September 4, 2025

Use the WAVE Tool to Check Your Page’s Accessibility When Publishing

Waves crash against dark rocks on a sandy beach under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

On April 24, 2026, a new DOJ rule will take effect. The rule clarifies how state and local government websites, including USU’s website, should follow the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pages posted on or after that date need to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA Accessibility Guidelines.

In order to comply with the rule, and to ensure page accessibility, editors should check each page for accessibility errors when publishing.

The WAVE accessibility checker, a free tool from WebAIM, located on USU campus, makes that easy.

How To Install and Use the Wave Tool Browser Extension

The WAVE tool is available as a free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Installing it only takes a few steps:

Web browser address bar showing the URL extension.usu.edu/locations with the WAVE accessibility tool icon circled in green on the right.
The WAVE browser extension icon circled.
  1. Go to the WAVE browser extension web page.
  2. Open the page in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
  3. Click the link for your browser.
  4. Follow the prompts to install the extension.
  5. Once installed, the WAVE icon will appear near your address bar.
A WAVE Report with (1) the Details tab selected, (2) an error selected from the sidebar, and (3) its error icon clicked to show details.
A WAVE Report with (1) the Details tab selected, (2) an error selected from the sidebar, and (3) its error icon clicked to show details.

To Use the Wave Tool Browser Extension:

  1. Open the published version of your page.
  2. Click the WAVE extension icon next to the browser address bar.
  3. WAVE will load your page with icons showing accessibility errors, alerts and features.
  4. Click the Details tab on the left sidebar.
  5. In Details, click an icon to jump to that issue, then click the matching icon on the page for more details.
  6. Focus on correcting red error icons. Some errors, especially muted red icons, may require help from the USU Extension web team. Please reach out for assistance on any errors, you are unable to resolve on your own.

Alternatives to the Wave Tool Browser Extension (No Installation Required)

Enter the URL on the WAVE Website

  1. Copy and paste or type the URL of your page into the Web page address field.
  2. Go tohttps://wave.webaim.org/, then copy and paste or type the URL of your page into the Web page address field. 

Review Your Page with WAVE:

  1. WAVE will load your page with icons showing accessibility errors, alerts, and features.
  2. Click the Details tab on the left sidebar.
  3. In Details, click an icon to jump to that issue, then click the matching icon on the page for more information.
  4. Focus on correcting red error icons. Some errors, especially muted red icons, may require help from the USU Extension web team. Please reach out for assistance on any errors, you are unable to resolve on your own.

Prepend the Page URL

To quickly check a page in WAVE, you can add the WAVE checker URL in front of your page’s address:

  1. Add https://wave.webaim.org/report#/ in front of it (example: https://wave.webaim.org/report#/https://extension.usu.edu/locations).
  2. Paste the combined link into your browser.

Review Your Page with WAVE:

  1. WAVE will load your page with icons showing accessibility errors, alerts, and features.
  2. Click the Details tab on the left sidebar.
  3. In Details, click an icon to jump to that issue, then click the matching icon on the page for more information.
  4. Focus on correcting red error icons. Some errors, especially muted red icons, may require help from the USU Extension web team. Please reach out for assistance on any errors, you are unable to resolve on your own.