Learn about accessibility to Splunk Enterprise

Splunk is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing its accessibility and usability for users of assistive technology (AT), both in accordance with Section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and in terms of best usability practices. This topic discusses how Splunk addresses accessibility within the product for users of AT.

Accessibility of Splunk Web and the CLI

The Splunk Enterprise command line interface (CLI) is fully accessible, and includes a superset of the functions available in Splunk Web. The CLI is designed for usability for all users, regardless of accessibility needs, and Splunk therefore recommends the CLI for users of AT (specifically users with low or no vision, or mobility restrictions).

Splunk also understands that use of a GUI is occasionally preferred, even for non-sighted users. As a result, Splunk Web is designed with the following accessibility features:

  • Form fields and dialog boxes have on-screen indication of focus, as supported by the Web browser.
  • No additional on-screen focus is implemented for links, buttons or other elements that do not have browser-implemented visual focus.
  • Form fields are consistently and appropriately labeled, and ALT text describes functional elements and images.
  • Splunk Web does not override user-defined style sheets.
  • Data visualizations in Splunk Web have underlying data available via mouse-over or output as a data table, such that information conveyed with color is available without color.
  • Most data tables implemented with HTML use headers and markup to identify data as needed.
  • Data tables presented using Flash visually display headers. Underlying data output in comma separated value (CSV) format have appropriate headers to identify data.

Accessibility and real-time search

Splunk Web does not include any blinking or flashing components. However, using real-time search causes the page to update. Real-time search is easily disabled, either at the deployment or user/role level. For greatest ease and usability, Splunk recommends the use of the CLI with real-time functionality disabled for users of AT (specifically screen readers). See How to restrict usage of real-time search in the Search Manual for details on disabling real-time search.

Keyboard navigation using Firefox and Mac OS X

To enable Tab key navigation in Firefox on Mac OS X, use system preferences instead of browser preferences. To enable keyboard navigation:

  1. In the menu bar, click [Apple icon] > System Preferences > Keyboard to open the Keyboard preferences dialog.
  2. In the Keyboard preferences dialog, click the Keyboard Shortcuts button at the top.
  3. Near the bottom of the dialog, where it says Full Keyboard Access, click the All controls radio button.
  4. Close the Keyboard preferences dialog.
  5. If Firefox is already running, exit and restart the browser.