As you already know, with our add-on Accessibility for Confluence you no longer need to be concerned about accessibility in Confluence. We’ve even updated it and have just released version 2.0. Besides being compatible with Confluence 5.9, it is now possible to edit all content in the screen reader mode which is the mode optimized for blind users.
Edit Content in Screen Reader Mode
The main feature of Accessibility for Confluence is the screen reader mode. With this new, purpose-built view for screen readers blind users can navigate through the content better and use the text-to-speech function. Until recently, only content created in this mode could be edited in it but this limitation has since been lifted with version 2.0. Now, in the screen reader mode it is possible to edit all content that can be converted to Confluence’s wiki markup. This applies to pages, blog posts, and comments.
In the edit form the few types of content not available in wiki markup are automatically replaced with placeholders to ensure that the rest of the content can still be edited.
For older Confluence installations – specifically: 5.7 and 5.8 – this feature is available with version 1.3 of our add-on.
Improving the User Interface
Apart from the screen reader mode we also improved Confluence’s user interface. This is primarily targeted at people with motor or vision impairments; those who have trouble using the computer mouse or need to use the high contrast mode of their operating system.
As an example, motor-impaired people use the keyboard to navigate around and depend on all relevant elements being reachable via tab and arrow keys, and that their commands can be activated by the enter or space key. Many Confluence dialogs, however, have shortcomings in this regard and in some cases it may not even be able to reach an entire dialog via the tab key. But Accessibility for Confluence 2.0 optimizes all these dialogs in order for a smooth navigation experience.
Additionally, optimizing the keyboard navigation is also interesting for people without disabilities. I myself often use the keyboard to navigate because it can often be faster than using the mouse. I noticed quite a few problems in Confluence in that regard and am glad that we fixed them.
Learn more about making your Confluence accessible – visit Accessibility for Confluence at the Atlassian Marketplace and get a free 30 days trial.
