9 - Accessibility

Accessibility is not an option in Opus: it is a constraint set from the start, on the site as in the administrator. This chapter says what Opus does on its own, and what remains in your hands.

What Opus does for you

• A sound page outline. Each heading keeps its level, h2, h3 or h4, and the Automatic level goes down one step when the page already has its title. Opus never writes an h1.
• The right markup. A numbered list where order matters (steps, timeline), a quote in a blockquote with its attribution outside it, an address in an address tag, a captioned image in a figure.
• Never information by colour alone. A status, a bar, a timeline marker, a highlighted card: the word, the number or the marker is always written next to it. Bar strokes are hidden from screen readers, which read the word and the number.
• Announced links. A link opening in a new tab is announced "new window" to screen readers, without you writing anything.
• The keyboard everywhere. The carousel and tabs use Joomla's scripts, with their ARIA roles and arrow keys; the viewer is browsed with the arrows and closed with Escape; an automatic carousel stops on hover and on keyboard use.
• Described images. The image field carries the alternative text and the "decorative image" box.

In the administrator

The Opus screen can be used with the keyboard. Focus stays visible, the ⓘ help badges are named, a line's settings panel is named, and every control (handle, eye, cog, add, remove) has a name a screen reader can read. The Move handle answers the up and down arrow keys: the line changes place and the focus follows it. The screen's icons are decorative and hidden from screen readers.

What remains in your hands

• Write the alternative text of every informative image, and tick "decorative" for the others.
• Choose heading levels so that the page outline holds together from one module to the next.
• Write explicit button labels: "See the prices" rather than "Click here".
• Keep automatic scrolling at zero, unless there is a strong reason.
• Check the contrast of your custom CSS rules: Opus cannot do it for you.

Opus was developed by two: Joomanji and an AI. The constraints were many, firm and strictly framed: accessibility, code quality, speed and lightness, of the code as of the components.

Up to date for Opus 1.5.930.