Accessibility Notes for the WebLogic Administration Portal

Accessibility Notes for the BEA WebLogic Administration Portal

Overview

Currently a variety of accessibility features are available in the BEA WebLogic Administration Portal. The application itself provides the appropriate information to ensure pages can be rendered in assistive technology. Accessibility features provided by the web browser provide users control of the application with the keyboard and allow for the customization of the look-and-feel of the application.

BEA Systems Inc. is dedicated to providing high quality information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities. In particular, BEA is committed to ensuring full compliance with the Section 508 accessibility standards. To this end, BEA has undertaken a substantial project to ensure the accessibility of the entire BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1^TM. BEA is implementing these enhancements and will continue to address all accessibility issues that come to its attention.

Accessibility Features

Keyboard Access

All functions of the BEA WebLogic Administration Portal are accessible and usable from the keyboard. The application supports the standard keyboard controls found in web browsers and does not interfere with the operating system standard keyboard controls.

Customizable Appearance

The BEA WebLogic Administration Portal supports the ability of the user to define and use custom style sheets. This allows the user to control the manner in which the application appears in the browser. Users can use their own custom style sheets or simply revert the page to default formatting using the appropriate browser commands.

Recommended Assistive Technology Configuration

BEA provides certain recommended configuration options for industry leading assistive technologies. These configuration options ensure that the accessibility enhancements present in the application are available to the assistive technology user. Configuration options are currently available for the JAWS^TM screen reader produced by Freedom Scientific, Inc. Other assistive technology configuration options are available on request from BEA.

JAWS Link Verbosity

Users should ensure that the full text of each link is spoken when JAWS encounters a link. To do this

Open JAWS and select the "Utilities - Configuration Manager" menu option.

Once the Configuration manager is open, select "Set options - HTML options".

For JAWS 4.02, select "Speak Alt Tag or Title" option in the "Text Link Verbosity" section.

For JAWS 4.51, select the "Use Title" option in the "Text Link Options" section.

Select "OK" and save the configuration.

JAWS Punctuation

BEA WebLogic Portal Administration uses the asterisk character `*' to indicate that certain fields are required. By default JAWS will read this character as "star". Users should not that whenever star is read as part of a form field label it indicates that the field is required.

Accessibility Support

Support for issues related to the accessibility of BEA products is available through the BEA (www.bea.com) website or by calling 888.232.7878. Issues specifically relating to the accessibility of BEA products can be addressed by e-mailing accessibility@bea.com.

Alternate Format Request

Copies of product documentation are provided in alternate formats upon request. To request a copy of the product documentation in a different format e-mail accessibility@bea.com.

Known Issues

The BEA WebLogic Administration Portal currently exhibits several known issues relating to 508 compliance. These issues are scheduled to be addressed in future version of the tools. The issues are discussed in more detail below.

Web Page Dialogs

Modal web page dialogs are used in the BEA application to display forms that the user must fill out before the application can proceed. An example of such a dialog appears when a new user is added to the system. These dialogs are supported by current versions of JAWS; however, they are not supported by WindowEyes.

Drop Down Menus Triggering Navigation

Certain drop down menus (select lists) cause automatic navigation when a user selects a different element of the list. To avoid this behavior users should open each drop down menu before browsing the contents. Menus can be opened using the ALT + down arrow.

Date Selection Control

The date selection control available in the BEA WebLogic Administration Portal is currently not accessible from the keyboard. Instead of using this control users should manually enter dates into the system using the appropriate command line interfaces.