The accompanying list of companies and products is purely intended as informational with no implied endorsement. For further information on these companies, you will need to contact them directly. In addition, the government makes no claim as to the completeness or accuracy of this information.  The information on this page is provided as a service to the NOAA Web community and in good faith.

This section is divided into 6 groups, Evaluation Tools, Repair Tools, Filter and Transform Tools, Alternate Browsers, other resource pages, and specific HTML Editor and presentation tools

Evaluation tools are designed to check pages for accessibility. In many cases, since Section 508 is relatively new (published Dec 21, 2000), many evaluation tools test using WAI  (Web Accessibility Initiative) standards. These WAI standards are similar to Section 508 requirements, but the following chart will assist in comparing WAI and 508 standards. Updates to evaluation tools will incorporate Section 508 requirements as well as WAI standards.

Note to §1194.22:
1. The Board interprets paragraphs (a) through (k) of this section as consistent with the following priority 1 Checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) (May 5, 1999) published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium:

Paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section are different from WCAG 1.0. Web pages that conform to WCAG 1.0, level A (i.e., all priority 1 checkpoints) must also meet paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section to comply with this section. 

As evaluation tools are updated, a greater number will test for Section 508 compliance as well as WAI compliance.

Web page authors, whether developing content or presentation, should use the 16 rules of Section 508 as guidance as pages are created.

Specific information and guidance for your NOAA/NWS office can be obtained from the Section 508 Accessibility Contact Points. 

If you are aware of tools for accessibility that we don't have listed, please e-mail them to Ron Jones or Loly Brandesso that we can include them in the resource list.