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GCN Home > 12/19/03 web stories

Section 508 tool sets error-fixing rules

By Patricia Daukantas, GCN Staff

The General Services Administration has released a software tool that prioritizes repair of accessibility errors on agency Web sites.

The Simple Tool for Error Prioritization, or STEP508, prioritizes the results that come out of other applications that test Web sites for violation of Section 508 of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act Amendments. Such apps include Bobby 5.0 from Watchfire Corp. of Waltham, Mass., and WebKing from Parasoft Corp. of Monrovia, Calif.

STEP508 compares the results from multiple testing apps and identifies the ones that are most critical for compliance. It also tracks an agency’s performance in meeting Web accessibility goals.

The National Cancer Institute and the Health and Human Services Department developed STEP508 along with the National Center for Accessible Media, a division of Boston public television station WGBH.

Free downloads of STEP508 are available at www.section508.gov. GSA’s Center for IT Accommodation will offer STEP508 training in early 2004.

More news on related topics: IT Management, Section 508



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