Keyboard and accessibility
You can use SideDoc with only a keyboard, with a screen reader, and with the browser zoomed in. SideDoc is being assessed against WCAG 2.2 level AA. This page explains how to work without a mouse and lists the limitations we know about.
Using the keyboard
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tab / Shift+Tab | Move to the next or previous button, link or field. |
| Enter or Space | Press the focused button, for example Validate or an entry in the form. |
| Esc | Close the open window or menu (Export menu, Open document, Preview, Settings, an agent or reference, a confirmation). Only the top window closes. |
| Arrow keys | Choose an option in a list, such as Profile or Agent type. |
While a window such as Open document or Create new document is open, Tab stays inside that window. When you close it, the keyboard focus goes back to the button you started from, or to a sensible place nearby. Reset workspace… in Settings closes the Settings window first, so after the reset question the focus goes back to the Settings… button in the toolbar.
A typical keyboard session
- Press Tab until you reach New document and press Enter.
- Type a file name, press Tab to reach Profile, choose with the arrow keys, and press Enter on Create.
- Tab through the form. Each text box, button and list has a name that matches the field it belongs to.
- To jump to a section, tab back to the outline (it comes before the form) and press Enter on the section name.
- Tab to Validate and press Enter. The result is announced and shown under the toolbar.
Using a screen reader
SideDoc releases are checked with VoiceOver on macOS (Safari) and NVDA on Windows (Chrome or Firefox). Other combinations will usually work too.
Finding your way. The page is divided into named regions that you can jump between with your screen reader's landmark commands:
- Document actions: the toolbar.
- Document outline: the list of sections on the left (a navigation region).
- main: the form.
- Field help: the help panel.
Headings help too. The level 1 heading is the name of the open document (or "Sidedoc Document Editor" when no document is open). The outline, the help panel and most windows start with a level 2 heading.
Messages. Status messages, such as "Imported delpher.json." or "Validation completed: 4 issue(s).", are read out without moving your focus. Automatic saving does not repeat "Saved current document." every time you pause, so it won't interrupt you while you type. Errors that block what you were doing, such as a failed import, are read out straight away.
Fields. Each field is labelled with its name. Required fields are marked Required. After you run Validate, the message for a field appears directly under it.
Formatted text. The large text fields with a formatting bar have two modes, Formatted and Markdown. If the formatted editor is awkward with your screen reader, switch to Markdown: it is plain text, with formatting written as characters (for example **bold**).
Zoom, small screens and text spacing
SideDoc works at 200% and 400% browser zoom and on screens as narrow as 320 pixels, without scrolling sideways. At these sizes the outline and help panel become drawers that you open with the Outline and Help buttons at the bottom of the screen. While a drawer is closed, its contents can't receive keyboard focus, so you won't tab into something you can't see.
SideDoc also keeps working if you increase line, paragraph, letter or word spacing with a browser extension or user style sheet.
Known limitations
- Field names are not headings. Inside the form, field names are not marked up as headings yet, so your screen reader's heading commands jump between the main regions but not between fields. Use the outline, or your screen reader's form-field navigation, instead.
- No skip link. There is no "skip to content" link. Screen reader users can jump with landmarks and headings. Sighted keyboard users have to tab through the toolbar (nine buttons) to reach the form, or the outline to reach a section.
- "Profile" is not explained in the Create new document window. See Profiles for what each one is.
Reporting a problem
If something in SideDoc does not work with your keyboard, screen reader or other assistive technology, please tell the people who run your SideDoc installation. Say what you were trying to do, which browser and assistive technology you use, and what happened.