Glossary

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Accessibility Checker(also: Accessibility Evaluation Tool, Accessibility Scanner, A11y Checker)

An accessibility checker is a software tool that analyzes web content to identify potential barriers for people with disabilities, typically by testing against established guidelines such as WCAG or Section 508. Accessibility checkers range from browser extensions and…

Accessibility Crawler(also: automated accessibility crawler, app crawler for accessibility)

An automated tool that systematically explores an application's user interface—by simulating taps, swipes, and navigation—to discover screens and UI components and then evaluate each against accessibility rules without human involvement. On Android, crawlers typically drive the…

Accessibility Scanner(also: Google Accessibility Scanner, Android Accessibility Scanner)

A testing tool developed by Google that scans Android app screens for common accessibility issues. The scanner checks for problems such as missing content descriptions on interactive elements, insufficient touch target sizes, and low color contrast. It can be run on any Android…

Accessmonkey

Accessmonkey was a 2007 client-side scripting framework, built on Greasemonkey for Mozilla Firefox, that let users and developers run site-specific JavaScript to repair inaccessible web pages on the fly. Scripts could add alternative text, restructure pages, or inject…

Blackboard Ally(also: Ally)

A commercial accessibility-checking and alternative-format-generation service from Anthology (Blackboard) that integrates with learning management systems such as Blackboard Learn, Canvas, Moodle, and Brightspace. Ally scans uploaded course materials, reports accessibility…

Brickfield Accessibility Toolkit(also: Brickfield Toolkit)

An accessibility scanning and reporting tool for Moodle developed by Brickfield Education Labs. It is distributed on a freemium model: a community-edition set of scanners is integrated into the Moodle core Accessibility Toolkit, while advanced institutional features (bulk…

Code Folding(also: Code Collapsing, Outlining)

Code folding is a feature in text editors and integrated development environments (IDEs) that allows programmers to collapse sections of code (such as functions, classes, or loops) into a single line, hiding the detailed content while retaining a high-level structural overview.…

Coh-Metrix

A web-based tool developed at the University of Memphis that analyses text on more than a hundred measures of language, cohesion, and readability, including referential and semantic cohesion, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and latent semantic analysis. Coh-Metrix moves…

Cursor Locator(also: Pointer Locator, Cursor Finder, Find My Cursor)

A software utility that helps users find the position of their mouse pointer on screen when it has been lost from view. Cursor locators typically activate through a keyboard shortcut or by detecting pointer behavior such as rapid shaking, and then draw attention to the pointer's…

Distraction Blocker(also: Focus app, Website blocker, Digital self-control tool)

A category of digital well-being software designed to restrict access to distracting applications, websites, or notifications so that users can sustain focus on work or study. Distraction blockers range from operating-system features such as Apple Screen Time and Android Focus…

ELAN(also: EUDICO Linguistic Annotator)

A free, open-source annotation tool developed at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics for creating, editing, and searching multi-tier, time-aligned annotations on video and audio recordings. ELAN has become the de-facto standard tool for sign-language corpus work…

ElevenLabs

A commercial AI voice platform that generates realistic synthetic speech and voice clones from text. ElevenLabs is used in accessibility contexts for producing narrated video voiceovers, audiobook-style readings, and personalized text-to-speech voices, and it has been adopted in…

Figma

Figma is a browser-based collaborative design tool widely used for UI/UX design, prototyping, and design-system management. Its real-time multi-user editing, component libraries, and developer-handoff features have made it a de-facto standard in product design. Figma's…

FilterKeys(also: Filter Keys, Key Repeat Filter)

An operating system accessibility feature that adjusts keyboard response to ignore brief or repeated keystrokes, helping users with motor disabilities who may accidentally press keys multiple times or hold keys down too long. FilterKeys encompasses several related functions:…

Graphviz(also: DOT, Graphviz DOT)

An open-source graph visualization software suite that renders structural representations of graphs and networks from the DOT text specification language. DOT files describe nodes, edges, attributes, and layout hints, which Graphviz layouts engines (dot, neato, fdp, circo,…

Mermaid(also: Mermaid.js)

An open-source JavaScript-based diagramming and charting tool that renders diagrams from a Markdown-inspired text specification language. Mermaid supports flowcharts, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, state diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, Gantt charts, and more, and is…

OCR (Optical Character Recognition)(also: OCR, Optical Character Recognition, Text Recognition)

