Accessibility Compliance Module

Overview

Forms necessarily require a degree of end-user interaction, which highlights the need to make that interaction accessible. Applications that require compliance with various accessibility standards and guidelines must be thoughtful about the design of the forms and the way those forms are presented within the application. Simply using form components rated to be compliant with accessibility standards does not ensure that the whole form is compliant. Further, an accessible form does not necessarily mean that the broader application is accessible. Application developers must evaluate the finished product holistically.

Form.io offers a variety of tools and best practices through the entire platform to support developers in implementing accessible applications.

Accessibility Standards and Form.io

There are many standards used to evaluate the accessibility of an application. One of the most common standards is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The current standard is WCAG 2.1.

WCAG 2.1 evaluates web accessibility based on several principles. When a Form.io component is described as being WCAG 2.1 compliant it means that component, when used according to best practices, will not interfere with a web application's WCAG 2.1 rating.

Additionally, the United States General Service Administration developed the US Web Design System (USWDS), a collection of standardized UI components and visual styles, to provide developers with a number of resources to aid in delivering accessible web applications and services. Form.io offers a USWDS template that renders forms using markup and classes that are compatible with USWDS standards.

Building accessible forms

The first step toward implementing forms in an accessible application is building the form.

Each Form.io component is evaluated for accessibility compliance based on how the component is presented within a standalone application.

When building forms using the Developer Portal Form Builder or the Enterprise Form Builder Module the following components met WCAG 2.1 accessibility standard during testing, and may be used to create fully accessible forms:

Basic

Advanced

Layout

Data

Premium

Text Field

HTML

Hidden

Data Source

Text Area

URL

Content

Container

File

Number

Phone Number

Columns

Review Page

Password

Date & Time

Field Set

Checkbox

Day

Panel

Select Box

Time

Table

Select

Currency

Well

Radio

Button

Using these components to create an accessible form may require configuring the component settings and parameters in a specific way. Ensure all labels, descriptions, and other relevant fields are completed as required.

Avoiding incompatible components

A selection of components may present elements or functionality that do not comply with accessibility standards. The following components are not included in the Accessibility Compliance Module, and using them may create accessibility limitations in a form or application:

Basic

Advanced

Layout

Data

Premium

Wizards and Accessibility

Displaying a form as a Wizard, it is an accessibility best practice to ensure the Form Settings set the Wizard Header to Classic. Using a Vertical header/step indicator may require significant customization to meet accessibility standards.

Features of the Accessibility Module

The Form.io Accessibility Module:

Provides overrides for the formio.js renderer.
Limits components in the Form Builder (leveraging Form Manager App) to avoid components with limited accessibility.

Enabling the Accessibility Module

To enable the Accessibility Compliance Module, the following environment variable must be configured in the Enterprise Server as part of the deployed environment:

VPAT=true

The Accessibility Module is a separately licensed module. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Additionally, the module must be imported and registered, as seen in the following snippet:

import vpat from '@formio/vpat';
import { Formio } from '@formio/js';

Formio.use(vpat);

Rendering accessible forms

Once the Form Builder defines the form with accessible features, it is up to the Form Renderer to present the form within the application in an accessible way.

The role of the form renderer includes the following accessibility-related functions:

Screen readers' announcements upon user action
Focus order/Focus trap/Focus placement
Dynamic change of aria-attributes
Validation messages handling
Special styles for invalid/valid fields

Templates and accessibility

Templates control how Form.io renders each component into a visual and functional element in the form user's browser. The default template uses Bootstrap to control the look and functionality of each component. Form.io also provides a USWDS template to render components in an accessible way.

The role of the template includes the following accessibility-related functions:

Proper HTML markup (every form field needs an associated label, correct component structure etc.)
Aria-attributes such as aria-describedby, aria-labelledby, etc.
Additional helpful messages for sighted users
Additional instructions for non-sighted users (e.g. number types, etc.)
WCAG compliant color contrasts (only applicable for USWDS for now)

When using the USWDS template, it must be imported and registered to be used within the application, similar to the following:

import uswds from '@formio/uswds';
import { Formio } from '@formio/js';
Formio.use(uswds);

The USWDS template does not require the Accessibility Module. Likewise, the Accessibility Module does not necessitate using the USWDS template for all forms. Some features, however, require the use of both the Accessibility Module and the USWDS template. Such features include:

Accessible tooltips.
Accessible Date/Time component.
Ability to use accessible “Modal Edit” windows for components when being filled in by end users.

Embedding Accessible Forms

Accessible forms are used just like any other form, with the additional steps of importing the necessary module and any required templates.

To embed the “https://examples.form.io/example” directly to a website the following code would be used:

<html>
    <head>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/uswds/3.1.0/css/uswds.min.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.form.io/js/formio.form.min.css">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.form.io/uswds/uswds.min.css">
        <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/uswds/3.1.0/js/uswds.min.js"></script>
        <script src="https://cdn.form.io/js/formio.form.min.js"></script>
        <script src="https://cdn.form.io/uswds/uswds.min.js"></script>
        <script src="dist/vpat.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="formio"></div>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            Formio.use(vpat);
            Formio.use(uswds);
            Formio.createForm(document.getElementById('formio'), 'https://examples.form.io/example');
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

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