simple alternative - browser extension to detect simple language alternatives

This extension

This extension adds a big round button to your browser. It will try to detect a link to a simplified version of the current page in the current language. When you click the button, the simplified version is loaded.

A link to a simplified version should look roughly like this:

<a href="…" rel="alternate" hreflang="en-simple">Go to simple version</a>

The simple language variant tag

The simple language variant tag has officially been included in the IANA Language Subtag Registry. It intended meaning is "to represent a generic simplification of a root language".

This could be useful for a lot of people:

• children
• people with cognitive disabilities
• second language learners

Among other things, it can be used to conform with Success Criterion 3.1.5 in WCAG 2.0:

When text requires reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level after removal of proper names and titles, supplemental content, or a version that does not require reading ability more advanced than the lower secondary education level, is available.

Future

The simple language variant tag is still new and has not seen a lot of adoption. This extension is merely a proof of concept. I would like to see this kind of functionality directly in browsers one day.