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Tag: Deque Systems

  • Deque Study Shows Its Automated Testing Identifies 57 Percent of Digital Accessibility Issues, Surpassing Accepted Industry Benchmarks

    Results of Extensive Data Set Redefine Limits of Automated “Accessibility Coverage”

    HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Deque Systems, the trusted leader in digital accessibility, today announced results of a large study which shows the total of digital accessibility issues identified through its automated technology – 57 percent – is much higher than the widely-accepted belief that automated accessibility testing only provides 20-30 percent of coverage.

    Study Synopsis: Deque’s study used anonymized data from over 2,000 audits in various industries, spanning over 13,000 pages (all first-time page assessments) covering nearly 300,000 issues. The automated testing in this data set was conducted using Deque’s axe™ suite of tools, powered by the open source axe-core rules library. Deque found that, on average, 57 percent of accessibility issues were completely covered by this automated testing.

    “When we shifted the definition of ‘accessibility coverage’ beyond the number of WCAG Success Criteria to total volume of issues, the true impact of automated testing became clear,” says Dylan Barrell, CTO, Deque Systems. “This study expands the realm of what is possible through automation, and can speed the mission of accessibility testing professionals: to ensure their digital assets are accessible to all, including people with disabilities.”

    Redefining “Automated Coverage”: Measures of automated testing coverage are often based on the percentage of WCAG Success Criteria that can be tested using automated accessibility tools. Deque’s analysis shows this method of measurement downplays the effectiveness of automated testing. Measuring the total volume of issues detected by severity and impact is a more meaningful and accurate metric.

    In practice, some types of issues occur much more frequently than others, which can result in a much higher percentage of total accessibility issues discovered using automated tools. It should be noted that the axe-core rules library places a huge emphasis on not reporting false positives or erroneous issues.

    To download the full report, visit: https://deque.com/coverage-report/.

    “It’s clear that accessibility coverage should be calculated based on the volume of real-world data of issues that occur in the wild. This allows development teams to make a much greater impact,” says Preety Kumar, CEO, Deque Systems. “Combining automated testing with Intelligent Guided Testing™, enabled through tools such as our just-announced axe DevTools Pro, empowers organizations to achieve quick wins and sustain accessibility testing over time without having to learn the ins and outs of accessibility.”

    Today’s agile development practices rely on automation to achieve maximum throughput. Managers need to plan for resources in advance, and require the ability to forecast how much work can be handled by automation. The higher the number of issues that can be caught and addressed in early stages of product development, the lower the cost. Automated tools with high coverage reduce the reliance on specialized skills and make it possible to mainstream the development of an accessible product.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality. We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 4,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

    Axe and Intelligent Guided Testing are trademarks of Deque Systems, Inc.

  • Deque Systems Launches axetm DevTools Pro

    Developers Can Now Directly Address the Majority of Web Accessibility Issues with Ease Using Human and Machine Learning

     

    HERNDON, VA – March 1st, 2021– Deque Systems, the trusted leader in digital accessibility, announced today the availability of axe DevTools Pro. Built upon the wildly popular free axe browser extension, axe DevTools Pro is a huge step forward for digital equality, enabling dev teams to address accessibility at the source, using groundbreaking human and machine learning technology.

    Developers and novices alike can use axe DevTools Pro to run automated and Intelligent Guided Tests™ on their websites and applications, which directly address the core blockages preventing people with disabilities from enjoying all the web has to offer. Axe DevTools Pro can identify 76 to 84 percent of accessibility issues on a webpage, the industry’s broadest range of options for detecting and remediating accessibility problems.

    Over 19,000 developers and other users provided input to refine axe DevTools Pro during the 16-month beta period. Many of these suggestions have already been implemented.

    Axe DevTools Pro is available now at www.deque.com/axe/devtools. There is a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required. It is then available for $40 per month, or $409 per year.

    “With little effort or expertise, developers can now make meaningful change by significantly improving the user experience of their apps. By making your app accessible to people with disabilities, you’re shipping cleaner code and mitigating risk. Axe DevTools Pro was built to expand the impact developers can make, without disrupting existing processes,” says Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer of Deque Systems. “With superior automation and guided tests, even novices can now conduct robust accessibility testing and remediation.”

    Utilizing Deque’s industry-standard open source axe accessibility rules engine and machine learning, axe DevTools Pro’s Intelligent Guided Tests are based on simple question-and-answer interactions that don’t require accessibility expertise. Axe DevTools Pro walks developers through inspections of their websites and applications, allowing scans of full or partial pages, then produces and saves full reports highlighting areas for optimization.

