Application Considerations
In this section, you will learn about the configurations and libraries that affect an entire application's accessibility.
Lang Attribute
Declaring the language of the HTML document allows users to better understand your content.
Both assistive technologies and conventional user agents can render text more accurately when the language of the Web page is identified. Screen readers can load the correct pronunciation rules. Visual browsers can display characters and scripts correctly. Media players can show captions correctly. As a result, users with disabilities will be better able to understand the content. WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.1: Intent
A primary language should be defined on the <html> element's lang attribute. For new apps, you can use the --lang option on the ember new command to set the language for a new application.
ember new mon-app --lang fr
This command will create your application with French defined as the primary language
on the <html> element's lang attribute.
For existing Ember apps, a developer may edit the index.html file or leverage ember-intl.
The html element may not have multiple lang values. If an element contains content in a language different from the primary, then you can provide the element its own lang attribute.
To learn more about the lang attribute and how to use it: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes/lang. Unsure which language subtag to use? Try the Language Subtag Lookup tool.
Accessibility addons
Any addon that will provide UI elements to the application should be evaluated for accessibility before use.
There are some existing Ember addons that may help you make your app more accessible. Each addon should be evaluated for its own usefulness and merit- you may find in some instances, that it would be better to implement the ideas presented in the addon in your own application.
Here are some examples of accessibility-focused addons created by many people throughout the Ember community:
- ember-a11y-landmarks - Ember addon to help with landmark roles for better accessibility
- ember-component-focus - A mixin for adding methods to your Ember components that help you manage the currently focused element.
- ember-gestures - Ember Gestures provides an easy way to use gestures by making it simple to define and use HammerJS managers and recognizers throughout your app.
- ember-steps - Declarative create wizards, tabbed UIs, and more
- ember-page-title - Page title management for Ember.js Apps
- ember-self-focused - Focus on route on transition
- ember-keyboard - An Ember.js addon for the painless support of keyboard events
- ember-a11y-testing - A suite of accessibility tests that can be run within the Ember testing framework
- a11y-announcer - An accessible ember route change announcer
- ember-template-lint - linter for Ember templates
While there are quite a few moving parts, here's a cheat sheet to get you started: Accessibility Cheat Sheet