Accessibility Features of SAS Energy Distribution Optimization 5.1

Overview

SAS Energy Distribution Optimization 5.1 has been tested against the accessibility standards for electronic information technology that were adopted by the U.S. Government under Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (2008 draft proposal initiative update). It was also tested against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 levels A and AA, part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C). For detailed information about the accessibility of this product, send e-mail to accessibility@sas.com or call SAS Technical Support.

Documentation Format

Please contact accessibility@sas.com if you need this document in an alternative digital format.

Landmarks

Landmarks are references to the primary areas of an application’s user interface. They provide a quick and easy way for keyboard users to navigate to these areas of the application.

To access the list of landmarks that are available for a specific context, press Ctrl+F6 to open the Landmarks window. Use the arrow keys to select a landmark, and then press Enter to navigate to that area of the application.

User Interface Layout

SAS Energy Distribution Optimization provides a framework for working with SAS objects. The application window contains the application bar and the workspaces. Each workspace enables you to perform a group of related tasks within the application. The layout of the workspace differs depending on the workspace in which you are working.

To customize the application window and its features, select File

Preferences.

For more information about the layout and features of the application window, see SAS Energy Distribution Optimization: User’s Guide.

Themes

An application’s theme is the collection of colors, graphics, and fonts that appear in the application. The following themes are provided with this application: SAS Corporate (default theme), SAS Blue Steel, SAS Dark, SAS High Contrast, and SAS Light. To change the theme for the application, open the Preferences window, and go to the Global Preferences page.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to magnify the contents of the browser window or to invert the application colors.

Note: If you have special requirements for your themes, then contact your system administrator or visual designer about using SAS Theme Designer for Flex to build custom themes. SAS Theme Designer for Flex is installed with SAS themes. For more information about this tool, see SAS Theme Designer for Flex: User's Guide.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table contains many of the keyboard shortcuts for the application. In the user interface, some shortcuts are displayed within parentheses in tooltips and menu item labels. Some are also displayed in the Keyboard Shortcuts window (press F9 to open that window).

Note: Some application-level keyboard shortcuts do not work when you first open an application. When that happens, press Tab to move the focus to the application, and then try the keyboard shortcut again.

Note: When you use a keyboard shortcut to activate a button, move the focus to the field or section that the button is associated with before you use the keyboard shortcut. For example, if a table has an associated Help button, you must first move the focus to the table before you press Ctrl+?.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Action	Keyboard Shortcut
Open the Keyboard Shortcuts window.	F9 Note: The Keyboard Shortcuts window might not contain all of the shortcuts for your application.
Open a Help pop-up window from the Help button.	Ctrl+?
Zoom in.	Ctrl+plus sign
Zoom out.	Ctrl+minus sign
Reset the zoom state.	Ctrl+0
Maximized view (collapses the category pane and the tile pane, and hides the status bar and the application bar, which includes the menu bar and the workspace bar). or Exit the maximized view (expands the category pane and the tile pane, and shows the status bar and the application bar).	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M Note: This shortcut does not work when the focus is on the workspace bar.
Open a pop-up menu.	Shift+F9 (if a menu is available in that context) Note: If you use Shift+F9 to display the pop-up menu, then it is always displayed in the top left corner of the user interface control that you are using.
Open the Landmarks window.	Ctrl+F6
Temporarily invert or revert application colors (for the current session only). Note: You can set the Invert application colors preference in the Preferences window if you want the color change to persist across sessions.	Ctrl+~
Rename the selected tab.	Make sure that the focus is on the tab. Press F2, and specify the new name. To commit your changes, press Enter. To cancel your changes, press Esc.
Close the selected tab.	Make sure that the focus is on the tab, and then press Delete. Note: Some tabs cannot be closed.
Switch in and out of Edit mode for a table cell.	To enter Edit mode, select a cell, and press F2. To exit Edit mode, press Esc.
Navigate between table headings and table content.	For a two-dimensional table, make sure that the focus is on the table and that you are not in Edit mode. Press Ctrl+F8 to switch the focus between column headings and table cells. Use the arrow keys to navigate from heading to heading. For a multidimensional table, make sure that the focus is on a table cell and that you are not in Edit mode. Press Ctrl+F8 to switch the focus between column headings, row headings, and table cells. Use the arrow keys to navigate from heading to heading.
Navigate the content rows of a table.	When table cells are not in Edit mode, use the arrow keys to move from cell to cell.
Sort columns in a table.	To sort a single column, navigate to its column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Press the spacebar to sort the column. To sort additional columns, navigate to the column heading of each additional column that you want to sort. Press Ctrl+spacebar.
Change the width of the current column.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Ctrl+left arrow or Ctrl+right arrow to change the width of the column.
Move the current column.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Shift+left arrow to move one column to the left, and press Shift+right arrow to move one column to the right.
Automatically re-size the current column to fit its contents.	Navigate to the column heading (press Ctrl+F8). Then press Enter.
Open a drop-down list or drop-down menu.	Make sure that the focus is on the control, and press Ctrl+down arrow.
Exit a single application in the SAS Visual Analytics Hub.	Tab to the application’s button at the top of the browser window, and press Delete.