    Other available axe DevTools plans are:

    Axe DevTools Enterprise: All axe DevTools Pro features are also available to Deque axe DevTools Enterprise customers. Enterprise users also enjoy CI/CD integration, CLI, enterprise security and support, and native Android and iOS tools.

    Axe DevTools Free:  Users who do not upgrade to Pro or Enterprise for their added feature sets, can continue to run automated tests using the axe DevTools browser extension for free.

     

    “Axe DevTools is designed to help developers fix issues at the core while they code, the most agile method to resolve accessibility blockers as well as avoid future legal troubles,” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “This is critical to avoiding re-work and helping speed the DevOps lifecycle while ensuring websites are usable to the more than 1 billion people in the world living with some form of disability who may rely on assistive technologies to navigate the Internet.”

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 4,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

    Axe and Intelligent Guided Testing are trademarks of Deque Systems, Inc.

  • Downloads Of Industry-Standard Axe-Core Digital Accessibility Rules Hit 100 Million

    Open Source Downloads Grow Tenfold in Under Two Years, Suggesting Expanding Need for Digital Accessibility Testing

    HERNDON, VA – December 11, 2020  – Deque Systems, the trusted leader in digital accessibility, announced today that axe-core, the most accurate and widely used open source library of accessibility rules, has exceeded 100 million downloads, growing at a rate of more than 4 million downloads a week.

    Driven by a need for fast and accurate accessibility testing, the use of axe-core spans the globe. The vast majority of downloads came from external (non-Deque) web sources, including Google and Microsoft—a testament to the growing and vibrant developer community that has openly embraced axe-core.

    “The contributions of the developer community and their commitment to making the web accessible to people with disabilities have fueled our growth trajectory since we released axe-core as open source in 2015,” comments Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer at Deque Systems. “The exponential rate of adoption we’ve seen in recent years is indicative of digital accessibility becoming more pervasive for the nearly one in four U.S. citizens with a disability.”

    Many organizations reference the axe-core rules library as the de facto standard for accessibility testing, including Google, Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. These rules help inform testers and web developers what is and isn’t accessible to people with disabilities. Fast, secure and lightweight, axe-core was built to seamlessly integrate with any test environment and can automate testing alongside regular functional testing.

    Axe-core is the foundation of Deque’s accessibility testing tools including the free axe browser extensions and the axe DevTools toolkit. Developers may download axe-core at: https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core.

    “Besides being legally mandated per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), more organizations are realizing the benefits of digital accessibility, ranging from capturing overlooked market share, lowering operational costs and boosting brand value,” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems.

    Momentum Heading into First axe-con: Deque’s axe-con is a new industry conference to be conducted online March 10-11, 2021. Axe-con is an open and inclusive event that welcomes developers, designers, business leaders and accessibility professionals of all levels to a unique conference focused on building, testing, and maintaining accessible digital experiences.

    Registration for axe-con is free, with leaders in the field offering attendees best practices for accessibility in design, development, and testing. Speakers include American internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Disability Rights Lawyer and Author Haben Girma, Smashing Magazine Editor in Chief Rachel Andrew and dozens of other industry influencers.

    To register for axe-con, please visit deque.com/axe-con/register.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 4,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

  • Deque Releases Axe Accessibility Testing Tool for New Microsoft Edge Browser

    HERNDON, VA – October 22, 2020  – Deque Systems, the trusted leader in digital accessibility, today announced the release of the axe accessibility testing tool for Microsoft’s new Edge web browser.

    Like its Chrome and Firefox counterparts, axe for Edge is a simple to use, automated testing tool that helps developers identify and resolve common accessibility gaps that prevent or limit people with disabilities from interacting with websites and their contents. These accessibility defects, when left in place, prohibit people with visual, auditory, motor, speech or cognitive disabilities and their various assistive technologies to experience the full benefits of the web.

    Axe browser extensions are used by over 135,000 people each week, and utilize the industry-standard axe-core open-source rules library for WCAG and Section 508 accessibility. They return zero false positives, testing for problems that can be accurately detected via automation.

    “The axe extension helps developers catch over 50 percent of accessibility problems while coding, dramatically reducing the time and cost of manual accessibility testing,” says Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer at Deque Systems. “Now development teams using Chrome, Firefox or Edge can easily check for accessibility defects right from the browser.”

    The free axe browser extension for Edge is available for download now at https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/axe-web-accessibility-t/kcenlimkmjjkdfcaleembgmldmnnlfkn.

    “We’re pleased to see yet another valuable extension like axe added to the Microsoft Edge browser ecosystem. Enabling developers to build accessible experiences in Microsoft Edge will benefit users everywhere,” says Ashish Poddar, Sr. Product Manager – Browser Experiences at Microsoft Edge.

    What is Digital Accessibility? Digital Accessibility is the practice of making digital documents, web and mobile apps accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Without the continuous use of features like captions, alt-text for screen readers, zoom functions, simple presentation layouts and more, digital content may be inconvenient or impossible to use.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

  • Report: COVID-19 Crisis is Driving Digital Accessibility Awareness

    Survey Shows Resurgence in Digital Transformation Efforts Offering Opportunity for Organizations to Become More Accessible to People with Disabilities

    HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Deque Systems, a leading software company specializing in digital accessibility, today announced results of a survey showing how the COVID-19 crisis has heightened awareness of the impact of accessibility on the digital channel.

    The survey, conducted in partnership with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and G3ict Research, also showed that accessibility practitioners expect increased workloads in the coming months to make their digital assets more accessible.

    “Where would we be without the conveniences of online delivery, teleworking and online entertainment during this time of crisis?” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “COVID-19 is causing a second wave of digital transformation efforts. Organizations who are already practicing accessibility early in their development process are best positioned to help to ensure people with disabilities are not excluded from the essential services the Internet provides. But, with the majority of websites being inaccessible to assistive technologies, we still have a long way to go.”

    What is Digital Accessibility? Digital Accessibility is the practice of making digital documents, web and mobile apps accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. Many people with visual, auditory, motor, speech or cognitive disabilities rely on various forms of assistive technology or usability features to experience the full benefit the web has to offer. Without the continuous use of features like captions, alt-text for screen readers, zoom functions, simple presentation layouts and more, digital content may be inconvenient or impossible to use.

    Survey Key Findings: The majority of survey respondents are senior-level, U.S.-based accessibility practitioners working in industries including education, financial services, government, healthcare, pharmaceutical services and more. Among the key findings:

    • 83 percent reported that COVID-19 has raised the profile and importance of digital channels within their organizations.
    • 62 percent say it has increased awareness of the impact of accessibility on digital channels.
    • 90 percent expect the volume of their work to increase or stay the same in the next three months.
    • More than one-third of respondents have heard reports that users with disabilities are having increased difficulty accessing services during this time of crisis.
    • When asked how employees with disabilities are able to work remotely with digital platforms, 63 percent said they have some or great difficulty.

    “While we are pleased to see greater attention being paid to accessibility, we’d also like to see organizations further empower those responsible to fulfill this critical mission,” continues Kumar. “Addressing accessibility will help close the digital divide and allow everyone to access critical services during times of crisis and stability alike.”

    This survey of 292 accessibility practitioners was conducted by Deque Systems during March and April of 2020 in cooperation with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and G3ict Research. For the complete survey report, visit: https://www.deque.com/covid-19-digital-accessibility-report/.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality. We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

  • Deque Introduces Automated Source Code Accessibility Checker

    Axe Linter Requires Minimal Effort to Detect and Suggest Accessibility Fixes; New GitHub App is Free for Personal Repositories

     

    HERNDON, VA – May 5, 2020  – Deque Systems, a leading software company specializing in digital accessibility, today introduced axe Linter, an automated GitHub-based app which checks source code for common accessibility issues, automatically finding and suggesting fixes.

    Developers can supplement existing accessibility testing efforts by using axe Linter to catch accessibility problems early in the development process, significantly reducing future testing and remediation efforts. Once axe Linter is enabled for a GitHub organization, it can be installed or enforced on every repository, running automatically on every change or pull request without further input or processes from the development team.

    Axe Linter is available now on GitHub at https://github.com/apps/axe-linter or on the Deque website at axe-linter.deque.com, and is free for all personal repositories. Axe Linter currently supports the React (JSX / TSX), Vue, HTML and Markdown formats.

    “Axe Linter saves time and money by shifting inspection to the earliest phase of development, so accessibility problems can be identified and repaired before code even gets merged,” says Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer of Deque Systems. “Once installed in your GitHub repository, it requires no further developer effort to get feedback on code changes. Axe Linter only analyzes new or changed code and makes suggestions on how to resolve accessibility issues. We expect it will become a must-have element of our axe DevTools solutions.”

    Axe Linter is built upon a growing list of rules based on WCAG 2.1 as well as a number of best practices. The application has been refined to return zero false positives.

    Axe Linter can have an immediate impact on the accessibility of development efforts, helping to make websites and applications more accessible for all, including those with disabilities.

    “Axe Linter offers easier-than-push-button accessibility checking for source code, ensuring accessibility checks are in place for every change or pull request. When combined with the popular Free axe Browser Extension for testing within the browser, or any of Deque’s Enterprise offerings, development teams have everything they need to make a huge impact on making their apps more accessible to people with disabilities,” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

  • Deque Unifies Accessibility Software Offerings Under The Axe Brand

    HERNDON, VA – May 5, 2020  – Deque Systems, a leading software company specializing in digital accessibility, today announced the unification of its enterprise accessibility testing products under the axe brand.

    Deque’s WorldSpace Suite of enterprise products, all built on the axe-core accessibility rules library, will now be repackaged using the “axe” name.

    With 37 million downloads of its rules library, 100,000 weekly axe Chrome extension users and 8,000 axe beta users, axe has become a trusted industry standard for accessibility testing worldwide.  Google, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Justice and many others use axe-core as their accessibility standard.

    “We’re grateful to everyone who reached out, completed our surveys and interacted with our tools. The feedback has been clear – driving us to rename our solutions under the well-known axe brand,” comments Dylan Barrell, Chief Technology Officer at Deque Systems. “This should bring clarity to those making the jump from our free axe browser extension to our paid enterprise tools.”

    Intelligent Guided Testing: The first significant change in this transition is within axe DevTools, formerly WorldSpace Attest, with the inclusion of Intelligent Guided Testing, now out of beta.

    “Intelligent Guided Testing enables developers of any experience level to easily identify accessibility issues not previously detectable by automated testing alone,” continues Barrell. “We’re thrilled to make this available to customers today. They are a huge driving force behind our repackaging efforts.”

    Rebranded Axe Enterprise Solutions:

    • WorldSpace Attest is now known as axe DevTools, which enables automated accessibility testing to be integrated into an organization’s existing test processes.
    • WorldSpace Assure is now known as axe Auditor, which enables testers to perform comprehensive WCAG audits of all content and applications.
    • WorldSpace Comply is now axe Monitor, which dynamically monitors and reports on the accessibility status of a website.

    The rebranding and repackaging is effective immediately. Explore the axe suite of products today at: https://www.deque.com/axe/.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

  • Deque Brings Machine Learning to Accessibility Testing

    Axe Pro Beta continues to break down testing barriers, making automated accessibility testing easier than ever, while reducing manual testing

    HERNDON, VA – March 9, 2020 – Deque Systems, a leading software company specializing in digital accessibility, continues to redefine automated accessibility testing by leveraging Machine Learning technology in its axe Pro beta.

    In an industry first, Deque has successfully integrated Machine Learning technology to perform powerful visual analyses within axe Pro’s automated and intelligent guided testing, which significantly reduces the amount of manual work required to identify and fix accessibility issues. Catching these issues quickly and easily is a crucial step to ensure that websites and apps are accessible to all people, including those with disabilities.

    “Much of accessibility testing involves determining whether digital content is accurately conveyed to assistive technologies and the users who rely on them to access that content,” comments Preety Kumar, CEO, Deque Systems. “By leveraging Machine Learning technology, we’ve continued to automate many legacy manual testing efforts, drastically reducing testing costs and making better use of a developer’s time.”

    Machine Learning – How It Works: axe Pro’s guided testing tool leverages Computer Vision, which pulls semantic data from digital images, to analyze the visual content of an HTML page’s interface elements and their relationships to one another. The visual text is then extracted from the page and fed into axe Pro’s guided testing tools, which then performs an accessibility analysis in a fully automated fashion. This greatly reduces the manual work typically required of such an analysis.

    “Amazon, Google, Facebook and others have made huge advances in Machine Learning and Computer Vision technologies, which we are leveraging to apply to accessibility testing,” says Dylan Barrell, CTO, Deque Systems. “When added to our proven technology, and our domain-specific data, we believe this first step constitutes a breakthrough that significantly reduces the amount of manual testing. We will continue to use these techniques to increasingly and steadily offer more automation and time savings far into the future.”

    Deque continues to work on improvements and additions to the axe Pro beta. More exciting guided tests, new features and new Machine Learning-powered tools will be added in coming weeks.

    The axe Pro beta is free. Anyone wishing to sign up can visit this web page: https://www.deque.com/axe-pro-sign-up/ .

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.  

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard. 

