GregClinton.Com

Bobby

A Usability Evaluation Tool

Greg Clinton
EDIT 8350
Dr. Thomas Reeves

History & Sponsor
Functionality
Limitations
Relationships (Graphic Representation)
Related Resources

(Most links on this page will open in a new browser window.)

The name "Bobby" is taken from the British colloquial name for the neighborhood police officer on foot patrol. Bobby is a tool that evaluates web pages for general accessibility by persons with disabilities. Individual pages may be evaluated using the Web-based version of Bobby; entire sites can be evaluated with the commercial version, which currently sells for $299. Bobby generates an extensive report for each page with suggestions, questions, or commentary on all of the sections of the Web Acces Initiave's guidelines (see below).

History & Sponsor

Originally Non-Profit (similar to the situation of many other sites, e.g., ExploreScience.Com, CUSeeMe, etc.)
Founded by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) at the University of York in 1996
Acquired by Watchfire Corporation (August 2002)
A "comprehensive web accessibility software tool"
Designed to help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines.
Tests for compliance with government standards, including the U.S. Government's Section 508.
Offers prioritized suggestions based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Access Initiative.
Allows developers to test web pages and generate summary reports highlighting critical accessibility issues before posting content to live servers.

Watchfire Corporation

Founded in 1984

Provider of comprehensive website management solutions

"More than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 rely on Watchfire to optimize their
e-business success." (e.g, Compaq Computer, Lockheed Martin, First Union Bank, Nickelodeon Online and AT&T.)

Functionality

How to Read the Bobby Online Report

"Although Bobby reports are usually long in order to cover the guidelines completely, this does not necessarily indicate major problems with the page."

Priority 1 Accessibility problems "seriously affect a page's usability by people with disabilities."
(Level A Conformance)
Priority 2 Accessibility problems - a bit less critical
(Level AA Conformance)
Priority 3 Accessibility problems - a more thorough level of compliance
(Level AAA Conformance)