Accessible Forms

What is accessibility?

Accessibility on the web means that people with disabilities can read and navigate your web pages and applications. In practice, this covers:

  • Screen Readers: You can use screen reader software to read and understand what’s presented on screen;
  • Keyboard Access: You can use the keyboard instead of a mouse to navigate;
  • Visual Aspects: For example, there should be enough contrast between text and background colors and large enough fonts;
  • Multiple Devices: The content should be usable on different devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones.

This said, accessibility is not just an on/off feature: an application can be more or less accessible.

How does Orbeon Forms help?

The web technologies which are used by Orbeon Forms support a number of features to help make web content more accessible. But these features are entirely opt-in and require application developers to use them properly, otherwise screen readers in particular cannot perform their task well.

This is why forms built with Orbeon Forms, as well as the Form Runner forms runtime, strive to implement good accessibility practices out of the box. For example:

  • Declarative Markup: Example: Form sections are represented using appropriate HTML elements (h2, h3, etc.).
  • Linking Elements: Example: Labels, hints, and error messages are linked to the fields they apply to.
  • ARIA Attributes: Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) attributes are used.
  • Other Attributes: Example: The HTML autofill and input type attributes are supported.
  • Keyboard Navigation: Keyboard navigation through fields and other elements is supported.

In addition, Orbeon Forms provides more features that help with accessibility, including:

  • Responsive Design: Forms are designed to work on different devices and adjusts to the size of your screen.
  • Form Description: This is a built-in, but optional, part of every Orbeon Forms form. It allows you to provide a description of the form, which can be read by the end user.
  • Hints: They are short instructions that appear typically below the field label. These are a built-in aspect of most form controls.
  • Help Messages: These are generally longer instructions that appear when you access a help icon next to a field, or navigate through it with a screen reader. They can contain rich text and detailed explanations.
  • Error Messages: Each field can have multiple, and explicit, error messages. Having detailed messages for each field helps with correcting errors.

In general, you don’t have to do anything to make your forms more accessible with Orbeon Forms, besides following good form design practices such as having descriptive labels and appropriate form controls.

Of course, many of these features are also useful for users without disabilities!

Is Orbeon Forms Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 compliant?

“Section 508” is part of a US government law that requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. It is very general and doesn’t specify, for example, how to make web content accessible. The Orbeon Forms accessibility features are squarely in line with the Section 508 requirements.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 is a specification of guidelines for accessibility on the web specifically. Orbeon Forms strives to meet these guidelines at levels “A” and “AA”.

What to do if you encounter issues?

At Orbeon, we see accessibility as a journey, and we work to make Orbeon Forms more accessible over time. As part of this effort, we consider any instance of noncompliance with one of the aforementioned standards as a bug. If you encounter one, please let us know by contacting us.