Introduction to Accessibility

Accessibility is about making user interfaces perceivable, operable, and understandable by people with a wide range of abilities.Accessibility is the extent to which products, systems, services, environments, or facilities can be used by people from a population with the widest range of capabilities to achieve specified goals in a specified context of use. 

Specifically, accessibility is the ability of our products to support the needs of users with: 

• visual impairments, including blindness, partial sight (low vision), and color blindness.
• hearing impairments, ranging from a slight loss of hearing to total deafness.
• motor impairments, that prevent them from using a mouse or a standard keyboard. 
• cognitive impairments, such as attention deficit disorder or short-term memory lapses.

Why Accessibility?

It is the corporate mandate to make sure "All products,services and websites, including documentation, provided to customers must address accessibility, by following the Accessibility Guidelines" as per the section 508 and the laws mentioned below :

• Procurement laws: The U.S. law known as 'Section 508' requires that Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain or use EIT accessible to employees and members of public with disabilities. 
• Discrimination laws: The U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act, and the U.K. Equality Act, require employers to provide 'reasonable accommodation' or not put employees at a 'substantial disadvantage' compared to other employees. So companies that want to avoid lawsuits from their employees are interested in buying accessible products.
• Up to 16% of the world's population is disabled, either through birth, aging, illness, or the result of an accident . That's too large a market for us to ignore.
• Inaccessible products prevent our own Oracle employees with disabilities from completing their work. Any time you roll out an application for employees to use, create a training class, author a document, or even send an email that is not accessible, then you may be placing our own employees in a compromised situation.
• Most changes made for persons with disabilities benefit all users, such as novice users, 'power users' (keyboard-only users), and users of mobile devices.
• It's the right thing for Oracle to build products that are accessible, and its the right thing for our customers to only purchase products that are accessible.

Basic Principle : POUR

• Perceivable: Information must be presentable in ways users can perceive
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable
• Understandable: Information must be understandable
• Robust: Content must be robust so it can be interpreted reliably by Assistive Technology (AT)

How Application,Platform and AT works

1.HTML spec includes alt attribute

2.Application developer supplied proper markup with meaningful text

3.Browser parsed the text, and called platform accessibility API

4.User moves virtual cursor to the image.

5.Screen reader reads from platform accessibility API and speaks

Major 508 Guidelines following AA standards

Visual Design

• 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics: Instructions must not only use physical characteristics - shape, color, etc.
• 1.4.1 Use of Color: Do not use color as the only visual way to convey information
• 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum): Text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 to its background, unless large or incidental
• 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context): Make the purpose of each link clear from its text alone, or in context
• 2.4.5 Multiple Ways: Specify multiple ways to find pages (table of contents, site map, site search, etc.)
• 3.2.4 Consistent Identification: Elements with the same functionality must be identified consistently

 Images

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: Provide textual equivalent for all non-text content (e.g. images).Avoid captcha
• 1194.22(e) Image Maps (server-side): Provide text links, or other input mechanism alternatives
• 1.4.5 Images of Text: Do not use images to represent text, if the technology allows it

Multimedia and Animation

• 1.2.1 – 1.2.5: If audio or video exists, alternatives must be provided (captions, transcripts, audio description)
• 1.4.2 Audio Control: Allow the user to pause or stop, or independently control the volume
• 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide: If any moving content lasts more than 5 seconds, allow the user to pause, stop or hide it, or to control the frequency
• 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold: Nothing flashes more than 3 times per second

Structure

• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Information conveyed visually must be conveyed programmatically or in text, including headings, lists, tables, labels, and groups
• 2.4.2 Page Titled: Identify the current location without requiring users to read the page
• 3.1.1 – 3.1.2 Language: Identify the language of the page, or parts of the page
• 4.1.1 Parsing: Markup has complete start and end tags, elements nested according to spec, non-duplicate attributes, and IDs that are unique
• 1.4.4 Resize text: Allow the text size to double from the ‘default’ size
• 1194.21(g) Display Properties: Support Large Fonts and High Contrast
• 1194.22(m) Plug-ins: Provide a way for the user to install non-standard plug-in, and plug-in content must be accessible

