Research Brief - Volume 2017, Number 02, September 6, 2017

Link Checkers and Basic Accessibility Testers for Websites

Ensuring website optimization and ease of use are goals of any developer. This holds especially true for organizations disseminating a lot of information to a variety of users from different backgrounds and with different ability levels. Broken links or missing alt text can be frustrating for some people with accessibility challenges. These also detract from the user experience. To mitigate these website errors or accidental exclusions, developers and even laymen can use various online resources to check the efficiency and ease of use of websites.

This report reviews some of these resources, giving broad information on services offered and how these tools can also be used as a basic accessibility test. Topics include:

  • Programs for website testing
  • Locations to download /use each program
  • Recommendations