A computer-vision technology that converts images of printed, handwritten, or on-screen text into machine-readable character data. OCR is foundational to a wide range of accessibility tools: extracting alt-text for image-based PDFs, reading labels for screen-reader users (e.g.,…

Pa11y

An open-source automated accessibility testing tool that runs from the command line and in continuous-integration pipelines. Pa11y can drive either axe-core or HTML CodeSniffer as its underlying rule engine, returning JSON-formatted results classified by severity (critical,…

Programming Accessibility(also: Accessible Programming, Accessible IDE)

The practice of making software development tools, environments, and workflows usable by programmers with disabilities. Programming presents unique accessibility challenges beyond general computer use: code requires precise typing of special characters and symbols, specific…

Programming by Example(also: PBE, Programming by Demonstration)

A technique in end-user programming where a system infers a generalizable program from concrete examples provided by the user, rather than requiring the user to write code directly. In accessibility contexts, programming by example has been used to enable nonprogrammers to…

Project Sidewalk

An open-source web-based crowdsourcing tool developed at the University of Washington that enables volunteers to virtually audit sidewalk accessibility using Google Street View panoramas. Contributors label four types of accessibility features and problems: curb ramps, missing…

Screen Reader Plugin(also: Screen Reader Add-on, Screen Reader Script, Screen Reader Extension)

A small piece of code that extends or modifies the functionality of a screen reader application. Screen reader plugins can make inaccessible applications accessible, customize the screen reader's behavior for specific software, add new keyboard shortcuts, and provide additional…

Signbank(also: Auslan Signbank)

An online dictionary and lexical database for a sign language, typically providing video or image entries for each sign along with metadata such as handshape, region, and usage examples. Auslan Signbank is the preeminent online Auslan dictionary and serves trainee interpreters,…

SlowKeys(also: Slow Keys)

An accessibility feature that requires a key to be held down for a specified minimum duration before the keypress is accepted by the system. SlowKeys helps users with motor disabilities who frequently make accidental keystrokes by brushing against keys or pressing keys…

StickyKeys(also: Sticky Keys)

An operating system accessibility feature that allows users to press modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt/Option, Command) and have them remain active until the next key is pressed, rather than requiring simultaneous key presses. This eliminates the need to hold down one key while…

Surface Electromyography(also: sEMG, Surface EMG)

A non-invasive technique for measuring the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles, using electrodes placed on the skin over the muscle. Surface EMG is used in biomechanics, prosthetic control, rehabilitation, and — increasingly — as an input modality for accessible…

Text-to-Audio(also: Text-to-Audio Generation, TTA)

A class of generative AI models that synthesise non-speech sound (environmental sounds, sound effects, music stems) from a text prompt - for example producing the sound of 'leaves rustling in wind' or 'church bells ringing'. Distinct from text-to-speech, which produces spoken…

Thermo Pen(also: Thermal Pen, Heat Pen)

A specialized drawing instrument that produces heat at its tip, used in conjunction with swell paper (microcapsule paper) to create instant raised-line tactile graphics. When the thermo pen is drawn across swell paper, the heat causes the microcapsules in the paper to expand…

Videoconferencing(also: Video Conferencing, Video Calling, Video Meetings)

Real-time audio-and-video communication between two or more people over a network, typically mediated by a software platform such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp, or WeChat. Videoconferencing is a significant accessibility touchpoint: it can lower barriers for…

WURFL(also: Wireless Universal Resource File)

An open-source device description repository that catalogs the capabilities of mobile devices in a large XML file. WURFL collects information about device features such as screen size, image format support, CSS support, and pointing device availability, enabling developers and…

WebAIM(also: Web Accessibility In Mind)

WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a non-profit organization based at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University, founded in 1999 and recognized internationally as a leading provider of web accessibility expertise, training, and tooling. WebAIM produces…

XPath(also: XML Path Language)

XPath (XML Path Language) is a query language for selecting nodes and computing values from XML and HTML documents. In the context of web accessibility, XPath expressions are used by assistive technologies and accessibility tools to identify and target specific elements within a…

aDesigner

aDesigner is an accessibility evaluation tool for web designers, originally released by IBM in the mid-2000s. It combined automated WCAG checking with simulations of low vision (contrast loss, blur, colour-blindness) so that sighted designers could see how a page would appear to…

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