[Editor Plugin] ACE by Daisy - EPUB Accessibility Checker

[thiago.eec]

This plugin is a simple ACE (=Accessibility Checker for EPUB) wrapper.

Credits: This plugin is based on Doitsu's code for Sigil's ACE Plugin and EPUBCheck for calibre. The Config Menu is based on KindleUnpack's. Thanks to Kovid Goyal for providing the feature that made possible linked error messages.

Requirements:

• You need to install ACE before you can run the plugin.
• Mininum calibre version: 2.0.0

Ace installation:

1. Install Node.JS
   • Go to Node.JS
   • Download version 10 or higher
   • Double-click to install
2. Install (or update) Ace
   • After installing Node, open a shell window
     • On Windows: Windows System->Command Prompt or Start->Run->cmd.exe
     • On Mac: Applications->Utilities->Terminal
   • Type the following command to install or update Ace
     

     npm install @daisy/ace -g

3. If everything went smoothly, you should now be able to run the ace command in your shell. You can test it out like this:
   

   $ ace --version
   1.2.4

Visit the ACE's website if you have any trouble with the installation.

Settings: You can change the settings on the 'Configure' dropdown menu beside the ACE icon on the Editor. The same menu is reachable via Preferences > Advanced > Plugins > Customize Plugin.

Options:

• Report Folder: select de default folder to save ACE report.
• Open Report after checking: opens the html report, after finished.
• Debug Mode: copy ACE log to clipboard.
• Close Validation Docks: automatically close Check Book and EPUBCheck docks.
• Split multiline errors: split errors into multiple lines, when needed.
• Auto update: Periodically check for updates to the local ACE installation.
• Check interval: Interval between checks, in days.

Language: The default language for ACE is English. There are other options too: da (Danish), de (German), es (Spanish), fr (French), ja (Japanese) and pt_BR (Portuguese, Brazil). As for the plugin itself, it is available* in several languages: de, es, et, eu, fi, fr, hu, id, it, nl, pl, pt_BR, ru, sv, tr, uk, and zh_CN. *Some have partial translations.

You can add a translation in your language via Transifex. You can see some instructions on how to do that here.

License: GNU General Public License v3 (GPL-3)

Latest calibre version tested: 7.8

Version History

Spoiler:

Version 1.1.6 - 27 Mar 2023
- Automatic update for local ACE installation
- Check if Node.js and ACE are installed
- Remove ancient error check (already solved by ACE)
- Update translations

Version 1.1.5 - 11 Jul 2022
- Remove deprecated aria roles
- Update translations (add Finnish)

Version 1.1.4 - 06 Jan 2022
- PyQt6 support added
- Update translations
- Remove unused imports

Version 1.1.3 - 03 Nov 2021
- Update translations

Version 1.1.2 - 04 Jan 2021
- Update translations
- Python 3 compatibility bug fix

Version 1.1.1 - 19 Ago 2020
- Update translations
- Fix a bug in role detection that could cause plugin to crash, when using 'epub:type' without the equivalent ARIA role.
- Linux: Fix a bug in opening report in web browser.

Version 1.1.0 - 19 Dec 2019
- Update code to support python 2/3
- Skip dark mode detection on old versions of calibre

Version 1.0.8 - 12 Dec 2019
- Change colors for calibre Dark Mode
- Add an option to choose the language for messages. Currently supported languages: ACE (en, es, fr, pt_BR) and AXE (de, en, es, fr, ja, nl, pt_BR). Default is 'en' for both.
- Add missing severity type (critical)
- Fix getrole() function to recognize multiple roles
- Add a new option to split multiline errors
- Fix entry on Editor's Plugins menu: it only allowed to change configuration, but not to run ACE
- Update translations

Version 1.0.7 - 10 Jun 2019
- Adjusted the code to use BS4 after calibre version 3.41.0
- Added new status message
- Added Estonian translation

