Background

§1194.21(f) of Section 508 states that:

“Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes.”

Software shall use the functions provided by an operating system when displaying text. Assistive technology, such as screen readers, may have difficulty interpreting text that is output by means other than the standard functionality provided by the operating system. The operating system provides these standard functions for displaying text in order to simplify software development.

The development of assistive technology software relies on the fact that these capabilities will be used. Methods of displaying text, other than using the standard functionality available within the operating system, may be used as long as the textual information is available for retrieval by assistive technology using the operating system functions. If an application uses custom text controls, it is responsible for assuring that the information about the text is available to assistive technology by sending the information through the operating system functions for displaying text.

Select the Next button to find out how to assess whether your application conforms to this provision.