The Paciello Group Blog Your Accessibility Partner

Here at TPG we  have been working on a new tool to inspect  elements on a web page and be able to view the HTML code, ARIA attributes (if any) and the information being conveyed by the browser to  accessibility APIs, all in one neatish interface. We have given it the catchy moniker   “AViewer” and a beta version is available for download.

AViewer Features

For those who have used inspect32 the way the viewer works should not be overly unfamiliar. At the top of the viewer window there is a toolbar consisting of the following buttons:

The AViewer Toolbar

1. Watch Focus (F4) - Information will be displayed for the element that has focus
2. Watch Cursor (F5) - Information will be displayed for the element that is under the cursor
3. Show Highlight Rectangle (F6) - places a visible highlight rectangle around the element that is currently being inspected
4. Copy Text to Clipboard (F7) - copies all the information currently displayed to the clipboard
5. Focus Rectangle Only (F8) - disables all features except the keyboard focus rectangle
6. Navigate to Parent Object (F9)
7. Navigate to First Child Object (F10)
8. Navigate to Previous Sibling Object (F11)
9. Navigate to Next Sibling Object (F12)
10. Show Online Help (F1) - opens the Aviewer help in a browser window.
11. Show Font Dialog (F2) - Font dialog for adjusting the font/font size of the text in the Aviewer interface.
12. Desktop Mode - Disables HTML and ARIA  inspection features.
13. Register Ia2 Menu - In order to inspect IAccessible 2 information the DLL needs to be registered on initial use.
    1. Register
    2. Unregister

Below the toolbar are the Select Display checkboxes:

Select Display

1. MSAA - When checked MSAA information is displayed in the listview.
2. ARIA - When checked ARIA information is displayed in the listview.
3. HTML - When checked HTML information is displayed in the listview.
4. IA2 - When checked IA2 information is displayed in the listview.

Below the Select Display checkboxes is the information listview and the code display text arera.

Installing the AViewer

1. Download the AViewer zip file (461 kb)
2. Unzip.
3. Start the AViewer.exe.
4. Remember to register the IA2 DLL first time you start the AViewer.

Notes:

• Runs on Windows only.
• The full range of inspection features can be used on web pages in Firefox and Internet Explorer. Note: IE does not support the IA2 accessibility API.
• Web pages in other browsers can be inspected in desktop mode only. Note: Most do not expose much information via accessibility APIs.
• Feedback on the functionality welcome!
• Feedback on the accessibility of AViewer welcome!
• To provide feedback and report bugs email Steve Faulkner sfaulkner@paciellogroup.com
• Many thanks to JUn for his work on the AViewer.
• And yes it is HTML5 ready!

Terms of Use Notice:

The AViewer beta software  is Freeware.

By accessing or using the AViewer, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the AViewer Terms of Use.

You may use the AViewer Software (the “Software”) for your personal use to help you determine the accessibility of your web content. For commercial use of this software contact Brian Landrigan blandrigan@paciellogroup.com.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, THE PACIELLO GROUP (TPG) DOES NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE RELIABILITY, QUALITY, OR MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ADDITIONALLY, TPG DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT USE OF THIS SOFTWAREWILL ENSURE THE ACCESSIBILITY OF YOUR WEB CONTENT OR THAT YOUR WEB CONTENT WILL COMPLY WITH ANY SPECIFIC WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD.