Page 118 - GIGW2

CH 11 Mobile App Guidelines

11.3
Objective

The objective of these mobile accessibility guideline is to help developers, designers and
testers to create mobile apps that are universally accessible. An accessible application is
one which is usable by everyone irrespective of their abilities. These mobile accessibility
practices have been formulated after reviewing various globally accepted standards and
guidelines, as mentioned in the section on the international position on Mobile app
standards.

The Mobile Accessibility practices discussed below are not technology specific, but the
examples are based on either Apple iOS or Google Android operating systems. The other
mobile platforms are not used widely. The techniques to test or implement a specific
practice may differ depending on the operating system.

Both the Android and iOS operating systems provide standardized mechanisms to
communicate various attributes of a user interface element (UI Element) such as the label
associated with a UI element, role of a UI element (such as whether it is a button or an
edit control,) and state information (such as whether it is disabled, checked or pressed.)
This mechanism is called Accessibility Application Programming Interface (API) and it
provides reasonably good information for standard UI elements.

11.4
Mobile Accessibility Guidelines

11.4.1 Platform accessibility settings

Most mobile platforms provide accessibility settings such as contrast between
background and foreground text, invert colors, large text, grayscale, mono audio
etc. Users select the relevant setting as per their requirement and expect all the
apps to behave accordingly. All the accessibility options in the device settings
should be reviewed and it must be ensured that each accessibility feature behaves
as intended. For example, if a user chooses invert color option, and the app is
already showing black text on a white background then it should show white text
on black background which is easy on the eyes for many users with photosensitive
eyes. Many other users without any well-known eye condition also find this easier
for prolonged reading. Hence it MUST be ensured that platform accessibility
features are optimally used and they behave as intended. App designers
should also follow platform specific design guidelines.
11.4.2 UI Labels

Each UI element must have an accessible label for content such as images, buttons
and other controls. An accessible label is recognizable by assistive technology

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