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Accessibility in Adobe XD

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  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's new in Adobe XD
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. Color Management
    5. System requirements
      1. Hardware and software requirements
      2. Adobe XD, Big Sur, and Apple silicon | macOS 11
    6. Workspace basics
    7. Change app language in Adobe XD
    8. Access UI design kits
    9. Accessibility in Adobe XD
    10. Keyboard shortcuts
    11. Tips and tricks
  3. Design
    1. Artboards, guides, and layers
      1. Get started with artboards
      2. Use guides and grids
      3. Create scrollable artboards
      4. Work with layers
      5. Create scroll groups
    2. Shapes, objects, and path
      1. Select, resize, and rotate objects
      2. Move, align, distribute, and arrange objects
      3. Group, lock, duplicate, copy, and flip objects
      4. Set stroke, fill, and drop shadow for objects
      5. Create repeating elements
      6. Create perspective designs with 3D transforms
      7. Edit objects using Boolean operations
    3. Text and fonts
      1. Work with drawing and text tools
      2. Fonts in Adobe XD
    4. Components and states
      1. Work with components
      2. Work with nested components
      3. Add multiple states to components
    5. Masking and effects
      1. Create a mask with shapes
      2. Work with blur effects
      3. Create and modify gradients
      4. Apply blend effects
    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
    9. Create anchor links
    10. Create hyperlinks
    11. Preview designs and prototypes
  5. Share, export, and review
    1. Share selected artboards
    2. Share designs and prototypes
    3. Set access permissions for links
    4. Work with prototypes
    5. Review prototypes
    6. Work with design specs
    7. Share design specs
    8. Inspect design specs
    9. Navigate design specs
    10. Review and comment design specs
    11. Export design assets
    12. Export and download assets from design specs
    13. Group sharing for enterprise
    14. Back up or transfer XD assets
  6. Design systems
    1. Design systems with Creative Cloud Libraries
    2. Work with document assets in Adobe XD
    3. Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in Adobe XD
    4. Migrate from linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries
    5. Work with design tokens 
    6. Use assets from Creative Cloud Libraries
  7. Cloud documents
    1. Cloud documents in Adobe XD
    2. Collaborate and coedit designs
    3. Coedit documents shared with you
  8. Integrations and plugins
    1. Work with external assets
    2. Work with design assets from Photoshop
    3. Copy and paste assets from Photoshop
    4. Import or open Photoshop designs
    5. Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD
    6. Open or import Illustrator designs
    7. Copy vectors from Illustrator to XD
    8. Plugins for Adobe XD
    9. Create and manage plugins
    10. Jira integration for XD
    11. Slack plugin for XD
    12. Zoom plug-in for XD
    13. Publish design from XD to Behance
  9. XD for iOS and Android
    1. Preview on mobile devices
    2. Adobe XD on mobile FAQ
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. Known and fixed issues
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
    2. Installation and updates
      1. XD appears as not compatible on Windows
      2. Error code 191
      3. Error code 183
      4. Issues installing XD plugins
      5.  Prompt to uninstall and reinstall XD on Windows 10
      6. Issues with preferences migration
    3. Launch and crash
      1.  XD crashes when launched on Windows 10
      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
      4. Blocked-app warning when launching  XD on Windows
      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export

Learn about features that help create accessible designs, and also that make XD inclusive and accessible for designers with various abilities.

Accessibility features in XD make it readily usable for users with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive abilities.

XD aims to conform to the AA success criteria for accessibility as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium WCAG 2.1 guidelines. 

Read on to know more about the various accessibility features in XD.

Use macOS Voice Control to design and prototype in XD

Use the macOS Voice Control to access some of the basic core design features of XD, including drawing tools, layers, properties in the Property Inspector, and the XD application menus. For example, you can say, 'Click Layer one', 'Select All' and 'Click Distribute Horizontally' to activate a layer on the canvas, select all the objects within that layer, and distribute them horizontally on the canvas.

For more information about using Voice Control in XD, see the Adobe blog post on macOS Voice Control in Adobe XD.  

Say the following voice commands and have them translate into the corresponding editing operations that you would normally perform using the traditional input devices.

Voice commands on MAC
Select Margin Type
 Apply Blur 
Rectangle
 Link Margins
 Blur Opacity 
Pen
 Margin Top
 Blur Type
Ellipse
 Margin Right
 Point X
Polygon 
 Margin Bottom
 Point Y
Line Margin Left
 Distribute Vertically
Text Corner Count
 Distribute Horizontally
Artboard Corner Radius
 Add Selection
Zoom Star Ratio
 Subtract Selection
Assets Opacity
 Intersect Selection
Plugins Opacity (Slider)
 Blur Brightness
Layers Show Grid
 Blur Brightness (Slider)
Align Horizontally
 Align Vertically
 Align Top
Align Bottom
 Align Left
 Align Right
Grid Color
 Grid Column Color
 Grid Columns
Grid Gutter Width
 Grid Column Width
 Grid Square Size

Create accessible designs using voice and playback

Voice capabilities in XD enable you to design and prototype using voice commands. For more information, see Design voice prototypes.

Voice triggers and playback

The audio playback feature in XD comes handy if you are looking to add sound effects to your prototypes. For example, audio confirmation after the successful delivery of an email. For more information on audio playback, see Add a playback to a prototype.

Use keyboard for navigation

You can use the keyboard shortcuts in Adobe XD to navigate through specific desktop elements and UI controls in XD.
However, XD does not fully support keyboard accessibility. For example, in Prototype mode, you must first place your keyboard focus on a UI element in the Property Inspector, and then navigate through the UI controls using the Tab key. 

Support for text readability and color contrast

XD supports users with limited vision. The UI elements in XD are placed in a high-contrasting background to make it easy to view the text and icons.

Use XD plugins for creating accessible designs

If you want to develop an inclusive design, there are various Adobe XD plugins to help you test your design for inclusiveness. Check out the color blindness and color contrast plugins that let you simulate forms of color-blindness and check color contrast.

Create responsive resize for multiple devices

When designing for multiple devices and platforms, it's important to create a seamless experience for screen sizes across mobile, tablet, and desktop resolutions. 

If you want to design for multiple screen sizes, XD supports a feature called responsive resize that lets you resize objects while maintaining spatial relationships at different sizes to best adapt to multiple screen sizes. For more information, see Responsive resize and constraints.

Work in your preferred language

XD is available across platforms in multiple languages so you can collaborate across operating systems, preview your experiences across devices, and work in the language you prefer. Supported languages include English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish. For more information on switching app language in XD, see how to switch app language.

Set accessibility preferences in OS

XD supports accessibility features in Mac and Windows. You can use System Preferences settings in your Operating System, and the settings will be reflected in the XD workspace.

Adobe XD continues to focus on accessibility and plans to improve the current capabilities as it evolves. 

To learn more about solutions for people with hearing, vision, speech, mobility, and cognitive disabilities, visit the Adobe XD Accessibility conformance reports as follows:

Adobe XD accessibility conformance report for Web

Adobe XD accessibility conformance report for Windows

Adobe XD accessibility conformance report for macOS

 Adobe

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