Accessibility is a function of Universal Design, or the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. When applied to software, accessibility focuses on the right of people with disabilities or special needs to a system, often through use of assistive technology such as screen readers. Screen readers are software programs that allow blind or visually impaired users to read the text that is displayed on the computer screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display.
The Web Accessibility Initiative developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to provide a single standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals with disabilities.
As of Issuetrak 18.1, we are targeting compliance with WCAG 2.2 standards. And with each major release, we're committed to getting Issuetrak into a state where it is easier for people with disabilities to use. To that end, we're going through a series of accessibility compliance audits to determine what needs to be fixed. Based on those audits, we will be combing through the code and making changes wherever we can improve the user experience, making it more friendly for people with disabilities to use our product.
WCAG-Related Changes for Issuetrak 18.1
In summary: Issuetrak is now much more friendly to navigate using the keyboard, as well as with screen-readers. We've also made several user interface elements larger and/or higher in contrast, in order to allow users with visual impairments to more easily discern them from other elements on screen.
| Feature / Work Item | Direct User Impact & Functional Scope | Overlapping WCAG Criteria | Projected WCAG 2.2 Compliance Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pointer-Only Elements (Buttons) | Converted 53 click-only controls (menus, print, memberships) to keyboard-operable buttons, enlarged touch targets to 24×24px, and added focus-return on Escape. | 2.1.1, 2.4.3, 4.1.2, 2.5.8 | A (2.1.1, 2.4.3, 4.1.2) AA (2.5.8) |
| Bookmark Popover Semantics | Converted bookmark triggers to dialog buttons, managed focus into and out of the popover on open and Escape, added a visible name label, and expanded name capacity to 100 characters. | 2.4.3, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 4.1.2 | A |
| New Window Warning | Added advance screen-reader announcements to popups, calendar pickers, and administrative dialogs without adding visual clutter. | 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.5, 4.1.2 | A (3.2.1, 3.2.2, 4.1.2) AAA (3.2.5) |
| Filterable Dropdowns | Unified dropdown menus into an accessible keyboard-operable selector (arrow keys, Home/End, Escape) with spoken expansion and result counts. | 1.3.1, 2.1.1, 4.1.2 | A |
| LightBox Background Lock | Locked background pages when modal dialogs open, prevented duplicate window launches, preserved system alerts, and returned focus to the trigger on close. | 2.1.2, 2.4.3, 4.1.2 | A |
| Bookmark Popper Dismissal | Ensured exiting the bookmark editor returns focus to the initiating button, enabled Escape dismissal, and made the close icon keyboard-operable. | 2.1.1, 2.4.3, 4.1.2 | A |
| Note Editor Tab Key | Allowed the Tab key to advance past paragraph text to the next form control while preserving list indentation via Tab and Shift+Tab. | 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.4.3 | A |
| Field Label Associations | Linked text labels directly to form fields, making labels clickable for mouse users and providing spoken names for assistive software. | 2.4.6, 3.3.2, 4.1.2 | A (3.3.2, 4.1.2) AA (2.4.6) |
| Editor Chrome Controls | Aligned formatting toolbars with sequential Tab-stop navigation, enabled Escape dismissal for flyouts, and added new window warnings to Quick Notes. | 2.1.1, 4.1.2 | A |
| Template Reload Focus | Kept keyboard and screen-reader focus on the Issue Template field after the automated reload following a template selection. | 2.4.3, 3.2.2 | A |
| Settings Menu Override Button | Converted settings dialog links to buttons so the Space bar and Enter key both activate the modal without dead navigation links. | 2.1.1, 4.1.2 | A |
| Invalid Anchors to Buttons | Replaced non-standard link tags with true buttons for actions and real destination links for popup windows to support middle-clicking. | 2.1.1, 4.1.2 | A |
| Note Editor Accessible Name | Provided spoken accessible names matching section headers when focusing the note and description composition areas. | 3.3.2, 4.1.2 | A |
| Side Panel Focus | Verified through testing that opening modal side panels already directs focus into the dialog and close button as expected. | 2.4.3, 4.1.2 | A |
| UDF Caret Buttons | Ensured dropdown caret buttons announce their associated field label rather than an unlabelled button. | 4.1.2 | A |
| Field Border Contrast | Darkened default form field and quick-search borders from light gray to medium gray to clear the 3:1 boundary contrast minimum. | 1.4.11 | AA |
| Shared Hidden Component | Standardized hidden descriptive text to prevent visual leakage, duplicate printing, or clipping errors across the interface. | 1.3.1, 4.1.2 | A |
| Remediation Planning | Organized the phased elimination of invalid interactive markup across navigation, menus, and ticket forms. | 2.1.1, 2.4.3, 4.1.2 | A |
