Introduction

The accessibility of the application determines how usable the application is by people of all abilities and disabilities. Typically, accessibility concerns focus on the needs of people with disabilities, such as visual or motor impairments, and the compliance with the regulatory requirements to accommodate their needs. Their needs may include some of the following:

• higher contrast visual presentation to make the content easier to read;
• color schemes that are suitable for people with deficiencies in their color vision;
• the ability to zoom in to the content on the page or increase font sizes independently of the application's styling;
• access key support to allow the application to be used with a keyboard only and not require a mouse;
• additional information associated with images and form input controls to allow a screen reader (voice browser) to identify them to the user.

The regulatory requirements differ between jurisdictions. There is no universal solution for all of the accessibility requirements. However, many local regulations and guidelines draw from those developed by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WAI is a good starting point for widget developers wishing to learn more about accessibility and its application to the web. The widget developer should identify what the accessibility regulations and guidelines are for the jurisdiction in which the application will be employed and aim to comply with those. It is beyond the scope of this guide to cover all of the possible regulations.