Version 1.0.6 - 29 Apr 2019
- Finished Russian Translation

Version 1.0.5 - 27 Apr 2019
- Add Dutch Translation

Version 1.0.4 - 25 Mar 2019
- Finished German Translation

Version 1.0.3 - 22 Mar 2019
- Add Indonesian translation

Version 1.0.2 - 20 Fev 2019
- Update translations
- Double-click a message to copy it to clipboard

Version 1.0.1 - 21 Jan 2019
- Fix a bug on opf file rendering (monochromatic text and tags).
- Fix an error when clicking on ACE with no file loaded on the Editor.
- Update translations.

Version 1.0.0 - 18 Jan 2019
- Plugin redesigned
- Now with a complete GUI interface integrated with calibre
- Message list can be sorted by File, Severity or Error Message (click on the headers)
- Clicking on an error message will take you to the corresponding line

Version 0.3.0 - 08 Jan 2019
- Config Menu inside the Editor
- Integration with Icon Themes
- Update on translation mechanism
- Mininum Calibre Version reduced to 2.0.0
- Minor fixes

Version 0.2.1 - 31 Dec 2018
- Fix missing icon

Version 0.2.0 - 31 Dec 2018
- New GUI settings
- Better error handling
- Debug Mode

Version 0.1.0 - 29 Dec 2018
- Initial release.

[thiago.eec]

Version 0.2.0 - 31 Dec 2018

- New GUI settings
- Better error handling
- Debug Mode

[thiago.eec]

Version 0.3.0 - 08 Jan 2019

- Config Menu inside the Editor
- Integration with Icon Themes
- Update on translation mechanism
- Mininum Calibre Version reduced to 2.0.0
- Minor fixes

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.0 - 18 Jan 2019

- Plugin redesigned
- Now with a complete GUI interface integrated with calibre
- Message list can be sorted by File, Severity or Error Message (click on the headers)
- Clicking on an error message will take you to the correspondent line


Special thanks to all the translators!

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.2 - 20 Fev 2019

- Update translations
- Double-click a message to copy it to clipboard

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.3 - 22 Mar 2019

- Add Indonesian translation

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.5 - 27 Apr 2019

- Add Dutch translation

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.7 - 10 Jun 2019

- Adjusted the code to use BS4 after calibre version 3.41.0
- Added new status message
- Added Estonian translation

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.0.8 - 12 Dec 2019

- Change colors for calibre Dark Mode
- Add an option to choose the language for messages. Currently supported languages: ACE (en, es, fr, pt_BR) and AXE (de, en, es, fr, ja, nl, pt_BR). Default is 'en' for both.
- Add missing severity type (critical)
- Fix getrole() function to recognize multiple roles
- Add a new option to split multiline errors
- Fix entry on Editor's Plugins menu: it only allowed to change configuration, but not to run ACE
- Update translations

[JSWolf]

What software supports these ePub 3 accessibility features? So any Readers?

[thiago.eec]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What software supports these ePub 3 accessibility features? So any Readers?

First, good accessibility for EPUB is a combination of eReader and AT. So, besides the eReader, you are going to need some good AT (NVDA, Jaws, VoiceOver, Talkback, etc).
Here you have a general review of some Readers regarding accessibility features.

Accessibility is (or at least should be) a goal for the whole industry. EPUB provides the means, and we hope adoption will increase over time. ACE helps in the production of better books. That's the first step.

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.1.0 - 19 Dec 2019

- Update code to support python 2/3
- Skip dark mode detection on old versions of calibre

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.1.1 - 19 Ago 2020

- Update translations
- Fix a bug in role detection that could cause plugin to crash, when using 'epub:type' without the equivalent ARIA role.
- Linux: Fix a bug in opening report in web browser.

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.1.2 - 04 Jan 2021

- Update translations
- Python 3 compatibility bug fix

[thiago.eec]

Version 1.1.3 - 03 Nov 2021

- Update translations