DubBot is UWM’s enterprise web accessibility scanning tool. DubBot helps UWM web editors and people who manage web-based tools identify and fix accessibility issues across UWM.edu, supplemental web platforms and web applications.
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How DubBot Works
DubBot automatically scans UWM.edu and other key university web platforms and web applications. It checks pages for common accessibility issues using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standard. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is UWM’s baseline for making sure our websites are usable for people with disabilities and meet federal accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as UW policy.
Common Digital Accessibility Issues DuBot Checks for Include:
- Images without alt text
- Links without clean, descriptive text
- Improper heading hierarchy
- PDFs and documents lacking accessibility tags
- Iframes (Google map embeds, etc.) without accessible names
DubBot Also Checks For:
- Broken links
- Spelling errors
- Search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.
Who Can Use DubBot?
DubBot is free for UWM.edu web editors and anyone who manages widely used university supported supplemental web platforms or web applications.
What Can DubBot Check
DubBot can only check web content it can access, so pages behind logins or web platforms and web applications that load content dynamically may not be fully evaluated. DubBot also cannot check mobile apps.
Using DubBot When Creating New Subsites or Redesigning Existing Subsites
Yes. You can use DubBot as part of the process to create a new subsite or to redesign or restructure an existing subsite. It is highly recommended because it allows you to identify and fix accessibility issues before they go live on UWM.edu.
Subsite creation and redesign work takes place on the internal development version of the UWM.edu website. If you need DubBot configured to scan the development version of your subsite, submit a web support request and your web support team will assist you.
Important Considerations When Using DubBot
- DubBot is a powerful tool for finding and helping fix accessibility and other web quality issues. However, it cannot catch everything. Automated tools like DubBot should be used to support, not replace, manual review by people who understand accessibility.
- It is best practice to create accessible content from the start, rather than relying on DubBot to find and report issues later.
- DubBot reports issues and provides guidance on the type of issue and how to fix it, but it does not fix issues automatically. A web editor or IT professional needs to make the corrections.
- DubBot may report an issue that a web editor does not know how to fix or cannot fix. In those instances, you should submit a web support request.
- If DubBot identifies issues with supplemental web platforms provided by vendors (i.e. cloud services), the vendor may need to fix the issue. If you need guidance on reporting issues to vendors or holding vendors accountable for digital accessibility, contact your IT team via UWM Help Desk or submit a web support request (either route creates a Help Desk incident for you).
Learning More About DubBot
The DubBot Learning Center is a resource made available to members of UWM who use DubBot (registration required). The training topic Introduction to DubBot provides an overview of what DubBot does and a walkthrough of the tool.
Start Using DubBot
If you do not have DubBot access, submit a web support request.