You can configure accessibility features globally or for specific users. Users can also individually enable user preferences for themselves to meet their specific accessibility needs.

The platform includes features that support Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA and WCAG 2.1 AA (for some products) to make the interface more accessible to all users. These features improve the user experience when accessing the instance with screen readers and keyboard navigation.

Accessibility features are not enabled by default because some features are user specific. Administrators have the flexibility to enable features globally or for individual users.

All of these options can be configured globally or for specific users.
  • Enable the accessibility option.
  • Enable the high contrast theme.
  • Use skip links.
  • Disable first field focus

Enable accessibility mode

Enable accessibility mode on your instance.

Before you begin

Role required: none

About this task

Administrators can enable accessibility mode for specific users by navigating to User Administration > User Preferences and searching for the glide.ui.accessibility user preference. For more information on configuring user preferences, see User preferences.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to User Administration > User Preferences.
  2. Click the gear icon (Gear icon) in the banner frame to open the System Settings window.
  3. From the General tab, select the Accessibility enabled option.
    Accessible tooltips on forms is enabled automatically the first time you enable accessibility mode.

What to do next

Alternatively, enable accessibility mode using the Enable Accessibility skip link. For more information on skip links, see Use skip links.
Figure 1. Enable accessibility skip link
Enable accessibility skip link, which is the first focusable element on the page.

Enable the high contrast theme

In Core UI, administrators can enable the Contrast UI theme for users who need a greater contrast in color.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

About this task

Individual users can enable the contrast theme for themselves by navigating to the Theme tab of the system settings menu. From the Theme tab, select the Contrast UI theme.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > User Administration > User preferences.
  2. Click New then configure the following fields.
    Table 1. User preferences fields
    FieldDescription
    Name glide.css.theme.ui16
    System Make sure that the check box is cleared.
    User Name of the user you want to enable the contrast UI theme for. Add a user preference for each user you want to enable the theme for.
    Type string
    Value The sys_id of the contrast UI theme. You can find the sys_id by navigating to System UI > Themes. Then right-click Contrast UI and click Copy sys_id.
  3. Click Submit.
    The user may have to sign out and sign back in for the theme to take effect.

Disable first field focus

When a form loads, the system automatically sends focus to the first field on the form. For accessibility reasons, you can disable this option so that focus starts on the first element on the top of the page.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

About this task

Sending focus to the first field on a form is useful to most users however, it presents challenges for users with certain disabilities. For example, a user using the system with a screen reader may not realize there is additional content above the field that receives focus.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > User Administration > User Preferences.
  2. Search for glide.ui.accessibility.focus_first_field.
  3. Set the Value field to false.
  4. (Optional) To change this setting for a specific user, clear the System check box, then add a user in the user field.
    Set up a new preference for each user you want to configure this option for.

Enable the accessible form tooltips feature

The accessible tooltips user preference adds a tooltip icon that users can tab to, to view a tooltip for a field.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

About this task

Some fields on forms have associated tooltips that contain additional information. By default, these tooltips are accessible by pointing to the field label or mandatory indicator asterisk. However, a user who relies on keyboard navigation cannot point to the field to access the tooltip. The accessible form tooltip feature solves this problem by adding a keyboard-accessible icon next to each field that has a tooltip. Tabbing or pointing to the icon shows the tooltip.

Administrators can enable accessible form tooltips for specific users by navigating to User Administration > User Preferences and searching for the glide.ui.accessibility.accessible.tooltips user preference. For more information on configuring user preferences, see User preferences.

Accessibility must be enabled for the accessible form tooltips user preference to work.

Procedure

  1. Click the gear icon (Gear icon) in the banner frame to open the System Settings window.
  2. From the General tab, select the Accessibility enabled option.
    The Accessible tooltips on forms option is enabled automatically the first time you enable accessibility mode.
  3. (Optional) Clear the Accessible tooltips on forms option to disable the accessible tooltips.
    If you disable accessibility mode and re-enable it, Accessible tooltips on forms will remain disabled.

Configure a Windows 64-bit host to use 32-bit NVDA with Java applications

The NVDA Assistive Technology screen reader is a 32-bit application that, when the Java Access bridge has been enabled, reads aloud Java applications built to support accessibility. If you encounter a problem using NVDA to access Java applications on a 64-bit Windows host, you must configure the Java Access bridge.

Before you begin

Role required: local or domain administrator on the host Windows machine

About this task

The following example assumes:
  • The 32-bit and 64-bit Oracle Java jdk versions 8u171 are being installed in the default location.
  • A Windows command prompt with administrative privileges is used to execute command line utilities.
  • Executable statements are prefixed with the PROMPT> string.
Note:
  • This configuration was used on a Windows 7 VM host to test the NVDA and JAWS screen readers.
  • This example refers to Java version 8u171. If you are using a later version of Java, substitute that version.

Procedure

  1. On the Oracle Java SE downloads page, download the Oracle Java jdk for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows environments.
    • 32-bit: jdk-8u171-windows-i586.exe
    • 64-bit: jdk-8u171-windows-x64.exe
    To access and download the files listed in the above example, go to the Oracle Java SE jdk download page.
  2. Install the 64-bit version of the Oracle Java jdk in the default location. 
    PROMPT> jdk-8u171-windows-x64.exe
    Verify that the installation process installed the following:
    • Java 64-bit jdk in the C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_171 directory.
    • WindowsAccessBridge-64.dll in the C:\Windows\System32 directory.
  3. Enable the Java Access bridge for 64-bit applications using the 64-bit jabswitch application located in the 64-bit Java jdk bin directory. 
    PROMPT> cd "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_171\bin"
PROMPT> jabswitch -enable
  4. Copy the WindowsAccessBridge-64.dll located in the C:\Windows\System32 directory to the 32-bit C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory. 
    PROMPT> cd C:\Windows\System32
PROMPT> copy WindowsAccessBridge-64.dll C:\Windows\SysWOW64

    Verify that the copied WindowsAccessBridge-64.dll exists in the 32-bit C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory.

  5. Install the 32-bit version of the Oracle Java jdk in the default location. 
    PROMPT> jdk-8u171-windows-i586.exe
    Verify that the installation process installed the following:
    • Java 32-bit jdk in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_171 directory.
    • WindowsAccessBridge-32.dll in the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory.
  6. Enable the Java Access bridge for 32-bit applications using the 32-bit jabswitch application located in the 32-bit Java jdk bin directory. 
    PROMPT> cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_171\bin"
PROMPT> jabswitch -enable
  7. Restart the NVDA Assistive Technology software through the task bar or the NVDA menu.
    • Select the NVDA shortcut pinned to the task bar, pinned to the start menu, or located on the desktop.
    • Navigate to the Start > All Programs > NVDA > NVDA menu selection.
  8. On an administrative command prompt terminal, launch the Edge Encryption Interactive Installer. 
    PROMPT> java -jar <edge encryption interactive file name>.jar