Beta Phase • August Recap

Between two well-deserved weeks off and extensive conversations with accessibility experts, several major initiatives have been moving forward in parallel, from the redesign of the criterion card to the launch of a true support community.

Between late July and late August, CheckFox went through two waves of major updates. On the agenda: a completely redesigned audit versioning system, much more comprehensive exports and imports, more flexible RGAA and RAWeb quick audits, and several new development initiatives underway. Here's the full overview.

A completely redesigned audit versioning system

Audit versions had a few behaviors that didn't quite match real-world usage. Several fixes and new features address this:

• If you delete a version in the middle of the history, subsequent versions automatically reorganize to leave no gaps.
• You can now create multiple branches from the same version, to explore two different evolutions in parallel from the same base audit.
• RGAA and RAWeb quick audits can be upgraded to a full audit at any time, with or without going through the versioning system. For example, you can start with 25 criteria and expand the audit later without starting from scratch.
• Images added as evidence now follow version logic intelligently: if an image is deleted in a parent version, it remains available as long as it's still used in a child version.

Greatly improved export and import

The export now contains everything that makes up an audit: the complete version history, impact levels per non-conformity, linked notes, and the audit coverage type (quick, complementary, simplified, or full).

Concretely, the export comes as a single zip file, containing your data, a file precisely describing the data structure, and a folder with all screenshots used as evidence. On import, everything is rebuilt identically: version links, associated notes, and screenshots are automatically restored, without overwriting anything already in your workspace. Importing data alone, without the zip, also remains possible if needed.

RGAA and RAWeb quick audits

RGAA now offers 3 audit levels: quick with 25 or 50 criteria, or classic with all criteria. RAWeb also gets its own quick audit, with 47 criteria.

You can switch between levels at any time. This change automatically creates a new version, to keep a clear record of your progress. Another new feature: expert mode now integrates user impact options.

A faster tool for everyday use

Several performance optimizations have been deployed:

• Your audit list loads almost instantly after an initial load, including within folders.
• User journeys load much faster, with all information arriving in a single load instead of several small successive calls.
• Duplicating a large journey, with many steps and linked audits, is now almost instantaneous, whereas the operation could take several seconds before.

Behind the scenes: a company, interest, and micro redesigns here and there

The company that will carry and support CheckFox has just been officially created, a key milestone for the project's future. Several companies have already expressed interest in accessing the tool, an encouraging signal for CheckFox, as for the future of accessibility.

A redesign of the criterion card, the very heart of the tool, has also taken shape to improve the hierarchy of displayed information. Indeed, it has been enriched with user impact and the definition of the correction recipient during recent updates. Six design variant proposals were shared in a dedicated GitHub discussion, to gather community feedback and choose the best direction together.

Time off and refocusing

Two weeks off were taken in August to recharge before diving back into CheckFox development. The other two weeks were devoted to conversations with domain experts, to better identify gaps in current tools. Several initiatives from these exchanges are now in parallel development, some already visible on the beta.

New "responsible" profile

A new "responsible" profile is making its appearance, with default values for each criterion according to the role concerned: designer, developer, project manager, Quality Assurance, or Content. The goal is to facilitate ownership of criteria by each profession, to "activate correction," which is often missing after an audit.

This profile also allows, when sharing to Jira, Linear, or GitHub, to send a tag corresponding to the profile that should handle the accessibility issue. An indication to adapt according to each organization, of course.

Pro profile and white label

The pro profile evolves to integrate white-label branding on all generated documents: reports, exports, and public pages can now carry your visual identity. This feature is still under development and technical testing. Coming soon.

Extended public pages

After the audit report, the public audit page, and the public service mapping page, it's now the turn of accessibility statements and the future multi-year scheme to be hosted directly from the platform.

The idea is to facilitate their automatic generation and point to content that is accessible "by design," even from a website that isn't fully accessible yet. This content remains of course downloadable for direct integration on your platforms (Web or app).

Discord and Stoat community

An exchange community has just been created on Discord and Stoat, accessible from the CheckFox community page. The goal: to exchange on practices, pain points, misunderstandings, online resources, and more. Live exchanges on a dedicated channel are also possible for those who wish.

Job board in preparation

A job board is under development to strengthen involvement in accessibility and create a positive ecosystem around the roles, functions, and challenges of the sector. A must-have for companies seriously committed to their accessibility journey.

Closed beta feedback, and open beta coming soon

Finalized feedback on the overall platform experience is still limited at this stage, and that's normal. The open beta launch is scheduled for next month, so don't hesitate to start signing up for this open beta to be contacted.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributes to shaping the tool on a daily basis: your feedback matters enormously for the future of CheckFox.