Configure RTE to create accessible sites configure-rte-accessible-sites

Adobe Experience Manager supports standard accessibility features, such as alternate text for images, and extra features that can be accessed when creating content. Content authors use these features with components that use the rich text editor (RTE). The features includes adding alt-text, structural information through headings and paragraph elements, and so on.

For an understanding of typical configurations of RTE, see configure RTE and configure RTE plug-ins for specific functionality.

Use the RTE plug-ins configuration to configure and customize the accessibility-related features. For example, use paraformat to add extra block level semantic elements, including extending the number of heading levels supported beyond the basic H1, H2 and H3 provided by default. The rich text editing is possible using many components from the authoring user interface. The commonly used components are text, image, download, and so on.

The RTE functionality can be made available in many components. The primary component is the Text component.

For the Text component in Experience Manager, the following screenshot displays the rich text editor with a range of plug-ins enabled, including paraformat:

RTE Text component in full-screen-mode

Configure the plug-in features configuring-the-plugin-features

For instructions to configure RTE, see configure the Rich Text Editor page. The article covers:

To activate a few or all features for a plug-in, configure the plug-in within the appropriate rtePlugins sub-branch in CRXDE Lite.

CRXDE Lite showing an example rtePlugin

Example to specify paragraph formats available in RTE selection field example-specifying-paragraph-formats-available-in-rte-selection-field

New semantic block formats are made available for selection.

  1. Depending on your RTE, determine and navigate to the configuration location.
  2. Enable the paragraphs selection field by activating the plug-in.
  3. Specify the formats you want to have available in the paragraphs selection field.
  4. The paragraph formats are then available to the content author from the selection fields in the RTE.

With structural elements available in the RTE via the paragraph format options, Experience Manager provides a good basis for the development of accessible content. Content authors cannot use the RTE to format font size or colors or other related attributes, preventing the creation of inline formatting. Instead, the authors can select the appropriate structural elements, such as headings and use global styles chosen from the Styles option to ensure clean markup and greater options for users who browse with their own style sheets and correctly structured content.

Use of the Source Edit feature use-of-the-source-edit-feature

In some cases, content authors will find it necessary to examine and adjust the HTML source code created using the RTE. For example, a piece of content created within the RTE may require more markup to ensure compliance with WCAG 2.0. This can be done with the source edit option of the RTE. You can specify the sourceedit feature on the misctools plug-in.

CAUTION
Use the sourceedit feature carefully. Any typing errors and the unsupported features can introduce issues.
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