Topics
- What is accessibility?
- How to switch to the Viadesk accessibility view
- What exactly does the accessibility view in Viadesk do?
- Viadesk as a base to set up an accessible platform
- What are specific settings that meet the WCAG2.1 criteria?
What is accessibility?
Adaptations that ensure that people with a disability can also work with the program, website or product is called Accessible.
Familiarize yourself with the basic principles of website accessibility and the WCAG2.1 guidelines (level AA). There is plenty of information available online. A good starting point might be W3. They offer a free basic course on web accessibility for authors and web developers.
How to switch to the Viadesk accessibility view
If you have functional impairment, you may appreciate the platform being in higher contrast.
Increase the contrast by taking the following steps:
1. Account
2. Edit preferences
3. Accessibility tab
4. Check the Accessibility box
5. Save
What exactly does the accessibility view in Viadesk do?
The accessibility view in Viadesk mainly serves people with vision problems and people with vestibular and balance disorders. It improves the contrast, provides extra support for assistive technology, and reduces animations. Here is a complete list:
- Pages in Viadesk displayed with very high contrast (black, white, hard colors)
- Images are displayed in black and white
- Decoration images may be removed
- It is possible to zoom in up to 300%
- The page is displayed in full screen
- The navigation bar is shown simplified, e.g. without logo
- Users have to zoom themselves using CTRL/CMD and + key
- Animations are reduced or removed for people with balance disorders and epilepsy
- However, GIF images will still be animated
- Additional information is displayed for visually impaired users and screen readers.
- For example, placeholder hint text such as ‘dd/mm/yyyy’ is displayed as additional labels, so screen readers can read these hints
- Keyboard navigation is improved and laid out more logically
- For example, user tooltips are not displayed, but go directly to the profile page
- Overall it makes better of OS accessibility settings
Viadesk as the base for setting up an accessible platform
In Viadesk it is possible to adjust your preferences and activate the accessibility mode. When this is switched on everything will be shown in a higher contrast and in grey tones. The animations will be switched off and the platform will also be more usable in combination with speech software.
Viadesk has been examined, tested, and approved by the Accessibility Foundation. This has been rewarded with a certificate that is valid for 3 years and indicates that the technology of the platform meets certain accessibility guidelines that are required by law to make a product officially accessible.
Using a Fellow Digitals platform doesn't automatically mean that the social intranet, i.e. the platform used within the organization, is fully accessible. As described earlier, it does need to be set up and written in a certain way.
What are specific Viadesk platform settings that meet the WCAG2.1 criteria?
- TODO module/features do not yet meet WCAG21 and should be disabled.
- Drag & Drop is not yet WCAG21 compliant and must be disabled on the personal start page if the client wants to obtain certification.
- News widgets should not use the Carousel option; in the Article view, images should be displayed on the right side.
- It is recommended to provide a range of colors in the Setup for CKeditor, which meet contrast guidelines
- When using icons, e.g. Shortcuts, make sure they have sufficient contrast.
- When creating custom navigation (e.g. with shortcuts widget), ensure consistent naming.
- Be careful on multilingual platforms; appropriate languages should be specified for screen readers
- Be careful with corporate identity and custom CSS that do not interfere with Viadesk accessibility mode.
- It is recommended to use the default home page templates in Viadesk, to avoid shifting layouts (ie: surprises)
- Avoid as much as possible the use of decorative images, busy wallpapers, non-standard fonts, centered text etc.
- Learn to create accessible content from scratch and at all times
Note: Accessibility is only guaranteed for normal users. Group Administrators and Webmasters (people with administrator rights) may encounter certain pages and settings that are not 100% compliant with WCAG2.1 guidelines, e.g. drag & drop features.
