[UACCESS-L] Re: Announcing TestPage

[Jamal Mazrui <empower@smart.net>]

to help anyone interested in porting TestPage, I have posted a standard
zip archive, in addition to the Windows installer, at

http://Empowermentzone.com/TestPage.zip

I do not have a Mac or Linux computer to test with, but think that the
Ruby code behind the command-line version of TestPage (TestPage.rb),
should be cross-platform, assuming one has installed the appropriate
version of Ruby from

http://ruby-lang.org

The needed libraries and their dependencies may be installed with the
Ruby gem utility as follows:

gem install  mechanize

gem install  raakt

gem install  w3c_validators

One library calls the HTML validator at w3.org.  Another is for
accessibility related tests and is described at this page:

Bringing Accessibility into the Development Process
By Peter Krantz

http://www.standards-schmandards.com/2007/rapid-accessibility-feedback/

Jamal

On
Sat, 31 Jan
2009, Jamal Mazrui wrote:

> Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 12:37:50 -0500 (EST)
> From: Jamal Mazrui <empower@smart.net>
> To: uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu
> Subject: Announcing TestPage
>
> Now available at
> http://EmpowermentZone.com/tpgsetup.exe
>
> I have developed a Windows program for testing the usability of a web page
> and generating a report as a text file.  It is meant to be especially easy
> to use.  A further description from the documentation is pasted below.
>
> Jamal
>
> TestPage
> Version 1.0
> January 31, 2009
> Copyright 2009 by Jamal Mazrui
> GPL license
>
> TestPage is a command-line utility and dialog interface for doing a
> simple, automated test of a web page for problems related to accessibility
> for users with disabilities, or to other aspects of HTML validity
> according to standards of the World Wide Web Consortium, located at
> http://w3.org
>
> The command-line syntax is
>
> TestPage.exe URLPath FilePath
>
> The first parameter specifies the URL to test and the second parameter
> specifies the file name of the resulting report.
>
> The TestPage installer, tpgsetup.exe, creates a shortcut for launching an
> input box that prompts for the URL to test, which is then passed onto the
> command-line utility.  The default hotkey for invoking the input box is
> Alt+Control+Shift+T.  This may be changed by modifying properties of the
> TestPage shortcut on the Windows desktop.
>
> The installer also creates a TestPage program group in the Windows Start
> Menu, with options for launching the program, unstalling it, browsing
> generated reports, or reading this documentation.  The default program
> folder is
> C:\Program Files\TestPage
>
> The TestPage dialog is built with the VBScript language.  As a
> convenience, if Internet Explorer is open, the URL of its web page is used
> as the default value in the input box.  Also, the domain name of the URL
> is used for the file name of the generated report, which is automatically
> opened in the default text editor.
>
> The command-line utility, which does the main work, is built with the Ruby
> language and several related packages.  Subsequent sections of this
> documentation provide more detail using excerpts from material on the web.
>
> Please note that this program is only intended as a convenient, mechanized
> test of web accessibility.  Hopefully, its ease of use will enable more
> people to do accessibility checks and send them to web developers, as
> appropriate.  In addition, since TestPage is open source, programmers are
> encouraged to contribute improvements.  A list of more sophisticated and
> effective evaluation tools is available at
> http://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/
>
>