Watchfire Adds Accessibility Testing to WebQA.

Business Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 2002

WebQA 2.0 Now Includes the Comprehensive Accessibility

Checks of Bobby(TM) for Section 508 and the World Wide Web

Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Watchfire Corporation, a provider of Website Management software and services, today announced the release of version 2.0 of Watchfire(R) WebQA(TM). WebQA, first commercially introduced in July 2002, is a website quality testing tool designed for small to medium sized websites or departmental sites that require a content testing solution for individual developers or quality assurance engineers. Integrating the accessibility capabilities of Watchfire's standalone website accessibility tool, Bobby(TM), WebQA 2.0 now includes the ability to test for an organization's level of compliance with government standards, including the U.S. Government's Section 508 and the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WebQA is the first website testing application to combine accessibility checks with website quality testing capabilities.

WebQA scans and checks a site for more than 100 potential problems and reports on issues such as broken links, spelling mistakes, slow pages, missing keywords and ALT text, orphaned files, and page quality. WebQA can scan and check the most complex file formats including HTML, JavaScript(TM), Flash, and dynamically generated content (ASP, JSP, CFM, etc.).

"Casey Family Programs is a national operating foundation that supports children, youth and families in reaching their full potential. We maintain four external websites that provide crucial resources to enhance our work," said Brad Mellen-Crandell, Web Developer, Casey Family Programs. "We are currently in the process of a full website redesign and are looking to the new accessibility features in WebQA to help us reach a broader audience and enhance the usability of our sites. We have been impressed with the flexible reporting capabilities in WebQA, the ability to manage metadata, and the ability to provide us with different snapshots of the health of our sites."

Significant accessibility testing functionality has been added to WebQA and it now includes the ability to scan for over 90 comprehensive accessibility checks, and offer prioritized suggestions based on the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the U.S. Government's Section 508. WebQA allows developers to test web pages and generate summary reports highlighting critical accessibility issues before posting the content to live servers. WebQA also analyzes and reports on web content quality issues such as broken links, slow loading pages, spelling, metadata, and missing ALT text. The software records and plays back scripts that duplicate the actions a user makes on a site to see if the transactions and interactions on the site, (such as checkouts and login forms), are working as designed. WebQA is also used to automatically add, edit, and manage metatags in documents on the site to improve search engine effectiveness.

"The need for electronic publications is greater than ever, and has increased the complexity of maintaining a quality website for our students and professors," said Mary Howarth, Library Cataloger, Oakland Community College. "We have thousands of bibliographic records with specific URLs attached to them and we cannot afford to lose the confidence of our patrons by linking to reference materials that no longer exist. WebQA makes the job of maintaining both our college and library sites easier by automating the cumbersome process of manually testing content. WebQA is helping us to achieve our goals of maintaining this valuable resource and encouraging our customers to continue to utilize our site as a source for information."

"Failing to provide an accessible website puts an organization at risk for everything from litigation, damaged reputation to lost sales and missed opportunities for market leadership," said Peter McKay, president and CEO, Watchfire. "We are pleased to add the accessibility capabilities of Bobby to WebQA without any additional cost to our customers."

Pricing and availability

WebQA is available immediately from Watchfire's direct sales force at 1-800-282-5951 or download from www.watchfire.com for US$1495.00. Customers may download WebQA for a 15-day evaluation period. For more technical information, please visit http://www.watchfire.com/products/webqa.asp.

About Watchfire

Founded in 1996, Watchfire provides organizations with comprehensive website management solutions that enable decision-makers to gain competitive advantage. Watchfire's analysis of business-critical content enables businesses to identify key issues that affect user experience, online risk, and ebusiness operational costs. Watchfire's solutions contribute to the effective management of e-businesses for profitability. More than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 rely on Watchfire to optimize their e-business success. Customers include HP, Dell and AT&T. Watchfire's alliance partners include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Inktomi, Interwoven, Vignette and Documentum. The company maintains dual North American headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Waltham, Mass. Further information on Watchfire can be found online at www.watchfire.com.

Watchfire, WebXM, WebQA, Bobby and the Flame Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Watchfire Corporation. All other products, company names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.