Apparatus and method for determining compatibility of web sites with designated requirements based on functional characteristics of the web sites

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for identifying web sites, said computer program product including:
• computer usable program code for identifying at least one functional characteristic of a web site to be tested, the at least one functional characteristic comprising at least one of use of active scripting, a type of active scripting used, a plug-in application used, use of forms, storing of cookies on a client device, providing dynamic web page content, providing dynamic user interfaces, displaying digital movies, and broadcasting audio data;
• computer usable program code for retrieving content for the web site;
• computer usable program code for testing the content of the web site for a presence of the at least one functional characteristic;
• and
• computer usable program code for storing results of the testing of the content of the web site.

An apparatus for identifying web sites, comprising:

• a network interface;
• a database interface;
• and
• a web site content analysis engine coupled to the network interface and the database interface, wherein the web site content analysis engine identifies at least one functional characteristic of a web site to be tested, the at least one functional characteristic comprises at least one of use of active scripting, a type of active scripting used, a plug-in application used, use of forms, storing of cookies on a client device, providing dynamic web page content, providing dynamic user interfaces, displaying digital movies, and broadcasting audio data, retrieves content for the web site via the network interface, tests the content of the web site for a presence of the at least one functional characteristic, and stores results of the testing of the content of the web site via the database interface.

A computer implemented method of identifying web sites, comprising:

• receiving a search request including a designation of one or more web site functional characteristics, wherein the one or more web site functional characteristics comprise at least one of use of active scripting, a type of active scripting used, a plug-in application used, use of forms, storing of cookies on a client device, providing dynamic web page content, providing dynamic user interfaces, displaying digital movies, and broadcasting audio data;
• searching a web site functional characteristics database based on the search request;
• and
• returning results of searching the web site functional characteristics database to thereby identify zero or more web sites having or not having the designated one or more web site functional characteristics.