As Global Accessibility Awareness Day approaches, we're excited to highlight JMP's ongoing commitment to creating a more inclusive experience for all users.
Following the strong foundation laid by SAS, JMP proactively publishes a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) with each software release. This transparent documentation details our alignment with the globally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), reflecting our dedication to these important standards.
Senior Product Manager Bryan Fricke says JMP has already made meaningful strides in enhancing accessibility. “JMP software offers alternative color schemes that empower users to customize the visual presentation to their needs and incorporated textual alternatives for certain visual content, ensuring that information is accessible in multiple formats,” Fricke said. “These features demonstrate a growing embrace of inclusive design principles within our development process.”
The upcoming release of JMP 19 showcases our continued progress in this crucial area. We have made many improvements to text contrast, especially in Dark Mode. And some improvements for screen readers and voice access, in particular, allowing these tools access to context menu items and red triangle menu items on Windows.
“We are encouraged by the potential to further enhance JMP's accessibility,” Fricke said. “We recognize that improvements in screen reader compatibility and comprehensive keyboard-only navigation will unlock significant benefits for users with visual and motor impairments. This focus aligns with our commitment to inclusivity and presents exciting opportunities to strengthen our development processes.”
JMP’s efforts to improve support for assistive technologies like screen readers and keyboard navigation will also enhance the robustness and maintainability of automated testing framework. “By moving away from reliance on visual layouts, we can create more resilient tests, ultimately fostering a more agile and responsive development environment,” Fricke said.
The innovative Mimic system, pioneered by Principal Software Developer Aaron Andersen and further developed by Principal Software Developer Evan McCorkle, represents a significant step forward in addressing these accessibility goals. This system will hopefully allow further testing of JMP’s user interface, beyond what has been possible with scripting thus far. But, in order to do this, testing must be able to robustly target elements within the user interface for interaction. One way to do this is via the accessibility technology within the operating system. So, by improving JMP’s accessibility, we help users both directly (by improving their ability to use JMP) and indirectly (by improving our ability to test JMP). Mimic is still very new so time will tell where this will lead but prototyping work with it has already led directly to the screen reader improvements for context menus on Windows.
This groundbreaking work provides a strong foundation for future advancements, paving the way for a more accessible and user-friendly JMP for everyone.
We are dedicated to continuous improvement and are excited about the positive impact these ongoing efforts will have on our user community. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build a more accessible future for JMP.
