📌 Requirements: Pressbooks Enterprise network. This tool is not available on Pressbooks Self-Publisher (pressbooks.pub).

TheAccessibility Assist Author Tool, powered byEditoria11y, is available as an add-on for Pressbooks Enterprise networks. This tool helps you spot and resolve accessibility issues while you create or edit content in Pressbooks. You can view flagged issues directly in the editor, make changes, and track improvements over time. If your network manager has activated the add-on, you’ll see the Author Tool automatically when working on your books. If you don’t see it and would like access, please contact your network manager to request activation.

TheAccessibility Assist Scanner Tool is additionally included as part of the fullContent Toolkit bundle. If your network has the Content Toolkit enabled, and you are a book Administrator or Editor, you will see a scan feature at the top of theContent Toolkit > Accessibility Report page in the left sidebar menu of your book dashboard.

In this chapter, we’ll describe how to use the Accessibility Assist Author Tool as well as the Scanner Tool. For additional guidance on addressing accessibility issues flagged by the tool, please seeour guide chapter on the topic.

View Alerts

As a logged-in user with thebook user role of author, editor, collaborator, or administrator, the Author Tool will automatically check your content in theVisual editor as well as on any rendered webbook page, flagging common accessibility issues which can be addressed from the editor.

The tool checks for page structure that is meaningful for screen readers and search engines; text alternatives for images and media; meaningful links; and other, miscellaneous accessibility issues. (Please note that it does not flag design issues with color contrast.)

Each flagged issue, oralert, is marked with a tooltip.

Unambiguous issues are marked in red, with an exclamation mark in a circle.

Dismissible tips are marked in yellow, with a question mark in a circle.

Hovering your cursor over the alert tooltip — or using the tab key to navigate from one issue to the next, pressing the enter key while the tooltip is selected — opens a pop-up with a text description, providing instant feedback on the issue and how to resolve it.

A smallcontrol panel also appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen on every webbook page (and its corresponding Visual editor).

Within this control panel, the “Show / hide accessibility alerts” button allows you to toggle between showing or hiding alert tooltips as you view the page. The button on the furthest right with a number or an arrow, “Go to first / next alert,” allows you to jump to the next alert tooltip on the page. The button on the furthest left allows book administrators to navigate to the book-level report (this button is not visible in the Editor).

Learn more about how to fix common accessibility issues in our chapter “Ensure Your Book’s Accessibility“.

Show / Hide Alerts in the Editor

As you’re working in the Visual editor, there are times when you may not want to view accessibility alerts. To hide all alerts from editor, click the flag button in the control panel in the bottom-right corner of the Edit page:

To show all alerts again, click the flag button again. Alerts are shown by default when loading the Edit page but they can always be toggled on and off this way.

Disable Alerts in the Visual Editor

If you have the role of Administrator in a book, you have the option of entirely disabling accessibility alerts in the Visual editor throughout the book.

To disable alerts in the visual editor:

1. From your book’s dashboard, navigate toSettings > Editoria11y.
2. Locate ‘Checker mode inside editor’ under ‘Basic configuration’.
3. Where it says ‘Always start open’, choose ‘Hide checker while editing’ from the dropdown instead.
4. Save changes.

Access Book-Level Reports

If you have the user role of Administrator or Editor within a book, you can also view a report on issues identified throughout the book to date. This report is reachable from theContent Toolkit > Accessibility Reportlink in the left sidebar of the book dashboard (or from the aforementioned control panel on any Visual editor or webbook page, via the “Open site reports in new tab” button).

Thisbook-level report includes:

• recent issues
• a summary of issues by page (sorted by which pages have the most issues)
• an overview of issue types (sorted by prevalence)
• recent issue dismissals

This report can also be downloaded as a CSV.

Scan Book

By default, the accessibility report is populated one page at a time as you – or other logged-in users with edit capabilities – open book chapters or the Edit page for specific book chapters.  But if your network has the full Content Toolkit enabled, then in addition to the Author Tool described above, you will also have access to theScanner Tool. The Scanner Tool has the advantage of populating the accessibility report for the entire book in a single action.

As a user with the role of Administrator or Editor within a book, when you visit theContent Toolkit > Accessibility Reportlink in the left sidebar of the book dashboard, you will see an Automated Scan tool at the top of the page.

Using theScan Book button here initiates a full, up-to-date scan of all pages in the book, providing a report that reflects the book’s current status when it comes to accessibility issues / alerts flagged by Accessibility Assist. Click the checkbox to request email notification when the scan completes. You can navigate away while the scan is in progress and return later to view the completed report.

Videos: Use Accessibility Assist

This video demonstrates how to use theAccessibility Assist Author Tool in Pressbooks.

This video outlines how to navigate theContent Toolkit > Accessibility Report page as well as how to use theAccessibility Assist Scanner Tool in Pressbooks.