Application accessibility
Application accessibility
Designing for accessibility enables a wider audience for your application. For example, some company employees may require accessibility features to perform their job duties. Government regulations may also require application accessibility.
Pega supports the Web Accessibility Initiative-Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) standard. WAI-ARIA is a technical specification that defines ways to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities using accessibility roles.
Accessibility roles are specific attributes applied to user interface elements. They enable communication between assistive devices and Pega applications about UI elements. For example, a role directs a screen reader to differentiate between a check box and a button and provide an appropriate experience to the user for each control. Another example is a role enabling users to control text and icon size verbally.
Pega provides accessibility features to individual access groups. The accessibility features are available to access groups with the accessibility ruleset provisioned. An application can display as expected to access groups without accessibility.
You use the PegaWAI ruleset to apply accessibility roles. The PegaWAI ruleset contains rules that include the WAI-ARIA role settings on dynamic layouts. The WAI-ARIA settings describe the type and structure of elements on the page. The dynamic layout has accessibility settings for landmark, document structure, component, or widget. It also includes properties to describe the state of interactive elements such as buttons, links, fields, or live regions.
For more information, see the help topic WAI-ARIA roles in a screen layout.
For more information on the three role types - Landmark, Document structure, and Component or widget, see the help topic WAI-ARIA Roles.
Note: The WAI-ARIA standard conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Pega also provides standard ruleset features that support accessibility.
For more information on Accessibility Standards from w3.org, see Accessibility Standards from w3.org.
Standard ruleset accessibility options
You also have several options for enabling accessibility for applications without the PegaWAI ruleset. The following table lists standard configuration options.
| Configuration | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Set tooltips on controls, buttons, links, icons, and input fields. | Announces control functions to users with a screen reader |
|
Configure a high-contrast color scheme. |
Ensures the contrast is sufficient for users with vision limitations |
| Set the enter event on a control when you set a click event on the control (for example, configuring the up and down keys to support navigating through a list and set focus on an item). | Enables keyboard controls for tabbing through the interface |
| Include links with icons. | Provides a visible description of the icon that an assistive device can read to a user |
| Use a button or a link to dismiss an overlay. | Provides a navigation element that an assistive device can describe to a user |
| Mark a dynamic container as the main content area by default. | Provides the ability for users tabbing through a page to skip to the main content link by pressing the Enter key |
| Use a drop-down list of options instead of text entry for fields with predictable answers (for example, a series of numbers or colors). | Provides a visible list of options that an assistive device can read to a user |
For more information on Pega accessibility, see the help topic Accessibility and Pega Platform.
For more information on how individual controls and actions support accessibility, see the help topic Accessibility features.
Accessibility Inspector
The Accessibility Inspector tool in Pega allows you to identify and rectify accessibility issues with your application. The inspector has two main features that aid accessibility design.
- You can preview what your application looks like to users of varying visual ability using Disability preview. The visual ability options are:
- None
- Achromatopsia (Absence of color)
- Deuteranopia (Red Green confusion)
- Protanopia (Red Green confusion)
- Tritanopia (Yellow Blue confusion)
- You can audit your current application UI to identify configurations that may negatively impact application accessibility. The issue categories are:
- Content – For example, an icon is missing helper text or a label.
- Structural – For example, the heading level hierarchy is out of order, which can potentially confuse screen readers.
- Interactivity – For example, the skip to content navigation is missing on the harness, which prevents users from using the Enter key to navigate to the main content easily.
- Compatibility – For example, a tab group layout, which is deprecated, is used instead of a layout group.