How to Make Your Web Pages Accessible - Best Practices

Try to make your applications as simple as possible. Accessibility actually begins even before you start building the application in Intrexx—for example, by designing a simple user interface and planning the application page to have as straightforward a structure as possible.

With Intrexx's accessible layout, key accessibility requirements are already met:

• The contrast between the background and the text is sufficient.

• Elements have a clearly visible focus.

• The structure of pages remains intact when zoomed in to 200%.

For detailed information on Intrexx's accessible layout Intrexx's Accessible Layout see the section titled "

A key accessibility guideline stipulates that the screen orientation must adapt to the device on which the page is being viewed. You can comply with this guideline by creating responsive pages with Intrexx. You can do this by using the Page Assistant or the "Grid" element. (So, as a general rule, avoid using table layouts when creating pages.)

For more information, see " Screen Orientation - Creating Responsive Pages."

As a general rule, you should design applications and application pages to be as simple as possible. The Form Wizard can help you with this. Among other things, this ensures that the relationship between the label (field title) and the input field is recognizable to assistive technologies.

In Intrexx, you can use pop-up dialogs (tooltips) (see " Open in Tooltip").

However, pop-up dialog boxes can pose a significant barrier for people with visual impairments, and especially for blind people. For example, when the screen is zoomed in significantly, the pop-up dialog may end up outside (or mostly outside) the visible portion of the screen.

For blind people, pop-up dialogs (tooltips) can pose a particularly significant barrier. As a rule, a pop-up dialog "interrupts" the visual structure of a page. It is difficult to tell where you are on a page. In addition, it must be ensured that the tab order is maintained in the pop-up dialog as well, and, in particular, that it continues correctly when the pop-up dialog is closed. (This also assumes that there is a practical way to close the pop-up dialog using the keyboard.)

Given the challenges described here regarding the use of pop-up dialogs (tooltips), we recommend avoiding them whenever possible.

One easy-to-implement but extremely helpful step toward achieving accessibility is to provide alternative text for the graphical elements on your page. In doing so, they comply with a key guideline of the WCAG and the BITV. Only textual content can be accessed by blind people—that is, heard or read in Braille.

In general, a well-structured layout of portal and application pages is very helpful in understanding their functionality and how to use them. Well-organized headings are crucial here.

The ability to navigate a portal or application page using the keyboard is a key requirement for achieving accessibility.

A proper tab order is important for keyboard navigation. This should result from a logical arrangement of the elements on a page (DOM order). If necessary, you can manually override the DOM order using the tabindex attribute.