Accessibility

TNC FlipBook 3D is designed so that visitors using a keyboard, screen reader, voice control, or other assistive technologies can read your FlipBooks comfortably. The plugin meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards out of the box, with no configuration required.

This article covers what's available, who benefits, the keyboard shortcuts, RTL support, and how to test for issues.

Where accessibility settings live

Under FlipBooks → Settings → Accessibility — every accessibility feature can be toggled there. For details on each toggle, see Accessibility Defaults.

This article focuses on what visitors get (rather than admin configuration).

What's enabled by default

You don't have to configure anything. Out of the box, your FlipBooks include:

Skip Links

Keyboard users can press Tab and immediately see "Skip to FlipBook" and "Skip to Toolbar" links at the top of the page. Pressing Enter jumps them straight to the FlipBook — they don't have to tab through your entire site header.

Skip links are invisible until focused (so visitors using a mouse never see them).

Full Keyboard Navigation

Every action available via the toolbar is also available via the keyboard. Visitors can:

  • Flip pages with arrow keys.
  • Open and navigate sidebars (search, thumbnails, bookmarks).
  • Zoom, search, share, print, fullscreen — all without a mouse.

Visible Focus Indicators

When a reader tabs through buttons and links, the focused element shows a clear focus ring (a colored outline around it). This is critical for keyboard users to know where they are.

Screen Reader Announcements

Page changes, mode switches, and other actions announce themselves via ARIA live regions. Screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack) read these announcements aloud automatically.

Examples:

  • "Page 5 of 24"
  • "Zoom level 150%"
  • "Reading mode entered"
  • "Toolbar collapsed"

Reduced Motion Respect

When a reader has the OS-level "Reduce motion" preference on, the FlipBook honors it:

  • The 3D Page Flip animation is replaced with a gentle fade.
  • Transitions are shortened.
  • Animations like tilt and rotation are suppressed.

This is critical for visitors with vestibular disorders, motion sensitivity, or chronic migraines.

High Contrast Mode

The FlipBook detects the OS-level "Increase contrast" preference and boosts contrast accordingly. Focus rings become thicker; UI element colors shift to higher-contrast variants.

Can also be toggled at runtime via the High Contrast Toggle button in the More menu.

Keyboard Shortcuts Help Panel

Press ? and a panel opens listing every keyboard shortcut. Press ? or Esc to close.

This makes shortcuts discoverable — readers don't have to memorize them.

All keyboard shortcuts

Readers can use these keys to navigate without ever touching a mouse:

Action

Press

Next page

→ (Right arrow)

Previous page

← (Left arrow)

First page

Home

Last page

End

Zoom in

Ctrl/Cmd + +

Zoom out

Ctrl/Cmd + -

Reset zoom

Ctrl/Cmd + 0

Focus search

/

Toggle fullscreen

f

Reading mode

r

Show all shortcuts

?

Close popup / exit modal

Esc

Tab between focusable elements

Tab

Tab backward

Shift + Tab

Activate focused button

Enter or Space

Shortcuts work whether the corresponding toolbar button is shown or hidden — disabling a button only hides the visible control, not the underlying feature.

Right-to-left (RTL) language support

For visitors using right-to-left languages, the viewer automatically rearranges itself:

  • Toolbar items run from right to left.
  • Sidebars open from the right side.
  • Page-turn direction reverses — the right-hand page is page 1.
  • First/Last arrows swap appropriately.
  • Keyboard shortcuts stay logical — the Left/Right arrows correspond to "previous"/"next" regardless of language direction.

Supported RTL languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto, Sindhi, Yiddish, Sorani, Uyghur.

You don't toggle RTL manually — picking one of these languages enables it. See Internationalization for setup.

Two notes about PDFs and 3D mode

Tagged PDFs work best with screen readers

If your source PDF was authored without proper accessibility tagging, screen readers can't read the text inside it.

