Accessibility statement

What we aim for

a11y.world is built to meet WCAG 2.2 at Level AA, and in a few places the site holds itself to more than that: every focus ring is a two-tone ring that passes on every background, every text pair in the palette is checked rather than assumed, and the labs have to pass their own tests.

This is a statement of intent and of what was tested, not a certificate. The known issues below are real.

How the site is built

• Plain HTML pages with a skip link, one h1, landmarks, and headings in order. No client-side routing; every page works with JavaScript disabled, and the labs explain what they do before the script loads.
• One focus rule for every interactive element, using :focus-visible and a two-tone ring. It is the ring the Focus Lab scores twelve of twelve.
• Text contrast of at least 4.5:1 on every surface, in both the light and the dark theme, checked in the Color Lab, which can load either palette as an example. The dark theme follows your system setting.
• Reduced motion removes anything that moves and keeps short fades and color changes, as the note on reduced motion recommends.
• Layouts in relative units, intended to reflow to 320 pixels wide. Zoom is never disabled.
• Every image has an alt attribute. Decorative images use an empty alt. Illustrations drawn for the labs are inline SVG with an accessible name where they carry meaning.
• Lab state is saved only in your browser. Nothing is sent to us unless you use the contact form.

What was tested, and what was not

Tested so far:

• Contrast. Every text and UI pair in the site palette, in the Color Lab, under typical vision and under protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia simulation.
• Focus visibility. The site's focus ring was scored against twelve backgrounds in the Focus Lab, and the mobile navigation's focus handling (move in on open, restore on close, Escape) was checked by hand.
• Structure. Every page was checked for a skip link, one h1, landmarks, headings in order, labels on every form control, and an alt attribute on every image, by reading the built HTML.
• The site's own rules. The 35 rules in the agent ruleset were applied to the site's pages by reading the source.

Not yet tested, and listed under known issues until it is:

• A full keyboard-only pass through every page and every lab.
• Any screen reader. No page has been read with VoiceOver, NVDA, JAWS, or TalkBack yet.
• 400 percent browser zoom and a 320 pixel viewport on every page.
• The system reduce-motion setting.

Known issues

These are open. Each has an issue in the project's tracker, and this list is updated when one is fixed.

• The Color Lab matrix scrolls sideways on narrow screens. It is a data table with one column per color, so two-dimensional scrolling is permitted for it, but it is still harder to use on a phone than it should be.
• The labs are approximations. The screen reader announcements shown in the Alt Text Studio are a model of what common screen readers say, not a recording of any one of them. The Color Lab's APCA numbers use a method that is still changing. The pages say so where it matters.
• No screen reader, full keyboard, zoom, or reduce-motion testing has been done yet. The site was built to the rules above and checked by reading its source and with its own labs, which is not the same as using it with assistive technology. Those passes are the next thing on the list, and this page will say what they found.

Report a problem

If something on this site does not work for you, tell us through the contact form. Say which page, what you were trying to do, and what assistive technology or settings you were using if any. Problems reported this way are fixed before new content is added. There is no other channel; the form is it.

About this statement

This statement follows the structure recommended by the W3C's accessibility statement guidance. It names no people and no institutions by design. It is reviewed whenever a lab or a section of the site changes, and the date at the top is updated when it is.