputs including audio, Braille, or e-text formats.