Accessibility

What we aim for

We build to EN 301 549, the European standard for digital accessibility, and to WCAG 2.2 level AA, which the current version of that standard adopts. We target 2.2 rather than 2.1 deliberately: version 4.1.1 of EN 301 549 moves to 2.2, and building to the older version would mean conforming to a standard that is about to be replaced.

OGDESK is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 AA. Partially conformant means most of the application meets the standard, and the parts that have not been assessed are listed below rather than assumed.

What works

• Keyboard. Every screen can be operated without a mouse, and a skip link takes you past the navigation to the page content. Focus is always visible.
• Screen readers. Controls carry names, forms carry labels, tables declare their column headings, and charts carry a written summary of what they show.
• Colour. Text and interface colours are measured against the WCAG minimums automatically, in both the light and dark themes, and a change that drops below them fails our build. No status is signalled by colour alone — every coloured label also carries its text.
• Motion. If your system asks for reduced motion, the application honours it.
• Signing in. Where a one-time code is required, you can paste it. Nothing asks you to solve a puzzle or transcribe from memory.

What does not yet

These are known. We are not claiming otherwise, and we will update this page as they change.

• The workflow canvas. The drag-and-drop view for building automations cannot be operated with a keyboard, and we are not going to claim otherwise. It has been assessed, and what it is now is a drawing: it names itself, it can be read, and it is out of the tab order rather than being a run of stops that do nothing. Every workflow it can draw can be read and edited from the Steps view beside it — an ordinary numbered list, over the identical saved workflow, reached by a button on the same screen. If you use a screen reader or work without a mouse, that is the view to use, and the canvas says so itself.
• Charts. Each chart carries a text summary and every chart on a page is accompanied by the same figures as a table, but the drawing itself is not navigable.
• No independent audit. This assessment is our own, made by review and automated testing. It has not been checked by a third party.

How this was assessed

By a review of the application against WCAG 2.2 AA, supported by automated checks that run whenever the code changes: an accessibility linter over every screen, a contrast calculation over every colour pairing in both themes, and automated tests of the components every page is built from.

Every screen listed as conforming was also walked with the keyboard in a real browser and checked with axe against WCAG 2.2 AA. Automated testing finds a minority of the problems a person would, which is why the exclusions above are stated rather than inferred from a clean result.

If something here fails you

Tell the people who run your OGDESK installation — they can reach us, and they can also often help immediately. If you would rather come to us directly, or you are not getting a response, contact [YOUR ACCESSIBILITY CONTACT].

Please say what you were trying to do, which screen you were on, and what assistive technology you were using. That is usually enough for us to reproduce it.