bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/ui/provide-text-meaning-for-semantic-styles.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	ui	style styleexpr favorable unfavorable ambiguous accessibility	al	w1	all

Provide text meaning for semantic styles

Description

Most Business Central page styles are cosmetic, but Favorable, Unfavorable, and Ambiguous communicate meaning through color. Color-only meaning is not accessible. A user who cannot perceive the style must still be able to determine whether the value is positive, negative, or uncertain from the caption, value, or nearby text.

Best Practice

Use semantic styles only when the meaning is independently available: a caption such as "Error", a value such as "Failed", a signed number whose sign carries the meaning, or an adjacent status field. Cosmetic styles such as Strong, Attention, and Subordinate do not need this extra check. Cue tiles inside cuegroup are exempt because the client supplies accessible semantic labels.

See sample: provide-text-meaning-for-semantic-styles.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Applying Style = Favorable, Unfavorable, or Ambiguous to a value whose text is neutral, such as "42" or "Open", without any caption or adjacent field explaining what the color means.

See sample: provide-text-meaning-for-semantic-styles.bad.al.