Accessibility

Accessibility Statement

What we've done, what's still imperfect, and how to reach us

We want this site to be usable by everyone, including people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification or reduced-motion settings. This page sets out what we've done, what we know isn't perfect, and how to tell us if something doesn't work for you.

The standard we aim for

We build towards the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. That's the benchmark most commonly referenced in accessibility law and policy, and it covers the things that actually matter day to day: readable contrast, keyboard access, text alternatives for images, and content that doesn't rely on color or motion alone.

We don't claim full conformance. Claiming it without a formal independent audit would be dishonest, and most sites that display a conformance badge haven't had one either.

What we've done on this site

• Keyboard navigation. Every interactive element — links, buttons, form fields, expandable sections, the map markers, the calculators — can be reached and operated with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus outline.
• Reduced motion. The site respects your operating system's reduce-motion setting. Animations, auto-cycling panels and scroll reveals stop, and content appears immediately instead.
• Text alternatives. Images carry descriptive alt text. Decorative graphics are hidden from assistive technology rather than being read out as noise. Complex illustrations have text descriptions that explain what they show.
• Semantic structure. One H1 per page, headings in logical order, real landmarks, and real HTML elements rather than styled divs pretending to be buttons.
• Color and contrast. Body text and interface elements are checked against WCAG AA contrast ratios. Color is never the only way meaning is conveyed.
• Forms. Every field has a properly associated label. Errors and confirmations are announced to screen readers rather than only appearing visually.
• Live regions. Interactive tools that update results on the page announce those updates to assistive technology.
• Text sizing. Layouts use relative units, so browser zoom and larger default text sizes work without content breaking or being cut off.

Known limitations

Being straight about the gaps is more useful than a badge:

• Some interactive illustrations — the metro map, the before-and-after slider — convey information visually. Each has a text description, but the experience is not equivalent for someone who can't see it.
• The before-and-after comparison slider is operable by mouse and touch. Keyboard operation of the slider itself is limited, though both images have full text descriptions.
• We use Google Fonts, which are loaded from Google's servers. If those fail to load, the site falls back to system fonts and remains fully readable.
• The downloadable PDF checklist has not been formally tagged for accessibility. The same content is available as ordinary web pages, which are accessible.

If any of these blocks you from something you need, call and we'll get you the information directly.

Telling us about a problem

Call 1-800-481-8638. Tell us the page and what happened. We aim to respond within one business day.

We treat accessibility problems as bugs rather than requests. If something is broken we fix it, and we'd rather hear about it than not.

Accessibility on sites we build for clients

The practices above are how we build by default, not an upgrade. Semantic markup, keyboard access, contrast checking, labelled forms and reduced-motion support are part of every site rather than a line item.

Worth knowing if you're commissioning a website: accessibility overlays and widgets — the floating accessibility icons you see on many sites — are widely criticized by disability advocates and do not make an inaccessible site accessible. Building it properly does. We don't sell overlays.