Exceptions to Accessibility Standards

Some exceptions to accessibility standards are documented in the following table.

Note: The JAWS issues occur when JAWS is used with Internet Explorer. Other browsers were not tested with JAWS, unless noted.

Exceptions to Accessibility Standards
Accessibility Issue	Workaround
Sometimes, you cannot use the keyboard to sequentially navigate through the interface and move the focus in a meaningful order.	No workaround is available.
The SAS High Contrast theme has a few unresolved focus and contrast issues.	For contrast issues, select a different theme, and then press Ctrl+~ to invert the colors.
The SAS Light theme and SAS Dark theme might not provide sufficient color contrast for some users.	Use the SAS Corporate theme or the SAS High Contrast theme.
JAWS cannot read some of the controls in the application, such as images, icons, and buttons.	No workaround is available.
JAWS cannot read the tooltips of items in trees, lists, and menus.	No workaround is available.
JAWS refers to table controls as list boxes.	When JAWS reports that a control is a list box, keep in mind that it might actually be a table.
JAWS can sometimes read controls that have been disabled.	No workaround is available.
JAWS does not correctly read the states in a tri-state check box tree if JAWS is not in Forms mode.	Disable the JAWS Virtual PC cursor when you work with the check box tree. Tab to the tree, and press Insert+Z to disable the Virtual PC cursor. When you finish interacting with the tree, press Insert+Z to re-enable the Virtual PC cursor.
JAWS cannot read two-column property tables.	No workaround is available.
JAWS does not correctly read the information in a table: JAWS cannot read the column headings of a table. When table cells are not editable and the focus is on the body of the table, JAWS reads an entire row at a time instead of cell by cell. When table cells are editable and the focus is on the body of the table, JAWS reads only the first row of the table. If you use the arrow keys to select a cell or row, then JAWS does not read anything. If you press Enter to edit a cell, then JAWS reads the row that contains the edited cell.	No workaround is available.
When a table cell is selected and you press Home, End, Page Up, or Page Down, the focus moves to the first displayed column, regardless of which column you were in.	Use the arrow keys to navigate through the cells of the table.
You cannot use the keyboard to scroll to the left and the right in some tables.	No workaround is available.
You cannot use the keyboard to activate the links within how-to topics and Help pop-up windows.	Use the Help menu to access the linked documents.
You cannot use Shift+F10 to open a pop-up menu.	Use Shift+F9 to open pop-up menus that are created for the SAS application. The generic menu that is provided by the Flash player cannot be opened by Shift+F9. Note: If you press Shift+F10 in Internet Explorer and no context menu is available, the browser moves the focus to the File menu for the browser tab. To return focus to the application area of the browser window, press Esc.
You cannot use the keyboard to access the close (x) button that is in the top right corner of a tile in the tile pane.	Make sure that the focus is on the tile, and then press Delete to close the tile. (The object that is displayed in the tile is not deleted.)
Visual focus for the menu bar is indicated with an outline around the entire menu bar instead of around individual menus.	To select individual menus, use the left or right arrow key.
Sometimes, you cannot use the Tab key to move the focus to the application area of a web browser (that is, the part of the browser window that is controlled by the Flash player).	The following workaround is applicable to Internet Explorer only. Press Ctrl+number, where number is the ordinal position of the application’s tab in the set of tabs that are open in your browser window. Then press Tab to move the focus to the application area.
