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.

v0.2.52 September 2026

Vesper Inspect now wears the same frosted-glass tile as the rest of the Vesper family on the extensions page and in the Web Store, and a simplified teal eye in the toolbar so it stays readable at small sizes. No functional changes.

v0.2.51 June 24, 2026

• Hovering decorative text inside a link or button now inspects the link itself. Previously, if a link wrapped part of its visible text in a formatting tag like <strong> (for example <a><strong>608-789-71</strong>00</a>), hovering the bold portion showed the <strong> element rather than the link - which looked inconsistent next to an otherwise identical link without the wrapper. Inspect now resolves through purely decorative inline tags (strong, em, span, and the like) to the nearest link or button and shows that element's full accessibility details, so the two read the same. Elements that carry their own meaning are unaffected: an <img> inside a link, or a <span> with its own role, aria-*, title, or tabindex, is still inspected on its own, since that element's accessible name is exactly what you would want to check.

v0.2.50 May 29, 2026

• Empty alt is now treated as decorative, not an error. Previously, <img alt=""> was flagged red with the message "all images require descriptive alt text". That was incorrect: per WCAG H67, alt="" is the prescribed way to mark a purely decorative image. The Alt text row is now amber with "Empty alt - decorative image (intentional, per WCAG H67)" in that case. Missing alt (no attribute at all) is still flagged red. This brings Inspect in line with Vesper Audit and axe-core, which already pass alt="" without raising a violation.

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.