Subscription Information

Paid Subscriptions Suspended

The original purpose of the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) when it was released in 2004 was to raise awareness of web accessibility issues beyond the simple rules of ALT attribute on images and the labeling of form controls. For example, the structured use of headings was one of the original FAE rules. FAE went on from there to be the first website spidering tool to include at least one rule for every WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA requirement. The rules are based on HTML and ARIA Authoring Practices to encourage authors to learn more about accessibility requirements and best practices to promote not just technical accessibility, but also to improve the experience of using the web by people with disabilities.

FAE has been a labor of love for many people, but the web and web accessibility has significantly changed since it was first introduced, and this requires a pause to reflect on the future of FAE and the FAE service. The use of FAE has been declining over the past several years and there are limited resources to support updating FAE to comply with the latest web technologies and standards. To help us understand the current needs of designers, developers and accessibility testers we are restarting our Open Source Web Accessibility Tools User Group to learn more about what types of tools are needed to make web accessibility evaluation and inspection more robust and efficient.

Actions

  • Monthly Open Source Web Accessibility Tools User Group meetings will start in April to gather information from current users on their interest and use of the FAE technologies to help in planning the future of FAE. The meetings will be announced using the FAE announcement system.
  • No new paid subscriptions will be accepted.
  • All current subscriptions will be honored, and your current level of service will be extended at no additional cost until the future of the service is determined.
  • FAE is open source, so as always you are free to download and run the service yourself, see the FAE github repository for more information.
  • Please feel free to use the contact form to provide feedback on these changes.

Refund Policy

There are no refunds on a paid subscription, which has always been our policy. Your current subscription will continue, even after it's expiration date, until the future of the FAE service is determined.