ADF-Based Applications

The central user interface for the AI Foundation Cloud Services is built using ADF Faces. Application Development Framework (ADF) Faces user-interface components have built-in accessibility support for visually and physically impaired users. User agents such as a web browser rendering to nonvisual media such as a screen reader can read component text descriptions to provide useful information to impaired users.

ADF Faces provides two levels of application accessibility support:

• Default: By default, ADF Faces generates components that have rich user interface interaction, and are also accessible through the keyboard.

  Note:

  In the default mode, screen readers cannot access all ADF Faces components. If a visually impaired user is using a screen reader, it is recommended to use the Screen Reader mode

• Screen Reader: ADF Faces generates components that are optimized for use with screen readers. The Screen Reader mode facilitates the display for visually impaired users, but will degrade the display for sighted users (without visual impairment).

Additional fine-grained accessibility levels as described below are also supported:

• High-contrast: ADF Faces can generate high-contrast–friendly visual content. High-contrast mode is intended to make ADF Faces applications compatible with operating systems or browsers that have high-contrast features enabled. For example, ADF Faces changes its use of background images and background colors in high-contrast mode to prevent the loss of visual information.

  Note:

  ADF Faces’ high-contrast mode is more beneficial if used in conjunction with your browser's or operating system's high-contrast mode. Also, some users might find it beneficial to use large-font mode along with high-contrast mode.

• Large-fonts: ADF Faces can generate browser-zoom-friendly content. In default mode, most text and many containers have a fixed font size to provide a consistent and defined look. In large-font mode, text and containers have a scalable font size. This allows ADF Faces both to be compatible with browsers that are set to larger font sizes and to work with browser-zoom capabilities.

  Note:

  If you are not using large-font mode or browser-zoom capabilities, you should disable large-font mode. Also, some users might find it beneficial to use high-contrast mode along with the large-font mode.

AIF provides the ability to switch between the above accessibility support levels in the application, so that users can choose their desired type of accessibility support, if required. It exposes a user preferences screen in which the user can specify the accessibility preferences/mode which will allow the user to operate in that mode.