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Building an accessible UI

Updated on February 7, 2022

Reach the broadest audience for your application by building a user interface that supports a more inclusive approach to users with disabilities. Designing a UI for assistive technologies, such as screen readers, is important for compliance and provides essential access to users who have visual impairments.

A large array of Pega Platform features support accessibility out-of-the-box, for example, skip links. However, following best practices and avoiding common mistakes is crucial when creating an application that combines many UI features.

Some of the ready-made solutions help you inspect the level of accessibility in your application to ensure the highest possible compliance. If your business needs are more refined, you can further customize various aspects of your UI, such as WAI-ARIA roles, upon which assistive technologies rely.

Out-of-the-box skip links in a portal
Skip links that help get to the main content, search bar, and navigation

Discover more about accessibility in your UI in the following articles:

  • Accessibility standards in Pega Platform

    Pega supports users with disabilities by continuously integrating the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards into the architecture of applications that you develop in Pega Platform. As a consequence, Pega Platform applications include accessibility features by default, which makes them more convenient for users who rely on assistive technology.

  • Supported accessible run-time behavior

    Accessible UI components provide run-time behavior that helps users who rely on assistive technology (AT) navigate your application with less effort. Pega Platform includes a number of out-of-the-box components that reduce the workload for accessibility development.

  • WAI-ARIA roles in a screen layout

    Screen readers use WAI-ARIA roles to determine what kind of content a layout holds. In Pega Platform, screen layouts have WAI-ARIA roles assigned by default, which improves the accessibility of your application.

  • Best practices for accessibility

    Accessible design helps users with disabilities access the full range of your application's features. By following best practices for accessibility, you ensure that your application meets the industry standards for all types of users.

  • Common mistakes in designing accessibility

    Poor design choices can make navigating your application more difficult for users with disabilities. By reviewing the list of the most common design mistakes, you can improve the quality of your UI, and make it more accessible.

  • Inspecting accessibility

    Identify and fix accessibility issues to ensure that users with disabilities can quickly access and efficiently operate your application. By using the Accessibility Inspector tool, you can check what your application looks like to users of varying visual ability and review UI components that are not accessible.

  • Custom configuration options for accessibility

    Pega Platform provides an expanding framework for building an accessible user interface. While the accessibility features are designed to cover most use cases out-of-the-box, you can also change their default settings to match your particular business needs.

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