WAVE Toolbar

The WAVE Firefox toolbar provides a mechanism for running WAVE reports directly within Firefox. Because the toolbar reports runs entirely within your web browser, no information is sent to the WAVE server. This ensures 100% private and secure accessibility reporting. The toolbar can check intranet, password-protected, dynamically generated, or sensitive web pages. Also, because the WAVE toolbar evaluates the rendered version of your page, locally displayed styles and dynamically-generated content from scripts or AJAX can be evaluated.

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WAVE Toolbar
Version 1.1.8
February 02, 2012

Installing the WAVE toolbar

• Select the download link above. If this is the first time installing the WAVE toolbar, you may receive a Firefox notice that wave.webaim.org is attempting to install software. Simply select "Allow" at the top of the Firefox window. You must restart Firefox after installing the toolbar.
• Optionally, you may right click the download link above and select Save Link As... to save the toolbar installer to your computer. Browse to the installer (.xpi file) and double click to complete the installation.

Updates to the WAVE toolbar will automatically be sent to Firefox when they are made available.

Using the WAVE toolbar

To run a WAVE report, browse to a web page, then select the "Errors, Features, and Alerts", "Structure/Order View", "Text-only View", or "Outline View" icons on the toolbar. The web page will be modified to display the WAVE report. The "Reset Page" icon will refresh the page and should typically be selected between viewing reports. The "Icons Key" button will display a list of all WAVE icons with additional details, information, and recommendations.

WAVE Toolbar functionality is also available through the Tools menu (ALT + T). This allows keyboard accessibility to all WAVE functions, even if the toolbar is not visible.

Toolbar display issues

If the toolbar disappears or becomes dysfunctional, start Firefox in Safe Mode and select the option to "Reset toolbars and controls".

Copyright, privacy notice, and other stuff

The WAVE toolbar, its interface elements, design elements, functionality, and underlying code are © WebAIM. No information is transmitted from the WAVE toolbar, thus allowing secure and private accessibility reporting. However, if you select the "Process at wave.webaim.org" option, the current URL you are viewing is transmitted to the WAVE server for evaluation. By downloading the WAVE toolbar, you agree to the WAVE Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.