Release Notes

All notable changes to Vesper Inspect, newest first. Vesper Inspect is distributed through the Chrome Web Store and updates automatically when a new version is approved.

v0.2.49 May 4, 2026

• Toggle now applies instantly across all open tabs. Previously, turning the inspector off only stopped the tooltip on the active tab — every other open tab kept showing the tooltip until you reloaded the page. The toolbar icon click and the Option+Shift+I shortcut now broadcast the on/off state to every tab at once, so flipping it off everywhere is immediate.

v0.2.48 May 2, 2026

• Image size warning. Images over 1 MB are now flagged with an amber warning in the File size row, with a note to consider optimizing before publishing.

v0.2.47 May 2, 2026

• aria-hidden detection. Flags elements hidden from assistive technology via aria-hidden="true", whether set on the element itself or an ancestor. Shown as a red error when the element is also keyboard-focusable - a screen reader user would reach the element by tabbing but hear nothing.
• aria-describedby resolution. When aria-describedby is present, the referenced element IDs are resolved and their text content is displayed, the same way aria-labelledby is already handled.
• ARIA state attributes. aria-expanded, aria-pressed, aria-checked, and aria-selected are now shown when present on any element.
• Form field details. For <input>, <select>, and <textarea> elements, the tooltip now shows required, disabled, read-only, and autocomplete where set. Missing autocomplete on email, tel, and password inputs is flagged as an amber tip per WCAG 1.3.5.
• Heading level and skip detection. The Role row for heading elements now shows the explicit level (e.g. heading, level 2). If the heading skips a level relative to the previous heading on the page, the row is flagged red.

v0.2.46 May 2, 2026

• Simplified toggle. The popup has been removed. Clicking the toolbar icon now directly enables or disables the inspector. The icon badge shows ON when active.
• Link destination. The tooltip now shows the href value for any anchor element, making it easy to spot where a link actually goes without leaving the page.
• Mouse-only mode. The Tab mode option has been removed after real-world testing showed it was rarely used and behaved inconsistently. The tooltip now always follows the cursor.

v0.2.45 April 1, 2026

First Chrome Web Store release.

• Hover inspection. Activate the inspector and hover over any element to view its accessibility attributes in an overlay. No DevTools required. Works on any webpage.
• Computed accessible name. For interactive elements (links, buttons, inputs), the tooltip resolves the accessible name using the ACCNAME-1.2 priority order: aria-labelledby, aria-label, text content, title, alt. Displayed in green when present, red when missing.
• Alt text status. Images display their alt attribute with a pass, warning, or error indicator: green when present, amber when empty (decorative), red when missing.
• ARIA role. Displays both explicit and implicit semantic roles with a source label.
• Tab order and keyboard reachability. A pass or fail indicator shows whether the element is reachable by keyboard. Ancestor context is included: hovering an image inside a link reports the keyboard accessibility of the link.
• Font information. For text elements, the tooltip shows font size, weight, family, and whether the text qualifies as large text under WCAG contrast rules.
• Image file size. Reported without issuing additional network requests.
• Phone and email link labels. Flags tel: and mailto: links whose accessible name is the raw number or address. Descriptive labels are required for screen reader users to distinguish multiple contact links on the same page.
• Status-coded tooltip header. The header turns green, amber, or red based on the findings, providing a summary indicator before the detail rows are read.
• Keyboard shortcut. Toggle the inspector with Option+Shift+I on macOS. The shortcut can be reassigned at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.