axe Rebranding Progress Update
November 2020
Intro
In April 2020, Deque announced our plans for the next generation of our enterprise accessibility tools. The tool suite formerly known as "WorldSpace" are united under the name "axe" (see: Upcoming Changes to Deque WorldSpace Suite of Tools). Our decision to rename the tools came from overwhelming feedback from the market and customers like you. These changes bring clarity to our suite of products and emphasize our reliance on the axe-core engine that helps make your accessibility testing robust, reliable and accurate.
As valued Deque tools customers, we want to keep you updated on our progress to make sure that you and your colleagues are up-to-date on the latest updates in each tool. Since the initial announcement, the following changes have been implemented in axe DevTools, axe Auditor, and axe Monitor.
axe DevTools (formerly WorldSpace Attest)
Axe DevTools underwent the most significant changes to its tool suite. All axe DevTools components, APIs and integration packages contain the new tool name, "axe." See Figure 1 for a list of all component name changes.
Intelligent Guided Testing functionality is now available to all axe DevTools users. Intelligent Guided Tests allow you to catch more bugs without having to be an accessibility expert. The Intelligent Guided Testing experience has also been overhauled to create a simplified user experience. Now, with nothing but the Chrome axe DevTools Extension, it is possible to catch 76-84% of all accessibility defects without ever leaving the page you are inspecting. The latest release incorporates user experience changes that makes using the tool easier than ever.
Other notable changes include the addition of a brand-new documentation site, a new API integration for Cypress, and new CLI (formerly AGet) functionality.
axe DevTools APIs (formerly Attest APIs)
The first iterations of new axe DevTools APIs were also published with axe DevTools 4.0 release in September 2020. The APIs have new name spaces and new registries in the Agora system. All APIs kept in sync with the axe-core version, starting with version 4.0. Existing Attest APIs will continue to be supported through the summer of 2021. For more details on the API name changes, please refer to Figure 2.
axe Auditor (formerly WorldSpace Assure)
The axe Auditor 2.1 release in early July helped make testing easier and more efficient. The application UI has been rebranded from "WorldSpace Assure" to "axe Auditor." The automated testing feature in axe Auditor is now over 50% faster. In addition, axe Auditor now has a Native Mobile Issue Description Library with over 300 descriptions that is available when you select a native mobile digital asset type in a test run.
Axe Auditor 2.2 made it easier to change the scope of your test. The scope of a test can change and the pages or components are no longer relevant, they could have been accidentally added or the content and web pages change after you've started your test. With this feature when you delete a page or a component all traces of it are removed from the test. It's removed from groups, filters, flagged issues and the scope of future tests so it won't be re-added when you run your automated tests.
Axe Auditor documentation now reflects the new name in the axe Auditor User Guide.
axe Monitor (formerly WorldSpace Comply)
Recent releases of axe Monitor help to build consistency and alignment between axe Auditor and other Deque tools. For instance, axe Monitor now uses axe-core’s issue severity and impact determination, making axe Monitor more consistent with axe DevTools. The tool name has been changed in the UI and in documentation to "axe Monitor" as of the most recent release (6.6). Read the axe Monitor User Guide.
New functionality now allows admins to self-service upgrade axe-core rulesets, as well as users to choose to include or exclude redirected URLs.
In the axe Monitor 6.6 release, we introduced axe Reports 1.0, Deque's new enterprise reporting component. Axe Reports is designed to help you understand your accessibility issues and trends. The data is configurable to a hierarchy specific to your organization or analysis needs. It supports root cause analysis because it shows your company's trends, dips and inclines and allows you to drill down into the details to pinpoint accessibility improvements and regressions across your organization. Read the axe Reports User Guide.
What's Next?
Improvements to Deque accessibility tools are an ongoing process. We want to make sure that our customers have time to manage the changes at their organizations and that Deque is delivering thoughtful updates to tools with each new release.
We also want to keep our lines of communication open so that users can continue to help improve the axe suite of tools. Make sure you’re updated with future changes by signing up for axe DevTools News, axe Auditor News, or axe Monitor News.
Thank you,
The Deque Team
Appendix
|
Old Component Name |
New Component Name |
|---|---|
|
N/A |
axe Extension |
|
Attest Browser Extension |
axe Expert Extension |
|
AGet |
axe DevTools CLI |
|
N/A |
axe DevTools Server |
|
Attest APIs |
axe DevTools APIs |
|
Language |
Old package name |
New Package Name |
|---|---|---|
|
Node |
@deque/attest |
@axe-devtools/browser |
|
@deque/aget |
@axe-devtools/cli |
|
|
@deque/karma-attest-json-reporter |
@axe-devtools/karma-json-reporter |
|
|
@deque/attest-logger |
@axe-devtools/logger |
|
|
@deque/attest-puppeteer |
@axe-devtools/puppeteer |
|
|
@deque/attest-reporter |
@axe-devtools/reporter |
|
|
@deque/attest-csv-reporter |
@axe-devtools/reporter-csv |
|
|
@deque/attest-node |
@axe-devtools/script-builder |
|
|
@deque/attest-webdriverio |
@axe-devtools/webdriverio |
|
|
@deque/attest-webdriverjs |
@axe-devtools/webdriverjs |
|
|
@deque/attest-standards |
n/a |
|
|
n/a |
@axe-devtools/cypress |
|
|
Java |
attest-java |
com.deque.html.axe-devtools.cucumber |
| attest-java |
com.deque.html.axe-devtools.hamcrest |
|
| attest-java |
com.deque.html.axe-devtools.selenium |
|
|
Ruby |
attest-ruby |
axe-devtools-capybara |
| attest-ruby |
axe-devtools-watir |
|
| attest-ruby |
axe-devtools-selenium |
|
| attest-ruby |
axe-devtools-cucumber |
|
| attest-ruby |
axe-devtools-rspec |
|
|
C# |
attest-csharp |
axe-devtools-selenium |