How to install and enable Wave Toolbar in Firefox 43+

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Problem

firefox-wavetoolbar1

The WAVE Toolbar, an accessibility tool, is no longer available on Firefox 43+. An official alternative is available for Google Chrome – the WAVE Chrome Extension.

There is however another option to allow the WAVE Toolbar to run in Firefox 43+.

Solution

To be able to install and run the WAVE Toolbar you will need to install Firefox Developer Edition and disable add-on signing.

Disabling add-on signing is low risk as long as you only install other add-ons from the Firefox directory. You will need to be careful not to install external add-ons, as these may have malicious code.

Step 1: install Firefox Developer Edition

Firefox Developer Edition can be found here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/

If you already have the standard Firefox installed it will not uninstall Firefox. It runs along side normal Firefox.

Step 2: disable add-on signing:

  1. In the address bar enter about:config and hit enter
  2. Click ‘I’ll be careful, I promise’
  3. Firefox-EnableNTLM3
  4. In the search box, enter xpinstall.signatures.required
  5. Double-click on the setting to change the value to false

Step 3: Install the WAVE Toolbar

The WAVE Toolbar is no longer officially hosted, but you can access it via the web archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150811150229/http://wave.webaim.org/toolbar/

 

The WAVE Toolbar is now available to use.

firefox-wavetoolbar2

Reference: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1102051