Accessibility
How we build components that provide a great user experience for all users.
AgDS strives to be usable and useful to all users of the Export Service, including those with disabilities. Disabilities may affect how people move, see, hear, communicate, learn, understand and process information.
Simplicity by design
Accessibility has always been a top priority for the Agriculture Design System (AgDS).
AgDS is inspired by the original Australian Government Design System GOLD, which was built on principles of simplicity and accessibility.
We have an obligation to make our government services simple and fast to use, inclusive and accessible to all users in the location and context they need to use them.
Accessibility audit
In late 2022, the AgDS website, components and templates were reviewed by an independent third-party specialist. This review included usability testing sessions with users who heavily rely on assistive technologies.
AgDS achieved AA-level compliance against the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.1 success criteria and is now considered by this agency an exemplary implementation of an accessible, React-based design system.
Meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
AgDS targets the WCAG 2.1 Level A and Level AA success criteria and seeks to provide a highly usable experience for everyone.
Assistive technology support
AgDS components are tested for accessibility with automated and manual techniques to ensure support for:
- screen readers
- screen magnifiers
- alternative input mechanisms
- low vision and colour blindness.
Browser support
AgDS supports the latest two versions of the following browsers:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Apple Safari for MacOS
- Microsoft Edge
- Apple Safari for iOS
- Google Chrome for Android
Coding standards
AgDS components are built using modern web standards for HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Features from the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specification are used to build functionality that is not available natively to web browsers.
Where possible, components are built according to specifications found on the ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG).
Making your product accessible
Product teams need to conduct their own research and testing sessions to ensure that the compositions of AgDS components are accessibile in the context of their product.
For information about getting started with accessibility, we recommend visiting the Accessibility Fundamentals Overview from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
Feedback
The AgDS team is always looking at ways to improve the accessibility of our components. If you find a problem or think that AgDS is not meeting accessibility requirements, please reach out to the AgDS team via Microsoft Teams or by creating a Github issue.