Deque Systems and Microsoft add Windows platform support to the axe accessibility rules engine

Deque Systems, a leading accessibility software company specializing in digital equality, announced at CSUN 2019 that it is working with Microsoft to add Windows platform support to the axe accessibility rules engine.

Axe has the world’s most widely deployed Web accessibility rules engine, currently deployed to 25 million devices. Microsoft’s new and significant Windows contributions to axe extend this widely adopted de facto Web accessibility ruleset standard.

Now developers across Web, Windows, Android and iOS platforms can all test their code in development using a common, unified approach, allowing them to prevent critical issues from impacting people around the world with disabilities.

“We’ve been working for 20 years building up to this moment,” comments Preety Kumar, CEO of Deque Systems. “Deque’s core mission has been to make accessibility a daily responsibility of every development and design team in the world. This collaboration is a huge step toward making that a reality.”

Keith Ballinger, General Manager, Developer Services, Microsoft said, “Microsoft and Deque share a common vision of a more inclusive digital future. We are excited to expand our collaboration with Deque as it is an essential part of our journey to design, build, and launch more accessible products.”

In addition to the axe contributions, Microsoft is announcing the open sourcing of Accessibility Insights, a set of tools that empowers developers to build more inclusive solutions.

We invite developers across the world to be part of the movement to shift accessibility left by integrating these open sources tools into their inner dev loop. Together, we can achieve digital equality, making the digital world accessible to everyone.