Navigation

• 2.1.1 Keyboard: All functionality can be achieved from the keyboard
• 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap: Don’t allow a keyboard user to get ‘stuck’
• 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks: Provide a way for user to move focus to important content on page
• 2.4.3 Focus Order: Pressing ‘Tab’ moves focus in a sequence that is logical and meaningful.
• 2.4.7 Focus Visible: As focus moves between the controls with the keyboard, you must be able to see it
• 3.2.1 On Focus: When focus moves to a control, it should stay there
• 3.2.2 On Input: If the user changes a value, the screen should not change unexpectedly
• 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation: Navigation controls repeated on a site should not change order
• 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence: Specify the order that information should be read when linearized

Forms

• 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable: If a time limit exists, specify a way for the user to turn off, adjust, or extend it (unless it is required)
• 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Provide simple instructions and cues for entering information
• 2.4.6 Headings and Labels: Labels and headings accurately describe the topic or purpose
• 3.3.1 Error Identification: Identify the item in error, and the error, in text
• 3.3.3 Error Suggestion: If possible, provide text to suggest how to fix an input error
• 3.3.4 Error Prevention: If legal, financial or test data can be entered, specify ways for the user to reverse, verify or confirm that data
• 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: For each control specify what it is (‘Name’), what it does (‘Role’), and its values and states

 Section 508 Revised 

502.2.1  Documented Accessibility Features: Allow user control of platform accessibility features

502.2.2  No Disruption of Accessibility Features: Do not block or change platform accessibility features

502.3    Accessibility Services: Platforms must provide and document accessibility services such as roles and states

502.4    Platform Accessibility Features: Platforms must provide chorded keystroke entry (Sticky Keys), delay before key acceptance (Slow Keys), adjustment of same key double-strike acceptance (Bounce Keys), visual alternative for audio output (Show Sounds), synchronize audio equivalent for visual events, speech output services, and display captions

503.2    User Preferences: Applications must permit user preferences from platform settings for color, contrast, font type, font size, and focus cursor

503.3    Alternative User Interfaces: Alternative user interfaces that function as assistive technology must use standard accessibility services

503.4    User Controls for Captions and Audio Description: Provide user controls for selection at the same menu level as the user controls for volume or program selection

504.2    Content Creation: Allow users to create or edit content that conforms to WCAG 2.0 AA

504.2.1  Preservation of Information Provided for Accessibility in Format Conversion: Preserve the information required for accessibility when converting content

504.2.2  PDF Export: PDF files conform to PDF/UA-1

504.3    Prompts: Prompt authors to create content that conforms to WCAG 2.0 AA

504.4    Templates: Provide templates that conform to WCAG 2.0 AA

602.2    Accessibility and Compatibility Features: Documentation must explain the accessibility features

602.4    Alternate Formats for Non-Electronic Support Documentation: If documentation is not in electronic formats, accessible formats must be provided upon request

603.2    Information on Accessibility and Compatibility Features: Support must provide information on the accessibility features

603.3    Accommodation of Communication Needs: Support must accommodate the communication needs of individuals with disabilities

Roles and responsibility - Who are involved in Accessibility Testing ?

 • QA teams will be responsible for providing the test plans and completing the accessibility testing . QA will test all the UI pages against the full set of Revised Section 508 standards. QA will complete the test results spreadsheets and log the bugs for the issues found.

• PMs will assist QA teams in ramping up (i.e. answering questions, clarifying standards, explaining testing approach, etc) .PMs will be responsible for reviewing the test results spreadsheets to ensure the everything has been tested. PMs are responsible for triaging the bugs to determine which need to be declared in the VPAT if not filed. 

• Developers are responsible for triaging and fixing the accessibility bugs.

I hope this will be giving a basic idea of accessibility testing. Different tools and techniques would be shared soon. Thanks!

-AJURAM K SALIM