Theme Accessibility | Yext Hitchhikers Platform
Overview
This document provides guidance on how Yext’s Search frontend theme (i.e., the Search UI SDK JavaScript library) adheres to the requirements outlined within the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) .
Please note, this section ONLY applies to the Search frontend theme . Search experiences leveraging other frontend approaches (e.g., Search UI React, etc.) do not inherently meet WCAG compliance and will be solely dependent on how the experience is implemented.
But first, what is the WCAG? The WCAG 2.1 Guidelines says:
“Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and combinations of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations; but will not address every user need for people with these disabilities. These guidelines address accessibility of web content on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Following these guidelines will also often make Web content more usable to users in general.”
Common Accessibility Tools
Screen Readers
Screen readers dictate a website or content through auditory cues.
Screen readers should be able to understand and dictate all aspects of the search experience including the search engine result page (SERP) and the Search Bar.
Search Bar: For search bars, when a user focuses on the search bar, the screen reader will say: “When autocomplete results are available, use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.” If autocomplete options are available (i.e., query suggestions ), the screen reader should also read out the number of autocomplete options available, such as “five autocomplete suggestions”.
Search Engine Result Page (SERP): For the SERP, the screen reader can read all standard result pages components including result cards , pagination controls , vertical labels , facets and filters , and sort options.
All result page components provide high degrees of customization that may impact accessibility. Yext has performed testing on the various available built-in components with Chrome Lighthouse .
Voice Dictation
Voice dictation allows users with visual impairments to perform tasks through speech commands.
Search Bar: Within the Search theme, you have the option to enable search by voice , which presents a microphone option for speaking rather than typing the user’s query.
Search Engine Result Page (SERP): In addition to executing a query by voice, users utilizing a voice dictation solution can interact with any linked components (e.g., a hyperlink or CTA) via voice commands when using any built-in result cards.
Screen Magnifiers and Zoom
Screen magnifiers and zoom help access and interact with digital content by zooming in on the whole screen or sections of a screen as if you are looking through a magnifying glass.
All elements of a Yext Search experience integrated within an iFrame will adjust to the browser’s zoom functions and/or magnification a user performs with a magnification solution.