Getting Started

Getting Started Video

What is FAE?

Running the Evaluator

The “Run FAE” page provides a form for specifying the following analysis parameters:

Input Description
URL
  • Specifies the URL that will serve as the starting point of the analysis. Depending on the “Depth of Evaluation” and “Follow Links in” settings (described below), additional pages linked from the starting URL may also be included in the analysis.
Report Title
  • The title to be displayed at the top of each report page. If no title is specified, then “Untitled Report” is displayed.
Depth of Evaluation
  • When “Top-level page only” is selected, only the page specified by the URL will be analyzed.
  • “Include second-level pages” will cause all pages linked from the top-level page (with domain restrictions as explained below) to be included in the analysis.
  • You can increase the depth of spidering a website by purchasing or increasing your subscription level.
Follow Links in
  • In cases where “Depth of Evaluation” is set to either “Include second-level pages” or “Include third-level pages” the web crawler used by FAE can follow links in two different ways:
  • When “Specified domain only” is selected, link following is restricted to the same domain as the specified URL.
  • When “Next-level subdomains” is selected, links that are in subdomains of the next-level domain (relative to the domain specified by the URL) will also be followed.
  • You can more control over what domains are included and excluded by purchaisng or increasing your subscription level that includes the "Advanced" run feature.
Ruleset
  • HTML4 Legacy Techniques ruleset recommends (but does not require) that ARIA landmarks be used in the design of the web page and that a failure of one of the landmark rules will result in a "warning".
  • HTML5 and ARIA Techniques ruleset requires that ARIA landmarks be used in the design of the web page and that a failure of one of the landmark rules will result in a "violation".
Maximum Pages
  • Limits the number of pages evaluated, which is useful to limit the amount or results or to get results faster.
  • You can increase the maximum number of pages by purchasing or increasing your subscription level.

After successfully completing the analysis, FAE displays the Summary Report, which provides a high-level view of the evaluation results, and places a link to this report in the Archived Reports list. This list includes additional report information such as the analysis date/time, the number of pages analyzed, the report title, the starting URL and the depth of evaluation.

Rule Categories

FAE organizes the analysis of documents based on the following rule categories:

Category Definition
Landmarks Use ARIA landmark roles to structure the content of each page and identify major sections of content, thus making them more findable and navigable. The use of landmarks will, in many cases, reflect the visual styling and page layouts that web designers utilize to set apart various sections of content.
Headings Use heading elements (H1-H6) to provide appropriate labels for landmarks, and to identify subsections of content within landmarks.
Styles/Content Use proper HTML markup to identify the semantics and language of text content. Ensure that text is readable by adhering to color contrast guidelines, and that information is not conveyed solely by the use of color, shape, location or sound.
Images Provide appropriate text alternatives for static images and graphics.
Links Use link text that properly describes the target of each link. Ensure consistency and uniqueness for links that are usable, predictable and understandable.
Tables Provide table captions or other meta-information as needed. Provide row and column header references for data cells of data tables. Ensure that tables used for layout properly linearize text content.
Forms Provide meaningful labels for form elements and usable and understandable error feedback as needed.
Widgets/Scripts Use appropriate event handlers on elements to support native interactivity using JavaScript. Ensure that custom widgets created using JavaScript support keyboard interaction and include ARIA markup to describe their roles, properties and states.
Audio/Video Provide appropriate text transcripts, captions or audio descriptions for elements used in rendering audio and video content.
Keyboard Provide logical and sequential keyboard navigation among interactive elements such as links and form controls. Use standard models of keyboard interaction for custom widgets.
Timing Eliminate accessibility problems caused by time limits on input and by content that moves, scrolls, flashes or auto-updates.
Site Navigation Ensure the consistent labeling and ordering of recurrent page sections across all pages within a website. Provide a meaningful title for each page within a website.

Announcements and Discussion E-mail Lists

Discussion
The Open Accessibility Alliance Tools discussion list is for people who would like to have more direct participation in setting the direction for development of FAE 2.3 and discuss issues with the development team. The group also holds a monthly teleconference to discuss user and development issues.

Report an Issue

OpenA11y Evaluation Library Rulesets and Rules Issues List.
Request a new rule.
Report a bug or enhancement to an existing rule (note: Please include the rule title).
FAE Issues List
Request a new feature for FAE.
Report a bug or enhancement to an existing feature of FAE.
note: Please include URLs to websites or to FAE reports when possible to help clarify an issue.

Linking Directly to FAE

It is possible to place a link to FAE on a web page that, when selected, causes FAE to evaluate the page and display the resulting Summary Report. The following HTML snippet should be used:

<a href="https://fae.illinois.edu/evaluate/link/">Check with FAE</a>