Ace by DAISY: Open Source EPUB Accessibility Checker - Final Beta

Ace, by DAISY, the newly developed free accessibility checking tool for EPUB, has entered its final phase of testing with a new beta release this week. The full release of Ace 1.0 is scheduled for the end of January 2018, and now is the ideal time for publishers and content providers working with the EPUB 3 format to ensure they are ready to embrace this new addition to their workflow. 

Using Ace can help ensure that your publications meet the accessibility guidelines, but also aid in the production of standards compliant and interoperable EPUB files. This will support the delivery of titles which meet the emerging accessibility procurement requirements, and help to ensure people with disabilities can access and enjoy your publications.

The Ace tool performs a variety of automated checks to assist in the evaluation of conformance to the EPUB Accessibility Specification and against the rules defined in WCAG, ARIA, and HTML, producing a list for the manual checks that need to be performed, as well as data visualizations to aid the process. Ace, by DAISY can be usable as a standalone tool, or can be integrated as a third-party component in broader publishing workflows or authoring processes.

This is the perfect time to encourage your technology teams to engage with the final beta release to help shape this last phase of development advance of the release in January. You might also consider helping to prepare your in-house teams to be ready for the full release so that you can build accessibility requirements and testing into your product development at various stages. 

Ace is a ground-breaking new tool which will help you to meet the requirements expected of you in your markets, and now is the time to get on board. Be prepared and enjoy the reassurance of a free, open source tool that will help make it easier to produce higher quality, interoperable and accessible publications.

For further information on Ace, how to get started and details of how your tech teams can engage with the Final Beta release see: https://inclusivepublishing.org/Ace

Finally, you can keep up with the latest information on Ace, and as well as industry accessibility news through the Inclusive Publishing newsletter: https://inclusivepublishing.org/newsletter/

Ace is developed by the DAISY Consortium, the international non-profit organization contributing to mainstream standards and tools, driving innovation in accessible publishing since 1996.

With regards
Avneesh Singh
COO, DAISY Consortium