Unlocking Inclusive Design: How to Enhance Accessibility in Power Pages beyond OOTB

Extending the Out-of-the-Box Accessibility Functionality of Power Pages

Unlocking Digital Inclusion with Custom Accessibility Features

In today's digital landscape, accessibility is no longer optional—it’s a critical component of building inclusive experiences for everyone. As organizations increasingly leverage Power Pages to create public-facing web portals and applications, ensuring that these platforms meet the diverse needs of all users is essential.

While Power Pages comes equipped with several out-of-the-box accessibility features to help you adhere to WCAG standards, such as built-in ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility, there are additional steps you can take to further extend these capabilities and provide an even more accessible experience.

Why Extend Accessibility?

The baseline accessibility features provided by Power Pages are a fantastic start, but they might not be enough for users with more specific needs or for organizations seeking to meet stricter compliance guidelines. Customizing your Power Pages to include more advanced accessibility options helps ensure your site is fully inclusive, while also demonstrating your organization’s commitment to digital equity.

What is WCAG? The Global Standard for Digital Accessibility

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an internationally recognized set of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines are designed to ensure that digital content, including websites, applications, and other online experiences, is accessible to people with disabilities.

WCAG is organized around four key principles: content must be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (often abbreviated as POUR). These principles guide the development of accessible features like keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and adjustable visual elements. Adhering to WCAG ensures that your site meets legal accessibility requirements and provides an inclusive experience for all users, regardless of ability.

Steps to Enhance Power Pages Accessibility

1. Implement Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

While Power Pages supports keyboard navigation, creating custom keyboard shortcuts can greatly enhance usability for individuals with mobility impairments or those who rely on keyboards instead of a mouse. You can add custom scripts that trigger specific functions, allowing users to navigate the site more easily without needing complex gestures.

For example, you can use JavaScript to create shortcuts for submitting forms or skipping through long sections of content, improving the user experience for all visitors, regardless of ability.

2. Improve Visual Accessibility with Custom Themes

Power Pages offers various themes and templates, but you can further adjust contrast levels, font sizes, and color schemes by customizing CSS. This is particularly beneficial for users with visual impairments, such as color blindness or low vision.

Using high-contrast modes or providing users with an option to adjust text size and color themes according to their preferences can make your portal more accessible to a wider audience. Additionally, you can integrate a “dark mode” toggle for users who prefer lower brightness levels.

3. Optimize for Screen Readers Beyond Default Settings

While Power Pages is compatible with most screen readers, you can optimize your content even further by refining the structure of your HTML elements. Make sure headings, lists, and tables are correctly tagged and organized. You can also add ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes manually for any custom elements to ensure that screen readers properly interpret dynamic content, such as modals or interactive charts.

4. Include Multimodal Accessibility with Captions and Descriptions

For any media content, like videos or images, adding captions, alt-text, or descriptive audio can be game-changing for users with hearing or visual impairments. While Power Pages automatically supports alt-text for images, take the time to review and enhance these descriptions so they’re meaningful and contextually relevant.

You can also add custom closed captions to embedded videos and even provide text-based descriptions for data visualizations or complex graphics, ensuring that no one misses out on important content.

5. Implement Accessibility Testing Tools and Regular Audits

There are numerous third-party accessibility testing tools available, such as Axe or Wave, which can help you identify and resolve any potential accessibility gaps in your Power Pages. Incorporating these tools into your development process will enable you to make improvements continuously, ensuring compliance and inclusivity remain a top priority.

Regular audits using these tools will help maintain high standards of accessibility, especially as you add new content or features to your site.

6. Enhance Accessible Navigation with Skip Links

For users relying on screen readers or keyboards, navigating large sections of repeated content (like headers or navigation bars) can be cumbersome. Implementing skip links allows users to jump directly to the main content, bypassing repetitive sections. This simple feature improves both usability and accessibility, making your Power Pages site quicker and easier to navigate for everyone.

7. Responsive Design for All Devices

Ensuring your Power Pages site is fully responsive across all devices is critical to accessibility. A mobile-friendly or tablet-optimized site doesn't just benefit those without desktop access—it can be essential for people with specific impairments. Using flexible layouts, fluid grids, and adaptable images ensures that all users, regardless of screen size or device, can access your content comfortably.

A well-designed responsive site also supports dynamic text resizing without breaking the layout, which is crucial for users with low vision who may rely on larger text or magnification tools.

8. Accessible Forms and Inputs

Forms are often a critical part of Power Pages functionality, particularly when handling user data or registration. Ensuring that your forms are accessible involves several steps:

• Ensure all form elements have clear and descriptive label tags.
• Use accessible error messages that screen readers can easily interpret.
• Allow for different methods of input (such as voice-to-text) and ensure that users can easily navigate between form fields using just their keyboard.

By refining these elements, you make it easier for users of all abilities to interact with forms and complete important tasks on your site.

9. Custom Responsive Tooltips and Focus Indicators

Tooltips can be a useful way to offer additional context to users, but they can sometimes be difficult for people using assistive technologies to interact with. Ensure your tooltips are easily accessible via keyboard and screen readers. Adding custom focus indicators (visual cues for which element is currently selected) can further enhance navigation for keyboard users.

Providing accessible tooltips and focus indicators not only helps users with disabilities but also improves the overall user experience for all visitors, especially those on touch devices.

10. Ensure Robust Compatibility with Assistive Technologies

The Robust principle of WCAG is about ensuring that your site can be reliably interpreted by current and future assistive technologies. This means ensuring that your code is clean, well-structured, and follows web standards. When developing Power Pages, make sure to:

• Use semantic HTML elements properly (e.g., <article>, <section>, <nav>, etc.) to ensure that screen readers and other assistive technologies can correctly interpret your site’s structure.
• Avoid using deprecated HTML tags or outdated technologies that may not be supported by modern devices or assistive tools.
• Test your site across various browsers, devices, and assistive technologies to ensure robust compatibility.

By focusing on robust design principles, you're not only adhering to WCAG standards but also ensuring that your Power Pages site will remain accessible as technology evolves, keeping it usable for all visitors, regardless of the tools they rely on.

The Future of Accessibility in Power Pages

As organizations strive to become more inclusive, digital accessibility is becoming a vital part of that journey. By extending the out-of-the-box functionality of Power Pages, you not only create a more user-friendly experience but also reinforce your organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Building accessible websites shouldn’t be seen as an afterthought, but as a proactive approach to ensuring that everyone can participate in the digital world. Through customization, thoughtful design, and regular testing, you can make your Power Pages accessible to a broader audience—creating value for both your users and your business.

Kim Brian

Modern Applications and Power Platform Solutions Architect at Velrada .

Technical Consultant Helping organizations unlock the full potential of their Microsoft efficiency tools.

Feel free to share your thoughts or connect with me to discuss how you can prepare your organization for the future of data management!