You cannot use Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M to minimize or maximize the view if the focus is on the workspace bar.	No workaround is available.
If you tab to an item that is partially or entirely off-screen, the item is not automatically scrolled back into view.	Sometimes, you can use the arrow keys or the Tab key to scroll the item back into view.
When you use the Ctrl+plus sign keyboard shortcut to zoom in, some portions of the interface can become hidden from view.	Use the keyboard to access the hidden parts of the interface.
The Ctrl+plus sign and Ctrl+minus sign keyboard shortcuts for zooming in and out do not work on some menus unless the menus are first opened.	Open the menu before you use the keyboard shortcut.
The Ctrl+plus sign and Ctrl+minus sign keyboard shortcuts for zooming in and out do not work on all elements in the application window (for example, tooltips and button labels).	No workaround is available.
If you maximize a tile in the Home workspace and then use the Tab key to navigate, the focus appears to be lost after you tab away from the Log Off button.	After you tab away from the Log Off button, press the Tab key 5 more times to return the focus to the maximized tile.
You cannot use the keyboard to navigate in the Layout section because it is a read-only interface that is used for the visual verification of the elements that have been created.	Use the Test button that is in the Layout section to preview your elements in a secondary window. The items that are displayed in the secondary window are identical to the items that are displayed in the Layout section, but unlike the items in the read-only Layout section, you can interact with the items in the secondary window. Note: After the application opens the secondary window, press Tab to move the focus to the window.
JAWS does not explain how to operate a drop-down list and drop-down menu.	JAWS refers to these controls as either "button", "button menu", or "combo box". In addition to using Ctrl+down arrow to open these drop-down lists and menus, you can also activate buttons and some button menus by pressing spacebar. Pressing spacebar either opens the control or selects the default item.
JAWS cannot read the contents of a tree table (that is, a table that contains a tree) unless the table is in Edit mode.	Make sure that the focus is in the tree table, and press F2 to enter Edit mode.
JAWS cannot read the device or bank flow diagram.	No workaround is available.
JAWS cannot read the content selection tree.	No workaround is available.
After you edit or delete a comment, the focus does not return to the comment.	Use the Tab key to return the focus to the comment.
If the list of additional search options contains a secondary level of options, you cannot use the keyboard to select the check boxes that are associated with that secondary level of options.	No workaround is available.
When JAWS is running, pressing the up and down arrow in a number selector causes your browser to crash.	Enter the number instead of using the arrow keys to select it.
JAWS does not read the applications that are listed in the drop-down list of the Home button.	No workaround is available.
You cannot determine which cell in a table row has the focus unless the cell is in Edit mode.	No workaround is available.
When you open a new application from the Home button in the application bar, the focus is lost. This might also happen when you press the spacebar while any button in the application bar is in focus.	Press Tab and the focus should return to either the Home button or another button in the application bar.
In the date field, you cannot use the keyboard to change the plus operator to a minus operator.	No workaround is available.
JAWS reads the minus operator in the date field as a dash.	No workaround is available.
When JAWS is running, some drop-down menus do not work correctly with the keyboard.	Changing the JAWS cursor mode (press Insert+Z) can sometimes help.