Digital accessibility is about ensuring that all members of our community have access to and can engage with digital products, tools, information, and resources in a way that is equitable, inclusive, and empowering.
Axe Monitor (formerly Deque Comply)
- What it is: Axe Monitor is intended to help units and departments that have a large web presence make their offerings accessible.
- What it is not for: Axe Monitor is not for complex interactive web applications that depend on user input.
- Who can use it: Axe Monitor offers functionality to support managers in charge of sites, developers, and content editors in CMS environments. It also produces reports specifically for administrators at all levels of the organization. The reports and the score are private to the site and scan managers. Scan managers should not focus on the numeric score that the tool provides, but rather use the score as a benchmark against which they can measure progress.
- How it works: With Axe Monitor you can scan web systems and get a baseline report on the systems’ accessibility. The scans look for violations or possible violations of WCAG 2.0 AA, the U-M standard. Axe Monitor provides functionality to manage the remediation process and scans can be scheduled at intervals so that you can measure progress.
Getting Started
Check if your site is being scanned. If so, your team should be the owner. See below for details.
| Intake | Orientation | Instruction | Follow up | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What we ask of you |
Send an email to Deque Comply Help We will need a URL, team member names & uniqnames, and what organization the site belongs to. |
Propose a time and a place and review the documentation and the scan results beforehand. |
Bring your specific needs to our attention. Your additional functional testing is critical to get a clear picture of the accessibility of your site. |
We ask you to have a plan to address the issues found in your site and let us know what the plan is so that we can assist you. |
| What we do |
We will set up scans of production systems for you, give needed access to team members. If your site is being scanned currently we will transfer ownership of the scan to your team. |
We will provide your team with an orientation to the tool, tailored to the different roles represented in your team. |
We will also provide specific training on advanced role-specific topics. We will assist you to include functional testing to complement the scans. |
We will contact you when we see you may be needing assistance and provide whatever help required. |
Elements of a Successful Remediation Project
- Prioritize
Decide what issues you will tackle first. Take a look at Prioritizing IT for Accessibility. - Learn
Document each step of the process so that we can repeat successes and avoid mistakes. - Formulate realistic goals
Keep your approach simple and iterative, small steps add up. What does success look like? Measurable progress. - Get in touch
Join the Deque Comply User Group, reach out to your peers in other units, and reach out to us at [email protected]
Documentation
See the complete Axe Monitor Manual for U-M.