Guideline 7:
Observe operating environment conventions

Observe operating environment conventions for the user agent user interface, documentation, input configurations, and installation.

Part of user agent accessibility involves following the conventions of the user's operating environment, including:

• following operating environment conventions for user agent user interface design, documentation, and installation.
• incorporating operating environment-level user preferences into the user agent. For instance, some operating systems include settings that allow users to request high-contrast colors (for users with low vision) or graphical rendering of audio cues (for users with hearing disabilities).

Following operating environment conventions also increases predictability for users and for developers of assistive technologies. These guidelines explain what users will expect from the look and feel of the user interface, keyboard conventions, and documentation. These guidelines also include information about accessibility features that the user agent should adopt rather than reimplement.

The chapter on conformance explains more on the use of operating environment features as part of conformance.