Out-of-the-box accessibility features
Because accessibility is a design principle rather than a set of options that the user can enable or disable, many of its features are included by default in the architecture of Pega Platform applications.
With no single setting to control accessibility, building an inclusive interface requires little additional effort apart from the consistent use of existing accessibility frameworks.Accessibility features
- Keyboard and screen reader navigation
- Keyboard accessibility, or the ability to reach and operate any UI element
by keyboard alone, is necessary for users with motor and visual
disabilities. UI components are developed in accordance with WAI-ARIA
Authoring Practices 1.1. Consequently, most Pega UI components support accessible navigation
without additional markup or configuration.
For more information, see Supported keyboard navigation.
- WAI-ARIA roles
- The Pega Platform accessibility architecture relies
primarily on HTML 5 semantics, but uses WAI-ARIA markup where HTML is not
sufficient, for example, to convey rich application functionalities. WAI-ARIA roles provide additional information
about your application to assistive technologies, such as screen readers.
Consequently, the user can be constantly aware of the roles, states, and
properties of interface components.
For more information, see WAI-ARIA roles in a screen layout.
- Labels
- Labels, placeholders, and alternative text help users understand the UI and
visualize the tasks that they must complete. Controls and layouts include
fields for text aids by default.
For more information, see Adding text to controls.
- Table navigation
- Optimized table layouts support WAI-ARIA keyboard navigation
standards.
For more information, see the Tables row in Supported keyboard navigation.
- Skip links
- Skip links provide users with tools to navigate to the most important parts
of the application, and represent one of the most basic accessibility
requirements. For example, a skip link can direct the user straight to the
navigation menu, so that the user does not have to tab through the page to
reach it.
Pega Platform automatically adds a default pySkipLinksToTarget section to your application. The section provides skip links to the main content, the search bar, and the navigation pane, so that you do not need to configure it.
- Error alert management
- Application forms support client-side and server-side validation by default.
If the application detects an error, the application communicates the
problem to the user in text, in a manner that is clear, specific, and
accessible to screen readers.
For more information, see the Error messages row in Supported keyboard navigation.
- PDF/UA files
- By default, PDF files that a Pega
application generates use the accessible PDF/UA ISO standard. While you can
change this setting to improve archiving, this is not a recommended
practice.
For more information, see Setting PDF file versions.
- Accessible navigation in tables
Tables are a flexible user interface staple that provides a reliable basis for users to view or compare information in a business application. To ensure optimal performance for users who rely on assistive technology, Pega made a number of design decisions about table behavior and navigation patterns in their applications.
Previous topic Accessibility standards in Pega Platform Next topic Supported keyboard navigation