Wave

Wave

Wave is similar to Bobby. You can access the application directly from the Wave Web page, enter a URL to check and — assuming the page you want to test is available on the Internet — Wave will offer a marked-up version of the page. You also can navigate to a page in your Web browser, then click on a Wave shortcut you've installed locally, and the program will run its analysis.

Also, like Bobby, Wave is free. But this is where the similarities end and Wave's limited feature set becomes painfully apparent. Unlike the other products we tested, Wave does not offer any text reports of violations. That means you'd have to first locate possible violations visually on the mock page displayed by Wave, then go find the appropriate code in your HTML editor. That can be a tedious process, especially with large and complex sites.

Wave also doesn't do much to explain the types of violations you may encounter on your site or how to fix them.

Wave, in short, can be helpful in letting you determine how much work you have to do to bring a site into compliance, but it isn't very helpful in actually getting the work done.