Axe-core

Axe-core is an open-source accessibility testing tool that detects issues in websites and other HTML-based applications. It checks pages for compliance with standards such as WCAG — including conformance levels A, AA and AAA — and flags common accessibility best practices. Since first appearing in the Radar in Trial in 2021, several of our teams have adopted Axe-core with clients. Accessibility is increasingly a mandatory quality attribute. In Europe, for example, regulations such as the European Accessibility Act require organizations to ensure their digital services meet accessibility requirements. Axe-core fits well within modern development workflows by enabling automated checks in CI pipelines. This helps teams prevent regressions, maintain compliance and receive early feedback during development, ensuring accessibility is part of the feedback loop, particularly as AI-assisted and agentic coding tools are more widely adopted.

让网络具有包容性，就需要重视在软件交付的所有阶段都考虑并验证它的可访问性。许多流行的可访问性测试工具，都是为对完成后的Web应用程序进行测试而设计的。结果问题往往发现得较晚，并且更难解决，最终累积成为债务。最近在ThoughtWorks网站上工作时，我们将开源可访问性（a11y）测试引擎 axe-core 纳入了构建流程。它为团队成员提供了关于遵守无障碍规则的早期反馈，即使在早期增长阶段也是如此。但是，并非每个问题都可以通过自动检查发现。商业版的axe DevTools扩展了axe-core的功能，其中包括可以指导团队成员针对大多数可访问性问题进行探索性测试。