Colour Contrast Analyser 1.0 & Versione italiana 1.0

Colour Contrast Analyser 0.9

minor modification to 'show lang attributes' function

1 more function plus new additional documentation

The recent flurry of activity (additons to the toolbar) has been due to the preparation of a document called The Web Accessibility Toolbar and WCAG 1.0 which is now finished and published.

This document indicates which toolbar function (if any) is helpful in assessing conformance to the WCAG 1.0 Checkpoints.

"it would be good if the toolbar could help check for that"

and proceeded to try to cobble together some code to do it, or scrounge around for some code to modify or best of all hassle Sofia or JUn to do some development.The newest function is:Structure > JavaScript / New Window LinksIt Displays an icon next to links that contain JavaScript in the href attribute. The links are also given a dashed border and background colour.

it Displays an icon next to links that contain an onclick event handler and common words used in new window scripts in the href and/or the onclick attribute. The links are also given a dashed border and background colour.

It Displays an icon next to links that have their target attribute specified (_self & _top are excluded) . The links are also given a background colour.

Aknowledgement to Autark who created the script this is based on.

2 more functions added

The last of the major functions added..... until the new version comes out!

Displays (in a new window) the code of any object/embed elements found. it also lists links to Multimedia files (Examples: mp3, mov, swf, ram etc) found on the current page. Developed by Sofia Celic

Displays (in a new window) any applets found and the associated code. It also lists embedded and external scripts found and in most cases allows the viewing and downloading of external scripts linked from current page.Developed by Sofia Celic with aknowledgement to Lioren.

3 functions modified + 1 removed

3 new functions added plus 2 modified

1. 'Structure > Show tab order' - numbers (in tab order) and puts a background colour & border around all active elements on the page. If the element has a tabindex attribute this is indicated.Note: applets/multimedia/ image maps/iframes are treated as one increment in the tab order.
2. 'Doc Info > Show DOCTYPE' - simple function that shows an alert box indicating the DOCTYPE (if present)
3. 'Doc Info > Show Lang attributes' - Displays on the current page any lang attributes found along with their associated elements. With acknowledgement to: Bartimeus Accessibility Foundation

Also two functions have been modified, one has been removed.

1. The 'CSS > CSS on/off' & the 'CSS > Inline styles off' functions have now become one:'CSS > Disable CSS'. this function now disables external style sheets and removes inline syles as well.
2. the 'CSS> test styles function' has been updated to include a dropdown list of style rules found in style sheets associated with the page, which can be inserted into the edit area. the styel changes can also be cleared using the 'clear' button. The functions interface has also been prettied up a tad.

New Function - Complex Table Inspector

New Functions Added

1. Show Image Maps : Checks for the presence of client-side and server-side image maps. if none are found it is indicated by an alert message. If image maps are found, they are displayed in a new window along with the associated area elements. This function was developed by my esteemed colleague Sofia Celic.
2. Vischeck Colour Blindness Simulator (Deuteranope: common red/green): Submits the URL of the current page to the Vischeck Colour Blindeness Simulator the URL is processesd (may take a little while), a page will open with a link to the simulation (in a new window).

These functions will appear on your toolbar after the next (Weekly) auto update or you can force an update using the Accessibility toolbar options > update feature.

minor modification to functionality

Function Update: Structure > Event Handlers

Bug report: ID attributes and JavaScript variables

real time CSS editor bookmarklet (alpha version)

Neu - Deutsch: Web Accessibility Toolbar. Informationen und Download

Korean version of the Web Accessibility Toolbar.

(More on) Keyboard navigation conflicts

A few users have reported odd behaviours occuring with the toolbar keyboard commands, as mentioned previously I have been hassling JUn to include a function to disable shortcuts, which he has now done.

While I don't plan to include this function [along with a bunch of others] until the next release in the installation package, but if you are experiencing problems you can download the test version of the dll and xml files [test_key.zip, 268Kb] which includes the hot key (de) activation function:

Once downloaded unzip and place these files in the folder where the toolbar is installed (they replace the dll and xml files that are currently there). Be sure that you have all instances of IE shut as you will not be able to overwrite the dll file with any IE windows open. Now when you open up IE in the toolbar options menu you will be able to turn on/off hot keys.Note: The update function has been disabled in the test version.The test version is the English language version only. It will not cause a problem to overwrite other language versions.

(More on) the Toolbar and XP SP2

The Toolbar and XP service pack 2

"I thought that you might like to know there is a small issue for users who use the toolbar and upgrade to Windows XP SP2. The problem is small, and no doubt could be fixed by fiddling about in the Registry. However, post SP2 when you click on 'View Source' on the 'Tools' menu IE reports that the site cannot be found. The right click normal route still works."

"The toolbar Appeared on my computer to be disabled by the install of XP service pack 2. Am I alone? "

"Re-installed with the latest version fixed the problem. (Was using 1.0 before SP2 upgrade)"

Suddenly the toolbar started throwing errors...

Barra de herramientas de accesibilidad Web. Versión Español 1.0

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I tried to install the accessibility toolbar and it ran through the setup program but there is no toolbar appearing in IE??

