KB-2106 How to report Digital Accessibility barriers
Purpose
Appian empowers you to build applications that are accessible to all users, and validates its product features against the requirements of leading accessibility standards:
- US Federal Government's Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (January 2017 Refresh)
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)'s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA
When you encounter an accessibility barrier in your application, we want to address it. This guide helps you verify and submit issues so our engineering team can reproduce them quickly and deliver effective fixes.
Why we focus on manual validation
Automated accessibility scanners are vital for flagging code-level errors that can break user experiences or lead to compliance gaps, however, scanners focus on structural code while manual testing captures real-world usability. Pairing your automated findings with manual validation will ensure we fix underlying code defects and deliver a seamless human experience.
To ensure our team solves real-world obstacles, we ask that you manually test and confirm the issue before submitting a support case. A true accessibility issue is one that actively blocks or hinders a person from navigating, understanding, or interacting with the page.
How to evaluate user impact
When testing a potential issue, consider whether it creates a barrier for these three key user experiences:
- Blind or Low-Vision users: People using screen readers (like NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver) who rely on accurate button labels, clear structural headings, and logical speech announcements.
- Keyboard-Only users: People with motor disabilities or preferred workflows who rely on the Tab key, clear visual focus indicators, and logical page navigation without getting stuck.
- Visual & Cognitive accommodation users: People who rely on screen magnification, custom text sizing, high-contrast modes, or clear color distinction to read and process information.
Help us build an accessible experience for everyone
You don't need to be an accessibility expert to report a barrier. To help our team investigate and resolve the issue quickly, please share following information:
- Your Setup & Environment: Share your browser & browser version, screen reader (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver) & screen reader versionIf the site is self-managed, please provide the build.info file as well. .
- Expected vs. Actual Behavior: Tell us what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and where the barrier occurred.
- Audio/Video Captures: For screen reader or keyboard issues, include a short video recording with audio showing what was announced or blocked.
- Code & Visual Context: For component or layout issues, attach screenshots and the relevant page SAIL code (with sensitive data removed). For issues which don’t have a displayed end user impact but are related to HTML, please provide a screenshot of the HTML in question.
- Workflow Impact: Let us know how severely this affects your users so our accessibility team can assign the proper fix priority.
(Note: If your team has already identified the relevant WCAG Success Criteria (SC), please include them. If not, simply mark it as "Unknown")
This article applies to all versions of Appian.
Last reviewed: September 2026