DRAFT Web Accessibility Rubric

Updated October 7, 2005

Please send comments and suggestions to Terry Thompson.

This website provides a simple manual method for evaluating websites for accessibility. The rubric was originally developed to support research on web accessibility by DO-IT, and fine tuned in collaboration with the national network of federally-funded ADA & IT Technical Assistance Centers for use in their research.

Using this rubric, a web page does not receive an overall accessibility rating. Rather, it receives a rating on each of 14 checkpoints. With this level of specificity, web authors can more easily appreciate the particular areas where their web pages are most problematic, and can use this information to prioritize and manage their web accessibility efforts. The rubric was intended to provide a simple means of assessing a web page for accessibility without require extensive technical knowledge. It is based upon, but is in no way intended to be a substitute for, the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or the Section 508 Standards.

Using this rubric, pages are rated on a 1-3 scale, as follows:

1 = Site has failed to implement this checkpoint.
2 = Site has partially implemented this checkpoint.
3 = Site has fully implemented this checkpoint.

Note: A rating of 9 is also possible to indicate that an item is not applicable for a given page.

Below is a list of checkpoints, each written in the form of a question. Each question is answered using the above 3-point scale. Each question is also a link, which can be selected to access more information about that item, including specific steps for assessment, and detail on how the 3-point scale applies to that item.

Note: The recommended assessment procedure for most items requires Internet Explorer and the free Web Accessibility Toolbar from Accessible Information Solutions.