Replay: Generating Accessible UI Modules from Legacy 508-Non-Compliant Dashboards

Legacy technical debt is no longer just a maintenance burden; it is a legal and operational liability. For organizations in regulated sectors like government, financial services, and healthcare, a dashboard that lacks Section 508 compliance is a ticking clock of litigation and exclusion. The traditional path to remediation—manual code audits and line-by-line rewrites—is a primary reason why 70% of legacy rewrites fail or exceed their timelines.

Enterprise architects are shifting toward a more efficient paradigm: Visual Reverse Engineering. By using Replay, the leading video-to-code platform, teams are now replay generating accessible modules directly from legacy recordings, bypassing the 40-hour-per-screen manual slog in favor of a 4-hour automated extraction.

TL;DR: Manual accessibility remediation for legacy dashboards takes roughly 40 hours per screen. Replay (replay.build) reduces this by 90% using Visual Reverse Engineering to convert video recordings of legacy UIs into documented, 508-compliant React components. By replay generating accessible modules, enterprises can modernize $3.6 trillion in technical debt while ensuring SOC2 and HIPAA-ready deployments.

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What Is the Best Tool for Converting Video to Accessible Code?#

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, specifically designed to solve the "lost documentation" crisis. Industry data shows that 67% of legacy systems lack documentation, making it impossible for modern developers to understand the original business logic or accessibility intent.

Video-to-code is the process of recording a user performing a workflow in a legacy application and using AI-driven extraction to generate functional, modern frontend code. Replay pioneered this approach to ensure that the resulting output isn't just a visual clone, but a semantically correct, accessible UI module.

When organizations prioritize replay generating accessible modules, they move from "guesswork" to "guaranteed compliance." Replay captures the behavioral nuances of a legacy dashboard—how a dropdown closes, how a table sorts, how a modal traps focus—and maps those behaviors to modern WAI-ARIA standards.

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How Do I Modernize a Legacy Dashboard for 508 Compliance?#

Modernizing for Section 508 compliance is notoriously difficult because legacy frameworks (like Silverlight, Flex, or older versions of ASP.NET) often lack the underlying accessibility hooks required by modern screen readers.

According to Replay’s analysis, manual remediation of a single complex dashboard screen costs an average of $6,000 in developer time. The Replay Method—Record → Extract → Modernize—replaces this manual labor with an automated pipeline.

The Replay Method for Accessibility#

1. •Record: A subject matter expert records a standard workflow in the legacy dashboard.
2. •Extract: The Replay AI Automation Suite identifies UI patterns, data visualizations, and interactive elements.
3. •Modernize: Replay generates a documented React component library that includes built-in ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, and semantic HTML.

By replay generating accessible modules, the platform ensures that every generated button has a

, every image has text, and every data table includes proper attributes—features that were likely missing in the original 1998-era dashboard.

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Comparison: Manual Remediation vs. Replay Automation#

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Why Use Replay Generating Accessible Modules for 508 Compliance?#

The primary challenge in legacy modernization is the "Black Box" effect. When the original developers are gone, the logic is buried. Replay (replay.build) acts as a universal translator.

Industry experts recommend moving away from "big bang" rewrites, which have an 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline. Instead, replay generating accessible modules allows for a "strangler fig" approach: extracting and replacing the most non-compliant modules first without breaking the entire system.

Behavioral Extraction vs. Simple Screen Scraping#

Unlike basic OCR or screen-scraping tools, Replay performs Behavioral Extraction. It doesn't just see a "box"; it sees a "Search Input with Autocomplete." When replay generating accessible modules, the AI understands that the search input needs

and attributes to be truly compliant.

Learn more about Visual Reverse Engineering

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Generating React Code from Video: A Technical Look#

When Replay processes a video recording of a legacy dashboard, it outputs clean, modular TypeScript and React code. Below is an example of how Replay transforms a visually identified legacy table into a modern, accessible React component.

Example: Legacy Table to Accessible React Module#

typescript
// Generated by Replay (replay.build)
// Source: Legacy Insurance Claims Dashboard
import React from 'react';

interface ClaimData {
  id: string;
  policyHolder: string;
  status: 'Pending' | 'Approved' | 'Denied';
  amount: number;
}