  • New Research Shows How “The Internet is Unavailable” to Blind Users

    Study Commissioned by Deque Systems Finds 70 Percent of Internet Websites in Certain Industries Inaccessible to the Vision-impaired, Missing a $6.9 Billion Market

    HERNDON, VA – August 15, 2019 – Deque Systems, a leading accessibility software company specializing in digital equality, today announced the results of a study conducted by Nucleus Research showing a pervasive “digital divide” for blind persons accessing the internet, as well as a missed market opportunity for the websites in question.

    The study, which conducted in-depth interviews with 73 U.S. adults who are blind or have severe visual impairments, revealed that two-thirds of the Internet transactions initiated by people with vision impairments end in abandonment because the websites they visit aren’t accessible enough. Ninety percent of those surveyed said they regularly call a site’s customer service to report inaccessibility and have no choice but to visit another, more accessible site to make the transaction.

    The Nucleus study also scanned hundreds of websites in the e-commerce, news and information, and government categories and found that 70 percent had certain “critical blockers” that rendered them inaccessible to visually impaired users.

    “Besides the moral dilemma and legal risk, businesses with inaccessible websites are missing a huge revenue opportunity by ignoring an untapped market,” says Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “Among internet retailers specifically, two-thirds of the top ten online retailers had serious accessibility issues, meaning they are leaving $6.9 billion in potential North American   e-commerce revenues on the table.”

    Web accessibility refers to the ability of people with disabilities to independently gather information, complete transactions, or communicate on the Internet. Most visually impaired Internet users rely on assistive technologies like screen readers or screen magnifiers to render sites perceivable and operable. However, these assistive technologies require that websites be built with accessibility in mind and optimized to interface with assistive technology, in order to convey information in an accurate and understandable manner.

    Critical accessibility blockers can vary across industries. In e-commerce, problems include issues like missing form and button labels (thereby making forms or the “checkout” button invisible without context). Amazon, Best Buy and Target were found to be accessibility leaders in this space. Additionally, the study found:

    • Eight out of ten news sites had significant accessibility issues.
    • Seven out of ten blind persons reported being unable to access information and services through government websites, including Medicare’s site.

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    • Fewer than one in three websites have clear contact information or instructions for blind persons to seek help if they encounter accessibility issues, meaning many have low levels of success in reporting and solving these problems.

    “A focus on accessibility needs to be a core part of the website design and development process,” continues Kumar. “Considering accessibility as early as the conception phase, and proactively building and testing sites for accessibility as they move towards production, is significantly more effective than remediating it later, helping organizations save significant time and resources while avoiding unnecessary customer grievances.”

    To download the report, visit: https://accessibility.deque.com/nucleus-accessibility-research-2019

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality.  We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.

     

  • Deque Systems to Expand Open Source Accessibility Tools in Collaboration with Microsoft

    Deque’s axe accessibility engine is bolstered by Microsoft collaboration, addition of new Windows rules, and the release of Deque’s open source Android and iOS rules

    ANAHEIM, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Deque Systems, a leading accessibility software company specializing in digital equality, announced at CSUN 2019 that it is working with Microsoft to add Windows platform support to the axe accessibility rules engine.

    Axe has the world’s most widely deployed Web accessibility rules engine, currently deployed to 25 million devices. Microsoft’s new and significant Windows contributions to axe extend this widely adopted de facto Web accessibility ruleset standard.

    Now developers across Web, Windows, Android and iOS platforms can all test their code in development using a common, unified approach, allowing them to prevent critical issues from impacting people around the world with disabilities.

    “We’ve been working for 20 years building up to this moment,” comments Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “Deque’s core mission has been to make accessibility a daily responsibility of every development and design team in the world. This collaboration is a huge step toward making that a reality.”

    Keith Ballinger, General Manager, Developer Services, Microsoft said, “Microsoft and Deque share a common vision of a more inclusive digital future. We are excited to expand our collaboration with Deque as it is an essential part of our journey to design, build, and launch more accessible products.”

    In addition to the axe contributions, Microsoft is announcing the open sourcing of Accessibility Insights, a set of tools that empowers developers to build more inclusive solutions.

    We invite developers across the world to be part of the movement to shift accessibility left by integrating these open sources tools into their inner dev loop. Together, we can achieve digital equality, making the digital world accessible to everyone.

    To learn more visit https://www.deque.com/axe/.

    About Deque Systems

    Deque (pronounced dee-cue) is a web accessibility software and services company, and our mission is Digital Equality. We believe everyone, regardless of their ability, should have equal access to the information, services, applications, and everything else on the web.

    We work with enterprise-level businesses and organizations to ensure that their sites and mobile apps are accessible. Installed in over 250,000 browsers and with over 1,000 audit projects completed, Deque is the industry standard.