Glossary

a11y

An abbreviation for accessibility: interpreted as the letter a followed by 11 characters then the letter y.

Agora

Agora is Deque's internal artifact repository. It is based on an Artifactory instance. Through Agora, users can download Axe DevTools Linter components and the Connector binary.

API Key

An API key authorizes your use of the Deque-hosted SaaS linting service or local linting. You manage your API keys through Axe Account Settings. See Obtaining an Axe DevTools Linter SaaS API Key for more information.

ARIA

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is a technical specification published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that defines ways to increase the accessibility of web pages, in particular, dynamic content and user interface components developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies.

Best Practices

Deque best practices are time-tested techniques that deliver desired accessibility results when specific formal methods are lacking or insufficient. While they are not officially included in any established accessibility rulesets, following Deque's best practices can enhance the accessibility and overall quality of the code you write. It should be noted that non-compliance with Deque's best practice guidelines does not automatically indicate a failure. Moreover, expert judgment is required to consider the appropriateness in the context of the application, site, or page goals. Sometimes the best practice accessibility technique isn't applicable or practical for resolving a specific issue.

CI/CD

CI/CD stands for continuous integration and continuous delivery (or continuous deployment). It refers to automated pipelines that build, test, and release software. The Axe DevTools Linter Connector and GitHub Action integrate into CI/CD pipelines to catch accessibility issues before code is merged or deployed.

Component Library

A component library is a collection of reusable UI components. Axe DevTools Linter has built-in support for several popular component libraries, including @mui/material, @deque/cauldron-react, and react-native, and can lint their components as though they were native HTML elements. See Preconfigured Component Libraries for more information.

Connector

The Connector (formally the Axe DevTools Linter Connector) is a command-line tool for Linux, macOS, and Windows that provides a command-line interface to lint your files. You can use it for scripting and CI/CD pipelines. See Using Axe DevTools Linter Connector for more information.

Custom Component

A custom component is a UI component you define or import from a third-party library that does not correspond directly to a native HTML element. Axe DevTools Linter can lint custom components by mapping them to native HTML elements in your configuration, allowing it to apply standard accessibility rules to your components. See Linting Custom Components for more information.

Inline Directive

An inline directive is a specially formatted comment added directly to source code that suppresses one or more Axe DevTools Linter rules for a specific line, range of lines, or the remainder of a file. Inline directives let you acknowledge known violations without modifying your global configuration. See Suppressing Linting Rules with Inline Directives for more information.

License Key

A license key is an alternative to an API key for authenticating local linting with the Connector. Unlike an API key, a license key does not require remote authentication and does not report usage information. You must request a license key from Deque's Help Desk. Using a license key requires the Connector's --local option.

Linter

A linter is a tool that automatically analyzes source code to find problems, including syntax errors, stylistic inconsistencies, and potential bugs, without executing the code. Axe DevTools Linter is an accessibility linter: it finds patterns in source code that are likely to cause accessibility problems. See About Axe DevTools Linter.

Linting

Linting is the automated process of using a linter to analyze source code for problems. Axe DevTools Linter performs accessibility linting: it checks your source files against Deque's accessibility rules and reports any patterns likely to cause accessibility barriers. See About Axe DevTools Linter.

Local Linting

Local linting is an option for the Connector that performs accessibility analysis on the machine running the Connector, rather than sending your files to a server. Local linting is faster and avoids network dependencies. It requires either an API key or a license key. See Local Linting for more information.

On-Premises

On-premises (also on prem) refers to running the Axe DevTools Linter server within your own infrastructure, as opposed to using Deque's cloud-hosted SaaS server. An on-premises installation gives you full control over the server and keeps file contents within your network. See Installation and Security for more information.

Rule

A rule is an individual accessibility check that Axe DevTools Linter applies to your source files. Each rule corresponds to one or more accessibility guideline criteria and is identified by a unique rule ID (for example, image-alt or label). Rules can be enabled, disabled, or set to report warnings through your configuration. See Accessibility Rules for the complete list of rules.

SaaS

SaaS (Software as a Service) refers to Deque's cloud-hosted Axe DevTools Linter server. When you use the SaaS server, your files are sent to Deque's server for analysis. Using SaaS requires an API key. See Obtaining an Axe DevTools Linter SaaS API Key for more information.

Section 508

An amendment to the United States Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. It comprises sixteen provisions based on access guidelines developed by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) but are not identical to either WCAG 1.0 or 2.0 standards.

Static Analysis

Static analysis is the examination of source code without executing it. Axe DevTools Linter uses static analysis to detect accessibility issues early in development, before code is compiled, merged, or deployed. Because static analysis does not run your application, it cannot detect every accessibility issue; some problems require browser-based or manual testing.

Tag

A tag is a label that groups rules together based on the accessibility standard they correspond to (for example, wcag2a or best-practice). You can use tags in your configuration to enable or disable an entire group of rules at once. See Tags for the complete list of supported tags.

Violation

A violation is an accessibility issue that Axe DevTools Linter detected in your source code — specifically, a pattern that does not conform to one or more of the rules Axe DevTools Linter checks. Violations are reported with the rule ID, a description, and the file location.

WCAG

WCAG, or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and explain how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 1.0 was published in May 1999. WCAG 2.0 was published in December 2008. WCAG 2.1 was published in June 2018. WCAG 2.2, the most recent iteration of the guidelines, was published in 2023 and offers nine new success criteria over WCAG 2.1.