Accessibility

The standard we aim for

We aim for level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, the W3C's standard for accessible web pages. Each review of the site tests its pages against it, with the keyboard alone and with automated checks, and we work through what the reviews find. We do not yet claim that every page meets it.

What the site does

Every page is built to work with a keyboard and a screen reader: what has the focus carries an outline, every field is labeled, every photograph described, and a tool's new answer is read out. The site opens in its dark theme, and the switch at the top of each page, or in the menu on a phone, turns it light. Text can be enlarged with the browser's zoom to 400 percent, and the pages fit the window without running off its side.

What does not work well yet

• The sign-up, sign-in and request forms need JavaScript for their spam check, which is Cloudflare's. Without it those forms cannot be sent; the unsubscribe form on the privacy page has no check and works without it. When the check asks for a click, its box is Cloudflare's, and we cannot change how it works. In either case the support page gives our email address.
• At high zoom, the bar at the foot of a tool page that shows its answer still covers a strip of the page.
• Some of the sources the pages link to are PDF files on other sites, which may not read well with a screen reader and which we cannot change.

Report a barrier

If something on the site gets in your way, please tell us. Use the support form, which opens with Accessibility chosen as the topic. Say which page it was, what you were trying to do and what happened. It helps to name your browser and any screen reader or other tool you use. The form goes straight to the nursery, and we reply by email.