AXS TOOLBAR GUIDE
Accessibility Widget Buyer Checklist
Choosing an accessibility widget should not be a box-ticking exercise. The right product should support real users, fit your organisation and be honest about what it can and cannot do.
This checklist helps teams ask better questions before choosing a website accessibility widget or toolbar. It is written for organisations that want user support, strong governance and clear boundaries between experience enhancement and compliance work.
Support users
Look for practical tools that help visitors read, understand, translate and navigate.
Avoid false claims
Be cautious of products that promise automatic compliance.
Plan governance
Make sure your team can configure, evidence and improve over time.
Before you buy
Start with the user experience, not the sales claim
A useful accessibility widget should make the website experience easier for people who need support. That includes disabled people, neurodivergent people, people using assistive technology, people experiencing fatigue or overload and people reading in a second language.
The best starting question is simple: what will this help a visitor do that they could not do easily before?
User support questions
- Can visitors simplify complex content?
- Can they summarise long pages?
- Can they use text-to-speech or read aloud support?
- Can they translate content into useful languages?
- Can they request image descriptions?
- Can they adjust visual presentation without breaking the page?
- Can they navigate more confidently?
- Can they choose support without being forced into it?
Procurement questions
Ask how the widget behaves, not just what it includes
A feature list is useful, but it does not tell the whole story. Teams should also ask how the widget behaves on the site, how it is configured and what claims the provider makes about compliance.
| Question | Why to ask |
|---|---|
| Does it auto-remediate website code? | Automated repair claims need careful scrutiny. |
| Does it interfere with assistive technology? | A support layer should not make the experience worse for people using screen readers or keyboard navigation. |
| Can we choose which features are active? | Different audiences need different support. |
| Can we configure colours, logo, icon style and position? | The toolbar should feel like part of the website. |
| Can we protect words and phrases? | Brand names, technical terms and legal phrases need accuracy. |
| Does it provide compliance evidence? | If not, you still need audit and remediation evidence elsewhere. |
| Does it explain its limits clearly? | Honest boundaries are a sign of a responsible product. |
Red flags
Be careful with automatic compliance promises
Be cautious if a provider suggests that a widget alone can make your website compliant. Accessibility depends on the website itself, including code, content, structure, forms, journeys, testing and remediation.
A widget can support visitors in the live experience, but it should not delay the work of making the website accessible at source.
Red flag 1
The product claims one script can make the website compliant.
Red flag 2
The provider focuses on legal protection more than user experience.
Red flag 3
There is no clear explanation of what the tool cannot fix.
AXS position
How AXS Toolbar fits the checklist
AXS Toolbar is designed as a user-facing experience enhancement tool. It gives visitors practical ways to simplify, summarise, read, translate and navigate content.
It can be configured around your organisation, including colours, logo, icon style, position, active features, supported languages and protected terms.
It does not auto-remediate, rewrite or interfere with your website code. For testing, evidence, prioritisation and remediation guidance, use AXS Audit.
Suggested procurement wording
A clearer way to describe the requirement
If you are writing a brief or procurement requirement, avoid asking for a tool that “makes the website compliant”. Ask for user support and audit evidence as separate requirements.
Weak wording
- • Accessibility widget to make the website compliant.
- • Overlay to fix accessibility issues automatically.
- • Tool to protect us from accessibility risk.
Stronger wording
- • User-facing accessibility toolbar to support reading, cognitive access, language and navigation.
- • Accessibility audit to identify barriers, evidence progress and guide remediation.
- • Clear distinction between user experience support and compliance work.
AXS Toolbar
Support visitors while improving the underlying website
AXS Toolbar gives visitors practical support in the live experience. AXS Audit helps teams identify, evidence and prioritise improvements in the website itself.
Questions people often ask
Ask what the widget helps users do, whether it auto-remediates code, how it works with assistive technology, how it can be configured and what evidence is available for accessibility claims.
They are different things. A widget supports users on the live site. An audit identifies barriers in the website and supports remediation.
AXS Toolbar focuses strongly on cognitive access, simplification, summarisation, text-to-speech, translation, image descriptions, voice navigation, configuration and honest product boundaries.
Yes. It is designed to be configurable for brand, language, features, icon position and protected terms, making it suitable for organisations that need control and governance.