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WAI-ARIA Roles

Updated on April 5, 2022

Pega Platform supports accessibility through the use of Accessible Rich Internet Application (WAI-ARIA) roles. The WAI-ARIA role indicates the type of content or functionality within the dynamic layout. Roles may be added to a dynamic layout specify the role of the dynamic layout. By default, WAI-ARIA roles are assigned to screen layouts and dynamic containers.

WAI-ARIA roles come in three varieties to support three different types of application content.

  • Landmark – A landmark is navigational a region of the page to which the user may want quick access. Landmark content is purpose-specific, relating to navigation, search, or consuming content. Some examples of roles are banner, form, navigation, or search.
  • Document structure – The document structure roles describe structure of the page content. Typically the document structure roles are not interactive. Document structure includes elements such as row or column headings, notes, or presentations.
  • Component/Widget – A component is an interactive interface object. Widget roles map to standard features in accessibility APIs. When the user navigates to a widget, assistive technologies should intercept keyboard events and pass them through the web application to the widget.

For more information on WAI-ARIA roles, the visit the World Wide Web Consortium web site at w3.org. Search for content related to Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA).

  • WAI-ARIA roles in a screen layout

    Screen layouts include WAI-ARIA roles by default. The table below details the area of the screen layout and the corresponding auto-generated HTML tag and the WAI-ARIA role assigned to that area by default.

  • Accessibility and Pega Platform

    Pega Platform uses the Accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA) roles to support accessibility. WAI-ARIA roles are a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ontology that specifies roles, states, or properties for each element. WAI-ARIA roles provide semantic information about features, structures, and behaviors allowing assistive technologies to conve

  • Adding WAI-ARIA roles to a Dynamic Layout

    WAI-ARIA roles are added to a dynamic layout to provide semantic information about the role of the dynamic layout on the page. The settings for WAI-ARIA roles appear on the General tab of the dynamic layout properties modal dialog. To add an ARIA role to a dynamic layout:

  • Adding a main content link to a dynamic layout

    A main content link allows a user navigating an application with the keyboard to tab through the interface to pass over non-essential elements and move directly to the most important area of the page. Tabbing past navigation, banners, and non-essential content saves the user time in reaching the main content area.

  • WAI-ARIA roles in a screen layout

    Screen layouts include WAI-ARIA roles by default. The table below details the area of the screen layout and the corresponding auto-generated HTML tag and the WAI-ARIA role assigned to that area by default.

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