Accessibility in TRIOPilot

Everyone uses the same TRIOPilot pages. There is no separate accessibility mode or version to turn on. This article lists what works today with a keyboard, a screen reader and zoom, what does not work yet, what admins control on their own pages, and how to report a problem.

TRIOPilot has not yet been formally evaluated against an accessibility standard such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA, and no accessibility conformance report (VPAT) has been published. If your college's accessibility office has questions, they can email support@triopilot.com.

Use TRIOPilot With a Keyboard

• Move around. Tab and Shift+Tab move between links, buttons and fields. The control you are on shows an outline or a colored ring, so you can see where you are.
• Sign in. TRIOPilot emails you a sign-in code, so there is no password to remember, and you can paste the code into the Sign-In Code box. See Getting Started With TRIOPilot.
• Confirm or cancel. When TRIOPilot asks you to confirm something, such as a delete, the keyboard focus moves into the message and starts on the safe choice, usually Cancel. Tab stays inside the message until you answer, and Esc cancels and returns you to where you were.
• Menus. Menus such as More Actions on a student's profile, the bulk action menus on the Students page and the field list in an advanced filter move the keyboard focus into the menu when they open. Esc closes a menu and returns you to its button.
• Profile tabs. On a student's profile, the Left and Right arrow keys move between the tabs, and Home and End jump to the first and last tab.
• Documents. When you choose View on a document, Tab stays inside the viewer, the Left and Right arrow keys move between files when there is more than one, and Esc closes the viewer and returns you to View.
• Share Feedback. Esc closes the Share Feedback window and keeps what you typed.

Rearrange Without Dragging

Everything you can drag in the Application Builder and the profile layout also works from the keyboard:

• Questions: Tab to a question's drag handle, press Space to pick it up, move it with the Up and Down arrow keys, then press Space to drop it, or Esc to cancel.
• Answer choices: use Move Up and Move Down. The focus stays on the moved answer, so you can press again. See Reorder Answer Choices.
• Profile layout: every card and field has a Move button that does the same moves with menu choices. A screen reader announces what you picked up, what it is over and where it lands. See Arrange the Profile Layout.

Use TRIOPilot With a Screen Reader

• Fields have names. On the sign-in page and the application form, each field is tied to its label, so a screen reader reads the label when you reach the field. On the application form, a question's wording is its field's name, each choice is read with its own label, and required questions are announced as required.
• No spelled-out capitals. TRIOPilot never sets words in capital letters with styling, so a screen reader does not spell labels letter by letter.
• Messages and steps on the application form. On a form split into pages, Next announces a required answer you missed and moves the focus to it, or moves the focus to the next page's heading. The step list says which step you are on. A file the form cannot take is announced with the reason.
• Sorted columns. A column header you can sort, such as those on the Students list, says whether it is sorted and in which direction.
• The phone menu. On a phone, the menu button tells a screen reader whether the menu is open.
• Other languages. When an applicant fills out your form in another language, the form marks that language, so a screen reader can read it in that language. Arabic is shown right to left.

Zoom, Text Size and Color

• Zoom is never turned off. Pinch to zoom on a phone, or use your browser's zoom on a computer.
• Phones. On a touch phone, text fields use text at least 16 pixels high, so your phone does not zoom in when you tap one, and standard buttons are 44 pixels tall, so they are easier to tap.
• Your program's colors. TRIOPilot adjusts the shades of your program's Color Scheme so that button text, links and sidebar text meet the WCAG AA contrast ratio, and the Color Scheme card shows a note if a pairing still falls short. Body text stays dark gray in every scheme. See Find Your Way Around Program Settings.

Work at Your Own Pace

TRIOPilot does not sign you out when you have been idle, so you can take as long as you need on a page. One thing does expire: an applicant's invitation to book an appointment works for about two hours, in the tab they applied from. See What Applicants See.

Known Limitations

• A signature must be drawn. The signature question on the application form needs a mouse, a finger or a stylus; there is no way to sign with the keyboard yet. If an applicant cannot draw a signature, a staff member who can add students can enter the application with Add New Student on the Students page, which leaves signature questions out because staff cannot sign for an applicant, and attach the applicant's signed paper form. See Add a Student by Hand.
• Positioning a profile photo needs a mouse or a finger. In the Position Your Photo window, the Zoom slider works with the arrow keys, and Save Photo keeps the photo centered, but moving the photo inside the circle needs dragging. Esc does not close this window: choose Cancel. See Add a Profile Photo.
• No Skip to Main Content link yet. On a computer, the sidebar's links come before each page's content, so you Tab through them first. On a phone, the closed menu is skipped.
• Not tested end to end yet. Nobody has yet tested the whole product with only a keyboard or with a screen reader, so other problems may exist. Please report any you find.

For Admins: Keep Your Own Pages Accessible

Some of what applicants and students see is content you write, and how you write it matters:

• Application questions. A screen reader reads a question's wording as the name of its answer box, so write each question so that it makes sense on its own. See Build Your Application Form.
• The signature question. Whether it is Required is your choice in the Application Builder. A required signature stops an applicant who cannot draw one, so tell your staff how to help them (see Known Limitations).
• Languages. Offer the languages your applicants read. See Translations Are Automatic.
• Homepage pictures. In the Homepage Builder's Image block, describe the picture in Alt Text, so a screen reader can say what it shows. Leave it empty only when the picture is decoration. See Edit Your Homepage.
• Homepage colors. The Homepage Builder does not measure contrast. A Text Section with a Background Color and no Text Color picks dark or white text for you, and so does the Hero Banner button when you set its Button Color. Anywhere else you choose a color, make sure the text stands out strongly from what is behind it.
• Your program's Color Scheme. If the Color Scheme card says Check readability, choose a different brand color.

Report an Accessibility Problem

If part of TRIOPilot does not work with your keyboard, screen reader, zoom or other assistive technology, tell us. We treat it as a defect to fix, not as a feature request.

• Staff: choose Share Feedback at the bottom of the sidebar (on a phone, open the menu first), pick Report an Issue, and describe the problem. Say which page you were on, what you were trying to do and what you use, for example "keyboard only", "NVDA with Firefox" or "browser zoom at 200 percent". TRIOPilot attaches the technical details automatically, along with your name and email so we can reply. You get an email confirming that we have your report.
• Applicants, students and anyone else: email support@triopilot.com. Applicants are not signed in, so the application form has no Share Feedback button. If an applicant tells you about a problem, report it for them, and help them apply another way in the meantime (see Known Limitations).
• If Share Feedback does not work for you, email support@triopilot.com instead.

What Happens After You Report

Every report is read and recorded in our task list, and it stays there until it is resolved. When the fix is live, we reply to tell you what changed and where to find it.