Fix: re-save the PDF as a Tagged PDF in Adobe Acrobat (File → Save As Other → Tagged PDF, or use the Accessibility wizard). For PDFs without source files, OCR + tagging via Acrobat is the best workflow.

If you're authoring a PDF from a Word document or Google Doc, exporting as "Tagged PDF" (the default option in most tools) gives you accessible PDFs automatically.

3D mode is visually rich but doesn't expose page text to screen readers

The 3D Page Flip renders pages as canvas textures (essentially images). Screen readers can't read text inside canvas elements.

Fix for readers: the viewer offers a Vertical or Single Page view mode in the toolbar. Screen reader users can switch to those modes for accessible reading — they expose the underlying PDF text directly.

Recommendation: make sure the Single Page toolbar button is enabled (it's on by default) so readers can switch view modes when needed.

Testing your FlipBook's accessibility

Quick test (anyone can do in 5 minutes)

  1. Open the FlipBook.
  2. Put your mouse aside — don't touch it.
  3. Use only the keyboard:
    • Tab through the toolbar.
    • Open sidebars (search, thumbnails).
    • Flip pages with arrow keys.
    • Open and close popups.
    • Toggle fullscreen with f.
  4. If you can do everything without a mouse, you pass the basic check.

Thorough test (15 minutes)

Install the free axe DevTools browser extension. Open the page containing your FlipBook, click the axe extension, and run the scan. Fix anything in the Critical or Serious category. (The plugin's built-in features pass automated audits; this catches integration issues with your theme or surrounding page content.)

Screen reader test

Install a screen reader (free options: NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS, TalkBack on Android). Open the FlipBook and confirm:

  • The FlipBook is announced as a region with a clear name.
  • Toolbar buttons have descriptive labels.
  • Page changes are announced.
  • Focus order is logical (no jumps from the header to the footer and back).
  • Form fields (if any) have labels.

Accessibility statement template

If you publish FlipBooks for an organization that requires an accessibility statement, you can include text like this on your site:

"This site uses TNC FlipBook 3D for digital book reading. The viewer supports keyboard navigation, screen reader announcements, focus indicators, reduced motion preferences, and high contrast mode. It meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards. For accessibility-related issues, please contact [your support address]."

Reporting issues

If you find an accessibility issue in your FlipBook:

  1. Reproduce the issue (specific steps).
  2. Note the browser, screen reader (if applicable), and version.
  3. Contact support with the details.

We treat accessibility regressions as high-priority bugs.

Custom accessibility additions

If your accessibility needs go beyond what's built in, you can:

  • Override colors via Custom CSS for high-contrast variants matched to your brand.
  • Hook into the JavaScript event system (developer reference) to add screen-reader announcements for custom interactions.
  • Use the aria-label filters in the developer API to override button labels per FlipBook.

See Developer Reference for the developer API.

Troubleshooting

Focus indicators don't appear. Your theme is overriding focus rings. Inspect with browser dev tools — look for outline: none; on FlipBook elements. Override in your custom CSS with outline: revert;.

Screen reader doesn't announce page changes.

  • Confirm Screen Reader Announcements is on in Settings → Accessibility.
  • Confirm the screen reader is in browse mode (not focus mode).
  • For VoiceOver users: VO+U cycles through the page; the FlipBook's announcements are in the live region list.

Reduced motion isn't applied.

  • Confirm the OS-level "Reduce motion" preference is on (System Settings → Accessibility).
  • Restart the browser after changing the OS preference.

Tabbing through controls feels endless. The Skip Links should let visitors skip directly to the FlipBook or toolbar. Use them. If they're not appearing, confirm Skip Links is enabled in Settings → Accessibility.

Search doesn't return results that screen readers can hear. Search results are announced as a count ("3 results found"). Each result is focusable; pressing Enter jumps to it. If announcements aren't working, confirm Screen Reader Announcements is on.

Next steps

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