Accessibility Features of the Windowing Environment for SAS 9.4 on Microsoft Windows

Overview
Documentation Format
Using Assistive Technology via a Remote Server
The ACCESSIBILITY System Option
Accessing the Standard or Fully Accessible User Interface
Using the Accessible Customize Tools Dialog Box
Using Accessible Properties Dialog Boxes
Enlarging Icons
Enlarging Fonts
Enlarging Equations
Improving Access to Menus
Resizing the Docking View in the Main SAS Window
Sorting Window List Views by a Specific Column
Resizing the Detail Columns of a List View

Overview

The Windowing Environment for SAS 9.4 on Microsoft Windows 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.

Using Assistive Technology via a Remote Server

If you have questions about running SAS and operating assistive technology via a remote server such as Citrix, contact your assistive technology vendor.

The ACCESSIBILITY System Option

Accessing the Standard or Fully Accessible User Interface

The ACCESSIBILITY system option enables you to specify either the standard user interface or the fully accessible user interface. The standard user interface enables accessibility aids to read components of most of the windows and dialog boxes.
The fully accessible user interface adds buttons to these dialog boxes so that all commands and tabbed pages are accessible by using the keyboard:
  • the Customize Tools dialog box Custom tab
  • some SAS Properties dialog boxes.
You specify the ACCESSIBILITY system option either in your configuration file or at the command prompt when you start SAS. Valid values for ACCESSIBILITY are
standard
specifies to use the preferred user interface that is not fully accessible. This is the default.
extended
specifies to use the fully accessible user interface.
For more information, see Accessibility System Option.

Using the Accessible Customize Tools Dialog Box

The Customize Tools dialog box Customize tab provides command buttons for file and edit commands, such as Open a toolbar and Add tool. When you start SAS with the ACCESSIBILITY system option set to extended, SAS adds a File Menu button and an Edit Menu button to the Customize tab. These buttons enable you to use the keyboard to issue the commands that are available from the File and Edit menus commands.

Using Accessible Properties Dialog Boxes

When the ACCESSIBILITY system option is set to extended, the tabbed pages in some SAS Property dialog boxes are accessible as buttons. You can press Ctrl + Page Up and Ctrl + Page Down to navigate through the Properties dialog box.

Enlarging Icons

To enlarge icons, do the following:
  1. Select Toolsthen selectCustomize
  2. In the Toolbars tab, select Large icons.

Enlarging Fonts

To make text easier to read, you can enlarge the font by using the Font dialog box and the SYSGUIFONT system option.
To open the Font dialog box, enter dlgfont in the command bar or select Toolsthen selectOptionsthen selectFonts. Specify the font size in the Size box and click OK.
To enlarge fonts in button text and the descriptive text, such as the words Contents of SAS Environment in the SAS Explorer window, use the SYSGUIFONT system option either in the configuration file or at the command prompt when you start SAS. The following SAS command uses the Times New Roman font with a font size of 16:
sas -sysguifont "times new roman" 16
Note: You might need to maximize the SAS window in order to allow space for large fonts to be readable.

Enlarging Equations

You can enlarge equations in SAS Help and Documentation that use mathML. Not all equations are encoded using mathML. To determine whether an equation can be enlarged, Right-click the equation. If a menu appears, then you can enlarge the equation.
To enlarge equations, set the Zoom Factor. This action sets the enlargement percentage. Right-click the equation and select Settingsthen selectZoom Factor and select the percentage.
To set the action that triggers the zoom factor, right-click the equation and select Settingsthen selectZoom Trigger and select the trigger.

Improving Access to Menus

Applications that provide custom icons to menu items can impede the readability of menus by accessibility aids. When you specify the NOMENUICONS system option, SAS does not include menu icons for all windows.
You can specify the NOMENUICONS system option in the configuration file, at SAS invocation, or by using the OPTIONS statement:
-MENUICONS | -NOMENUICONS
MENUICONS | NOMENUICONS
MENUICONS
specifies to include icons in menus.
NOMENUICONS
specifies not to include icons in menus.
For example, sas -nomenuicons starts SAS and excludes menu icons. In an OPTIONS statement, you specify
options nomenuicons;

Resizing the Docking View in the Main SAS Window

To resize the docking view by using the keyboard, press Alt + W + S or select Windowthen selectSize Docking View. Alternatively, you can enter wdockviewresize in the command bar.
Use the following keyboard sequences to resize the docking view:
  • Press the right arrow or left arrow to move the split bar slightly to the right or to the left.
  • Press Ctrl + right arrow or Ctrl + left arrow to move the split bar a larger amount to the right or to the left.
  • Press Home to move the split bar completely to the left.
  • Press End to move the split bar completely to the right.
  • Press Enter to accept the docking view size.
  • Press Esc to cancel all docking view resizing.
For more information, see WDOCKVIEWRESIZE Command.

Sorting Window List Views by a Specific Column

When a window contains a list view (such as SAS Explorer), you can sort the list by the detail information that is associated with the list by using the Sort Columns dialog box:
  1. If the window is not already a list, select Viewthen selectList
  2. Enter dlgcolumnsort in the command bar.
  3. Select a column to sort.
  4. Click Sort.
  5. Click Close.
For more information, see DLGCOLUMNSORT Command.

Resizing the Detail Columns of a List View

You can resize the details columns in a List view by using the Column Settings dialog box. You must display the details in order to do this action.
  1. If the window is not already a list, select Viewthen selectList.
  2. If the details are not already displayed, select Viewthen selectDetails.
  3. Enter dlgcolumnsize in the command bar.
  4. Select a column to resize.
  5. Press Tab and enter the pixel width that you want for the column.
  6. Do one of the following:
    • Click Apply to view the changes without closing the dialog box. Once you have finished making your changes, press Enter to close the dialog box.
    • Click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog box.
The columns in the SAS System Options window cannot be resized.
For more information, see DLGCOLUMNSIZE Command.
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