Cordelia and Adam from Salesforce show how Service Cloud works with screen readers like NVDA. They demonstrate keyboard shortcuts, live chat navigation, and macros that let blind and low-vision agents handle customer cases and create orders without a mouse.
NVDA from NV Access
W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
G then S
Control + Period
Control + S
Hey there. I'm Cordelia and I'm an Accessibility Engineer at Salesforce. Equality is one of our company's core values. What I love about my job is that I can tangibly thread Equality into our products by enabling our teams to build features that everyone across a spectrum of abilities can use. We know there's always room for improvement, but we're committed to providing accessible products for all individuals. Salesforce uses the W3C's web content accessibility Guidelines, the industry standard, as our guide for building universally accessible functionality. Did you know that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than double that of the non disabled population? By creating an accessible platform, we hope to open up more opportunities for people with disabilities to to succeed in their careers. At Salesforce, I primarily focus on the accessibility of Service Cloud products. I'm excited about the role these products can play in empowering people with disabilities to succeed in customer service careers and enabling self service for end users. Our philosophy in Service Cloud is that accessibility isn't a special feature. Instead, we strive to embed it in every feature so no user is left behind. To demonstrate this, my colleague Adam will walk us through an example of a typical agent experience using Service Cloud with a screen reader.
Thanks Cordelia. Today we're going to look at a demo of Service Console using a screen reader and more specifically we're going to look at a screen reader interacting with live chat so that a customer support representative can communicate with their customer. Screen readers are used by people who are unable to read text on screen and most often by those who are blind and visually impaired. A screen reader is a piece of assistive technology which takes that on screen text and outputs it to a synthetic voice and in some instances a braille display. Screen readers also virtualize a webpage so that a user can navigate using more than just their tab key. Users are able to jump to specific types of content such as headings, buttons, checkboxes, and even input fields. Salesforce further assists the user by creating specific keyboard shortcuts so that users can jump to key areas of the screen such as workspace, tabs, and all Lightning Console applications. As I work through the demo, I will call out the different types of navigation that I am using. Today I am using NVDA from NV Access, but the features that make NVDA work should also work for all other screen readers, including Voiceover built into macOS.
Menu button sub menu show actions for this object.
For the purposes of the demo, I have slowed down the rate of speech to a level I hope everyone is able to understand.
Heading Level 3 Button Open WP0300 Preview.
Many screen reader users prefer to increase the rate of speech however, so they can take in as much information as quickly as possible.
Contact Details Link Heading Level Product orders for parent contact 2 link heading list with 2 items wp0300 link heading level.
We have also added visual highlighting so that you can follow the screen reader's position visually. First I'm going to use Screen Reader navigation to find the Accept Chat button.
List with 1 items accept chat transcript000 the chat visitor is typing. I just broke my glasses in a campfire accident. Can you help me get a replacement?
Then I'll look for the Edit field.
Type a message Edit Multiline sure thing. Let me check on that for you.
Now I'm again going to use Screen Reader navigation to move down to the heading for Product orders tabs.
Heading Level 2 Contact Details link heading Level 2 Product Orders for Parent Contact 2 link heading Level 2 and explore what is here. Product Product Link Grazing Gazelle Product Category Eyeglasses Status completed Out of List Menu Button Sub menu Show More Heading Level 3Link WP0303List with 3 items Product Link 1 Year Warranty Now I will use.
Screen Editor navigation to move back up to the Chat field.
Type a message Edit Multiline I'll now.
Press Control Period to bring up the Quick Text dialog.
Create Quick text Change view and arrow.
Down to the response.
When an item is selected, a preview is displayed. To execute an item, press enter confirmation wrap up 1 of 6 confirm address for warranty replacement 2 of 6 document type A message hi Appy. I'm sorry to hear about your glasses. Good news is you have full lost or damaged coverage so I can get a new pair sent your way. I see here that Your address is 415 Mission Street, San Francisco, California. Is this still the best location to ship your new glasses? The chat visitor is typing yes, that's correct. Dialog Create Quick Text Change view confirmation wrap up 2 of 6 document type a message Great. I'm processing these details now. A confirmation email will be sent to you in just a couple moments. Anything else I can help you with today? The chat visitor is typing no, that's it. Thank you. Chat ended by Appy Bullet 2, 39 and 54pm Now I'm going to update.
Appy's case and create a new order. First I'm going to use a Salesforce keyboard shortcut G then S to navigate to the sub tabs for the case.
Contact Appy B Tab selected Press spacebar To reorder case 0000-2934 tab selected press spacebar to reorder I can switch tabs.
By using my left and right arrow keys. I'll use my screen reader Find Command.
Find dialog Type the text you wish.
To to look for Product Order button.
Edit Product Order Document list I'll down.
Arrow to the product I want and.
Press enter Product Order WP 03001 of 3 Application List Product Order WP 0300 Additional Information Button Expanded Heading Level 3 List with 11 items New Menu Button Sub menu required Status Now I'm going.
To tab to case origin and select.
Web none menu button Sub menu required Case Origin None Radio Menu Item Check none 1 of 7 Email Radio Menu Item Email 2 of 7 Phone Radio Menu Item Phone 3 of 7 Web Radio Menu Item Web 4 of 7.
I'll hit Control S to save the.
Case 00002934 Salesforce document now we want.
To kick off a macro. I can find that by hitting the letter m search macros and down arrow to the one that I want list.
To navigate this list, use the arrow keys. Create new order plus resolve case 1.
Of 17 this macro is an automated process which will create an order, send a confirmation email to the customer, and finally resolve the case Tab Control Feed.
Tab selected feed 2 of 3 tab control email tab email 4 of 6 selected email body email body frame press alt 0 for help success Email sent.
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