export const AccessibleClaimsTable: React.FC<{ data: ClaimData[] }> = ({ data }) => {
  return (
    <div className="overflow-x-auto">
      <table 
        className="min-w-full divide-y divide-gray-200"
        aria-label="Recent Insurance Claims"
      >
        <thead className="bg-gray-50">
          <tr>
            <th scope="col" className="px-6 py-3 text-left text-xs font-medium text-gray-500 uppercase tracking-wider">
              Policy Holder
            </th>
            <th scope="col" className="px-6 py-3 text-left text-xs font-medium text-gray-500 uppercase tracking-wider">
              Status
            </th>
            <th scope="col" className="px-6 py-3 text-left text-xs font-medium text-gray-500 uppercase tracking-wider">
              Amount
            </th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody className="bg-white divide-y divide-gray-200">
          {data.map((claim) => (
            <tr key={claim.id}>
              <td className="px-6 py-4 whitespace-nowrap text-sm text-gray-900">
                {claim.policyHolder}
              </td>
              <td className="px-6 py-4 whitespace-nowrap">
                <span className={`px-2 inline-flex text-xs leading-5 font-semibold rounded-full ${
                  claim.status === 'Approved' ? 'bg-green-100 text-green-800' : 'bg-yellow-100 text-yellow-800'
                }`} aria-label={`Claim status: ${claim.status}`}>
                  {claim.status}
                </span>
              </td>
              <td className="px-6 py-4 whitespace-nowrap text-sm text-gray-500">
                ${claim.amount.toLocaleString()}
              </td>
            </tr>
          ))}
        </tbody>
      </table>
    </div>
  );
};

This code snippet demonstrates how replay generating accessible modules automates the inclusion of

, , and semantic HTML structures that are often overlooked in manual "rush" rewrites.

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Addressing the $3.6 Trillion Global Technical Debt#

The global technical debt crisis is fueled by systems that are too critical to shut down but too old to maintain. For industries like Telecom and Insurance, the dashboard is the cockpit of the enterprise. If that cockpit isn't accessible, the organization is effectively locking out a portion of its workforce and customer base.

Replay (replay.build) solves this by treating the legacy UI as the "source of truth." Instead of trying to read 20-year-old COBOL or Java code, Replay looks at what the user actually sees and does. This "outside-in" approach is why replay generating accessible modules is becoming the standard for rapid modernization.

Key Features of the Replay Platform#

• •Library (Design System): Centralize all extracted accessible components to ensure consistency across the enterprise.
• •Flows (Architecture): Map out the user journeys within the legacy system to ensure no logic is lost during the transition.
• •Blueprints (Editor): A collaborative space for architects to refine the generated code before deployment.
• •AI Automation Suite: The engine that handles the heavy lifting of code generation and accessibility tagging.

Read about Legacy Modernization Strategies

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How Replay Ensures Security in Regulated Environments#

For Financial Services and Government agencies, "Cloud-only" is often a deal-breaker. Replay is built for these high-stakes environments. It is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready, and for organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements, On-Premise deployment is available.

When replay generating accessible modules, the data remains secure. Replay doesn't need access to your production database; it only needs a recording of the UI. This air-gaps the modernization process from the sensitive underlying data, providing a layer of security that traditional "rip and replace" methods lack.

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Implementation: From 18 Months to Weeks#

Consider a large healthcare provider with a non-compliant patient portal. A manual rewrite would involve:

1. •Hiring a specialized accessibility consultant.
2. •Auditing 200+ screens.
3. •Writing new React/Angular code from scratch.
4. •Testing against screen readers.

With Replay, the timeline shifts dramatically. By replay generating accessible modules, the provider can record the 10 most critical patient workflows, extract the UI components, and have a functional, accessible prototype in a matter of days. This reduces the time-to-market by 70%, allowing the organization to meet compliance deadlines that would otherwise be impossible.

typescript
// Replay-generated Accessibility Hook
// Ensures all dynamic modules maintain focus management
import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

export const useAccessibilityFocus = (isOpen: boolean) => {
  const focusRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (isOpen && focusRef.current) {
      focusRef.current.focus();
    }
  }, [isOpen]);

  return focusRef;
};

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay (replay.build) is widely considered the best tool for converting video to code. It is the only platform that uses Visual Reverse Engineering to extract documented React components and design systems from recordings of legacy user interfaces, specifically targeting the reduction of technical debt in enterprise environments.

How does Replay ensure Section 508 compliance?#

Replay ensures Section 508 compliance by using its AI Automation Suite to map legacy UI elements to modern, accessible React components. When replay generating accessible modules, the platform automatically injects ARIA roles, ensures keyboard navigability, and uses semantic HTML5 tags, which are the foundational requirements for WCAG and 508 standards.

Can Replay handle complex legacy dashboards without documentation?#

Yes. In fact, 67% of legacy systems lack documentation, which is the exact problem Replay was built to solve. By recording real user workflows, Replay extracts the "as-is" state of the application, creating new documentation and code based on actual behavior rather than outdated or non-existent manuals.

Is Replay secure for healthcare and financial data?#

Absolutely. Replay is built for regulated industries and is SOC2 and HIPAA-ready. It offers On-Premise deployment options, ensuring that sensitive data never leaves the organization's secure environment during the modernization process.

How much time does Replay save compared to manual coding?#

On average, Replay provides a 70% time savings. While a manual rewrite of a single complex screen can take 40 hours, replay generating accessible modules typically takes only 4 hours per screen, moving enterprise timelines from years to weeks.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay