Transcript SAP EP 6.0 and Accessibility

Accessibility at large scale
for Enterprise Software Architecture and Constraints
Stefan Schnabel
SAP User Experience – Accessibility
Enterprise Software is different
Different from …
 Simple ‚read-only‘ information web sites (news, weather)
 Ordinary web shops / hotel booking / flight booking
 Any other software that is just occasionally used
Accessibility at large scale
 100.000 + x screens / screen-flows
 Contains various technologies
 Bringing accessibility into the product needs to be time- and cost
effective
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„Hand made“ accessibility does not work
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Centralized approach instead of „screen by screen“ optimization
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Enterprise Software characteristics
Typical usage scenarios
 Centrally hosted for an entire company to serve multiple locations
worldwide
 Controlled / well defined client infrastructure
Typical user groups
 Trained / subject matter experts
 Use the software up to 8h / day
 percentage of users that are challenged in vision or with motion
disabilities is equal to „rest of the world“
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Focus of Enterprise Software
Global usage requires that software complies with multiple standards (or
reasonable subsets) at the same time
 Sec. 508
 WCAG
 ISO 9241
 National legislation or standards
SAP‘s accessibility standard is „best of breed“, taking both branches of
Sec. 508 into account
 „software“ and
 „web application“
and also WCAG 1.0
In addition, SAP‘s accessibility standard has „efficiency“ in mind
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Pragmatic approach for accessibility
Top 5 pillars (ordered, based on customer feedback)
 Software needs to be FULLY functional without usage of ANY
pointing device (100% keyboard enabled)
 Users must be able to adjust color and contrast settings
 Alternatively, Software needs to acknowledge windows desktop
settings (such as high contrast)
 Support of assistive technology

Software needs to be compatible with at least one screen magnifier
 Software needs to be compatible with at least one screen reader
 Users must be able to scale the UI, e.g. to use larger fonts.
Additional rules are set up to deal with orientation, consistency,
meaningful texts etc.
 see later
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SAP‘s NetWeaver architecture helps …
Based on a service oriented architecture, application logic and
user interface definition are separated „by design“
Rendering infrastructure / components are centralized and
separated from the user interface definition
ABAP applications are rendered using
 SAP GUI
Portal / Web Dynpro applications are rendered using
 Browser or NetWeaver Business Client
Application Logic
ABAP
JAVA
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UI Definition
UI Programming
ABAP Dynpro
Web Dynpro ABAP/Java
BSP
PDF Forms
UI Rendering
SAP GUI
Browser
NetWeaver Business Client
Centralized approach / what to do where
Application Logic
UI Definition
UI Programming
Use semantic colors
instead of hard-coded
colors
UI templates and
generators for navigation
and layout
Provide meaningful
information for labels,
column headers and row
headers
Translate semantic colors
into real colors (e.g. for
traffic lights symbols,
“critical” meanings and
warnings)
UI Rendering
Keyboard enablement
Acknowledge desktop
settings for colors and
contrast (*)
Compatibility with screen
reader / magnifier
Scaling / Font selection
Link fields and
corresponding labels
Do not misuse UI
elements
(*) hard-coded colors defined
in application logic can not be
overwritten by desktop settings
Making use of the centralized capabilities of the UI Definition / Programming and
Rendering, application developers can concentrate on limited set of rules and
constraints
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SAP concentrates on …
Generic capabilities of UI rendering infrastructure
 Keyboard enablement
 Color/Contrast adjustment and scaling
 Compatibility with Assistive Technology
UI / programming frameworks
 prevent application developers from „hard-coding“ user interfaces
Check Tools on application level
UI‘s that go beyond the capabilities of „plain vanilla“ HTML
 Introducing rich UI controls to W3C working groups
 Testing individual screens (after rendering) with „ready to run“
web tools does not make sense
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What application developers have NOT to care of
Provided by the SAP Frameworks / Architecture:
 Keyboard Navigation
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Micro-Navigation within elements
Macro-Navigation between elements
Skipping of complex elements
Hotkeys and shortcuts
Standard focus handling
 Visual Styles
 High contrast / custom styles
 Large fonts support
 Element Content, Identification and Usage
 Textual representation for screen readers
 Element and sub-element type and state info
 Tutor texts (usage)
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What application developers NEED to care of generally
Dos
 Associate labels with fields
 Use meaningful unabbreviated label texts for UI elements, element titles, captions, or
free-standing text
 Use the tooltip property of a UI element to explain the semantic purpose of the UI
element if necessary
 Fill tooltips of Input Fields and Combo boxes with label text if Label is omitted due to
layout reasons
 Provide meaningful row and column headers for data tables
 Do provide an accessible alternative for maps, graphics and charts
 Provide one single solution for both disabled and non-disabled users
 Use a standardized way for arrangement of elements on your screens
Don’ts
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Usage of non-accessible controls (e.g. self-developed controls)
Abbreviations without explanations
Hard-coding of colors (hardly possible at all)
Misuse elements (Tables for layouting etc.)
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Examples: Labels and Tooltips
• Labels must be associated with input fields, checkboxes, and buttons
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Every input/output field or combo must have a meaningful label to the left
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Every checkbox or Radiobutton must have a meaningful label text
• Every graphic/icon on the screen must have a meaningful tooltip
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Examples: Tables, Tabstrips and Trees
• Column and row headers must be provided in data tables
• Tabstrips and Tabs have to
contain descriptive text
• Tree nodes and levels
must be also descriptive
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Additional Dos for ABAP Programming
Dos
 Use label for all UI elements
(e. g. dropdown lists, input fields, radio buttons, list boxes, checkboxes, and text areas)
 Use tooltip for icons, images
 Use ALV, Application Log, Dialog Transaction, or PDF Form instead of ABAP List
 Use for forms SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe
 Make navigation functional with keyboard
 Use title for complex elements (e. g. group boxes and tables etc.)
 Provide one single solution for both disabled and non-disabled users
Don’ts
 Don’t use ABAP List
 Don’t use color as only means of conveying Information
 Don’t use Radiobutton, Checkboxes, Pushbuttons for unexpected screen
changes
 Don’t use Smartforms and SAPScript
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General Do for Standard HTML content writing
Use W3C‘s WCAG
guidelines !!
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
http://www.w3.org/
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative:
Guidelines and Techniques
http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html
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Additional Dos for Web Dynpro Java/ABAP Programming
 Associate Labels with UI Elements using labelFor property
 Fill accessibilityDescription property of elements when element title
is skipped due to layout reasons
 Use labeled MeltingGroup or TransparentContainer for
elements forming up a single line group
 To provide titles for elements forming a multi-line group in
TransparentContainer elements, the UIElement SectionHeader
should be used
 Use named colors wherever needed
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SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe
Dos
 Create tagged PDF using Adobe LiveCycle Designer
 Create forms which are easy to use
 Create tables by using table object of Adobe LiveCyle Designer
 Create text description for Images using Accessibility Palette
 Create well defined and logical reading order structure and use
subforms if necessary
Don’ts
 Don’t use scanned information without assigning text description
using Accessibility Palette
 Don’t convey information by color only
 Don‘t use client-side scripts which affect screen reader and keyboard
negatively (e. g. mouseEnter events)
 Don‘t use radio buttons and checkboxes on Masterpages (Printforms)
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Test Process: Manual Check example
.. Screen reader output for Web Dynpro:
 Reading Sequence for an InputField with a Label
Tooltip
has been defined as follows:
<label> <type> <value> <state> <tooltip> <tutor>
label means the label text of the associated label, type means
InputField, state means e.g. unavailable / required / read only /
invalid. Value is the field value, tooltip means the tooltip of the field
and tutor means a tutor message how to use the control.
 Type, value, state and tutor attributes are provided by Web Dynpro.
Application developers only have to check label, tooltip and
accessibilityDescription (for containers) attributes by focusing the
field (by tabbing) and listening to the screen reader output
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Related Public Information
SAP Design Guild (9th Edition): Accessibility
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/editions/edition9/overview_edition9.asp
SAP‘s Public Accessibility Web Page
http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/standardssupport/accessibility.epx
Frontend Requirements and Infrastructure for Accessibility
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/resources/SAP_front-end_requirements.pdf
Keyboard Usage for Interface Elements in SAP GUI for Windows
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/resources/keyboardControl_NW04_EN.pdf
Accessibility on SAP Service Marketplace
http://service.sap.com/accessibility
SAP Accessibility Documentation
 on SAP Service Marketplace (http://service.sap.com)  Media
Library  Documentation
 on SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com)  SAP NetWeaver 
English  Getting Started (Using SAP Software)  First Steps 
Accessibility
SAP Accessibility Book (published in 2007)
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Thank you!
Questions ?
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