Gadgets for Windows Sidebar Accessibility and Localization

This overview provides information on how to provide a more accessible and localizable gadget.

• Accessibility
• Gobalization and Localization
• For Further Reference

Accessibility

The ability of a user, despite disabilities or impairments, to utilize a resource is commonly referred to as accessibility. When designing your gadget, alternative methods—be they software or hardware—may be required to use your gadget and should be considered in its design.

In addition to standard mouse interaction, the Windows Sidebar is keyboard accessible through the use of the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Windows logo key+SPACEBAR brings the Sidebar to the foreground and sets focus to the 'Add Gadgets' icon.
• Windows logo key+G brings the Sidebar to the foreground and sets focus to an installed gadget. Continuing to press this key combination causes focus to cycle sequentially through each installed gadget. Note  This key combination does not expose the gadget settings.
• F1 launches the Sidebar help topic.

Once a gadget has focus, gadget settings, properties, and controls can be accessed by the following keyboard input:

• SHIFT-F10 opens the context menu which provides access to the gadget settings and other functionality.
• TAB enters the gadget control hierarchy and sets focus to the first input or hyperlink control in the tab order. TAB is subsequently used to navigate between controls based on standard HTML tab order or as defined by the gadget developer.
• ARROW keys move a gadget around the desktop if 'Move' has been selected from the gadget context menu. Otherwise, the ARROW keys may navigate to adjacent user interface (UI)

Since a gadget UI is built using standard HTML, a gadget developer can make their gadget more accessible by following some basic guidelines:

• Use an onclick event on an anchor or a button to perform actions.

  Note   Keyboard input does not fire the onclick event for other objects. If an onclick event is required for an object besides an anchor or button, always wrap that object with an anchor tag that triggers the same event handler:

  <a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="..."><img onclick="..."/></a>
  

• Never use hover effects to perform or trigger an action unless the functionality is also available from a click on a link or button.

• Use scalable fonts and containers.

• Never use color exclusively to convey information.

• Use sufficient color contrast.

• Use real text and available fonts, not images of text.

• Use unambiguous UI text.

• Use HTML controls when possible; custom controls typically require more work to make them accessible.

Gobalization and Localization

Globalization refers to the process of designing and developing an application to function across cultures. Localization refers to the process of customizing or translating application resources for a specific culture.

A gadget can be displayed in any language specified by the user in Control Panel if a corresponding set of resource files have been provided by the gadget developer. The gadget platform will select the best set of files to display from the list of locales maintained by Windows.

If a gadget is to be deployed across all locales without the benefit of localization, all files must be saved in unicode format:

1. Open each HTML and Javascript gadget file in Notepad and save with UTF-8 encoding.

2. Add the following to the head of each HTML file:

   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
   

To localize a gadget, the following steps must be taken:

1. Identify each Windows locale the gadget must support. For example, en-us.

2. Create a subfolder for each supported Windows locale identifier. The subfolder name must match the identifier exactly.

3. Localize the appropriate gadget resource files.

4. Place the localized gadget files inside the specific Windows locale subfolder.

   

Note  Some files don't have to be localized. For example, a gadget may use universal images to convey information to a user. In these situations, files can be placed in the main gadget folder. The gadget platform can find the correct file if it exists in the locale subfolder or in the root folder.

For Further Reference

 MicrosoftGadgets.com  

 Web Development 

Microsoft Accessibility 

Globalization 

Localization