1. view > toolbars > lock the toolbars is unticked.
2. Tools > Internet options > advanced > enable third party browser extensions (requires restart) is ticked.
3. view > toolbars > accessibility toolbar is ticked.
4. open and close the browser a few times.
5. look closely in the section of the browser that the toolbar should appear as sometimes the toolbar will initiall appear beside / partially obscured by other toolbars you have installed (e,g, google).

2. The resize function (e.g. 800X600) stops working....

This function is currently javascript based and i have noticed that, since installing the latest windows service packs, the resize functions stop working sometimes. So the toolbar has been updated by JUn so it no longer relies on javascript for this function, which solves the issue. The update will be available next week (about the 3rd of august).

3. Why do I get an error when I close a window in Internet explorer?

This is an issue with some browser version/operating sytem combinations, it occurs sporadically, we are working on a fix for this. we have implemented a partial fix that reduces the problem, but have not completely sorted it yet....

Many thanks to Jim McPherson who has been helping us with the testing of the dll's

4. when opening the IE-Browser i get an alert with the following text: IEEXPLORE "out of system resources".

And in the Toolbar (EN 1.0) any button icon (either this one of the CSS or this one of the Structure etc.) appears destroyed, i.e. not as a clear icon, but as a black or white spot. I'm using XP.....

Resource shortage happens in XP if the user has many applications open at once. the toolbar itself uses a small amount of system resources, but if resources are insufficient, drawing of icons will not be able to be done. If you only find this occurs when you only have a few applications running please contact me with details of the error.

5. Why does the toolbar only work in IE?

• There was a gap in “the market,” no tools comparable to those available for Mozilla were/are available for IE.
• Our programming expertise is limited (if somebody wants to work with us on versions for other browsers/operating systems we’d be interested),
• Our resources are very limited as this project is unfunded so we work on it between paid work and in our spare time
• While some people realise that there are better browsers than IE out there, their uptake is still very small, and my original idea was to raise awareness of accessibility issues and provide the tools to “the masses.”
• For better or worse, many assistive technology users use IE for web browsing, so I tend to use it for accessibility testing and browsing due to this circumstance
• What time I have had to work on developing the toolbar has so far been directed at improving the functionality and collaborating with others to create versions in other languages
• A great web developer toolbar for mozilla/firefox is available from chris pederick

Keyboard navigation conflicts

" On swedish keyboards the @-sign is produced with the keystroke Alt+2. In other words, it's exactly the same as the shortcut for the resize menu in the toolbar. This means that whenever I enter an email adress in a form field on a web page, the resize menu pops up and hinders me from typing."

A quick fix is to edit the accessibility_toolbar.xml file (open in a text editor), which you will find in the folder you installed the toolbar in.

You can remove or modify the attribute 'Accesskey="2" from the resize button element:<button type="dropdown" caption="Resize" hint="Screen Resolution" Accesskey="2" image="resize.bmp">Note: when you use the toolbar update function the xml file is overwritten.

I am hassling JUn to include a function to disable shortcuts (soon) and am also looking at function customization feature (don't hold your breath for this one)

Thanks Henrik for bringing this issue to my attention.

web accessibility t-bar living peacefully with the Google bar, amongst other things...

" When I uncheck View>Toolbars>Google, it is the Accessibility Toolbar that vanishes from sight, and when I uncheck View>Toolbars>Accessibility Toolbar, it is the Google toolbar that disappears from view!"

This appears to be a general problem with the ie toolbar menu. Google has a simple fix for it (worked for me!). Thanks to Walter for bringing it to my attention.

"When I right click on IE's toolbar, "Accessibility Toolbar" shows 3times.I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but it doesn't remove theextra 'Accessibility Toolbar' choices."

I think this problem is because the ie registration system is a bit flaky (easy to blame it on microsoft), I have encountered similar problems with other toolbars / explorer bars. There are several free /shareware utilities out there, that may help you to remove such annoyances (see the links below), you can also try editing the registry yourself (not recommended unless you know what you are doing)

• browser extension manager
• Toolbar Cop
• Hijackthis

Thanks to Sam for pointing this issue out.

Is there a version for firefox or Opera??

Web Accessibility Toolbar JA 1.1 Released

Undocumented Features

1. The CSS button refreshes the page ('on click' or ctrl+alt+shift+3).
2. The Structure button activates the Mouseover DOM Inspector ('on click' or ctrl+alt+shift+5) favelet from Slayeroffice.com, see the documenation on SlayerOffice.
3. Selecting some text on a web page and activating the tools button ('on click' or ctrl+alt+shift+7) will result in the selected text being copied to the clipboard without formatting/styles. I find this useful when I want to copy 'plain text' to a word document. (Note: this is a bit buggy, doesn't cause any problems, but doesn't always work).
4. The magnify button ('on click' or ctrl+alt+shift+m) resets the magnification to 100%.
5. The AIS toolbar button links to http://www.nils.org.au/web_access.htm

The reason these features have not been documented are that they are features i have incorporated primarily for my own use, i am documenting them now so that if you come across them in unexpectedly you know what they are. I may add others as time goes on....

New features and modifications.

Minor Upgrade now available (EN 1.1)

Upgrade released (EN 1.1) to deal with minor issues reported by users.

1. Resize Function no longer reliant upon JavaScript
2. Fix for error message that occured sporadically on browser close.