Section 1194

Date: October 8^th, 2001

Name of Product: Accessible FormNet

Contact for more Information: John Paroda, Intercon Associates

Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems - Detail

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
INTRODUCTION

Intercon’s "Accessible FormNet" was designed to support government agencies and corporations, desirous of or mandated to, provide ACCESS to forms and/or documents to ALL employees, customers and/or the general public. "Accessible FormNet" includes the "Creator" program for preparing forms and documents for fill, and two (2) Form Fill programs (VisualFill & Verbal Fill). The appropriate fill program is automatically launched when a user selects a FormNet form link on a web page, LAN etc.

E.G., The VerbalFill program, that form fill program that supports the visually impaired user, launches automatically when a form link is selected and a "screen reader" is detected.

The following product accessibility information is only in reference to the VerbalFill component of Accessible FormNet

Criteria	Supporting features	Remarks & explanations
(a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to permit all functions to be accessed from the keyboard and provide appropriate feedback: The function buttons in the main window and the application-specific dialog boxes are all accessible via an Alt key combination. The most frequently used menu commands are all accessible from the keyboard via a Ctrl key shortcut. All other menu commands are accessible from the keyboard via Windows’ standard Alt plus menu key.	The Help menu includes a "Keyboard Shortcuts" command that displays the help topic listing all of the available keyboard shortcuts to the button and command functions.
(b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer.	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill by design does not interfere with any application’s functionality or features. This also applies to the Operating System; VerbalFill does not change any system settings or disable/disrupt any functionality of the Operating System.	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to interface with a screen reader (e.g., JAWS) to provide accessible electronic forms fill.

(c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus change	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill normally keeps the focus on the single edit control into which the user types fill data. When one of the buttons has the focus, the standard Windows focus rectangle is drawn on the button face using standard Windows functions.
(d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to be accessible and, therefore, uses no images other than the program icon that plays no part in the operation of the program and the image of the electronic form themselves, which are only used for printing.	The Accessible FormNet product is an electronic forms fill product using a TIFF image to represent the form itself. Accessible FormNet VerbalFill completely avoids using this image in the user interface, but does use it to print the completed form.
(e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to thos images shall be consistent throughout an application’s performance	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to be accessible and, therefore, uses no bitmap images for any control, status indicator or other programmatic elements other than those described in (d), above.	See above.
(f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text elements	By design, Accessible FormNet VerbalFill uses only standard MS Windows API’s and controls to display and accept the entry of text. The caret is consistently placed after all previously-entered text.	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to interface with a screen reader (JAWS) to provide accessible electronic forms fill.
(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill displays its main window and all dialog boxes using the contrast, color selections and all other display attributes selected by the user from the MS Windows display settings applet.
(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayed in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to be accessible and, therefore, uses no animations.
(i) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to be accessible and, therefore, does not use color to convey information, indicate an action, prompt a response, or distinguish a visual element.
(j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill has no settings for color or contrast. It was designed to use the settings indicated by the user via the MS Windows display settings applet.

(k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower that 55 Hz	Accessible FormNet VerbalFill was expressly designed to be accessible and, therefore, does not use flashing or blinking text, objects or other elements.	The only blinking element in the interface is the text caret, controlled by the screen reader.
(l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues	VerbalFill was expressly designed to provide an accessible means for filling in electronic forms. A number of features have been included to facilitate this task: The TIFF image on which Accessible FormNet forms are based is never displayed to the VerbalFill user. All information on the form that must be conveyed to the user is done in an entirely textual manner. The image is used only for printing the final form. Fields on the form are presented to the user one at a time and include a textual prompt that briefly describes the data to be entered by the user. Optionally, each field may contain additional descriptive information that can be requested by the user using a button (accessed by an Alt key shortcut) on the main window. The creator of the form file can subdivide this type of information into multiple small pieces to minimize the amount of information which must be conveyed at a time while still providing all the information the end user may need to complete the form. Next field, previous field navigation is provided by buttons (accessible via the Enter key and Alt + P, respectively) on the main window. Skip functionality is included that allows the user to skip over portions of the form that he/she deems inapplicable based on the information being provided. Information indicating the identity of the form plus other important information is automatically provided to the VerbalFill user when a form file is initially loaded. As with field information, this can include additional information which can be accessed by the user via a button (accessible via an Alt key shortcut) on the dialog window. Optionally, information can be presented after all fields on the form have been completed. This would normally include information on signatures required, certifications/agreements on the form, attachments required and distribution of the completed form. Again, this information may be subdivided into multiple smaller segments to facilitate its use. Optionally, information can be presented at the beginning of any page of the form. This is used when the type of information to be entered differs significantly from that of the preceding page. This information may also be subdivided by the form file’s creator to facilitate its use. Also optionally, information can be presented at the end of any page of the form. The creator of the form file may use this function to include information pertaining to the completed page and may choose to subdivide it as well. Additional information may be included by the form file’s creator at any point within the form where it is deemed important to the VerbalFill user. As for all the other types of information, this may be subdivided into smaller segments to facilitate its use.