Accessibility at Oogle
What we do on this website, what we do on the websites we build, and what we haven't yet verified.
We want everybody to be able to use this website, whatever device or assistive technology they use. This page says what we aim for, what we have done, what we have not done, and how to tell us when something is in your way.
The standard we work toward
We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA as the target for this website and for the websites we build and maintain, wherever that is reasonably achievable. The same decisions that make a site work with a screen reader tend to make it clearer for everybody. So this is not a separate effort bolted on at the end.
What this website does
- Semantic HTML with a single main landmark and a correct heading order on every page
- A skip link to the main content as the first focusable element
- Visible focus indicators on every interactive element, including the navigation panel and the checkup report
- Full keyboard operation: the menus, every form, the website checkup and every row of its report
- Text and interface colors meeting AA contrast on the light, navy and blue grounds, measured rather than assumed
- Real labels on every form field, with errors announced in text, not by color alone
- Alternative text on every meaningful image, with decorative artwork hidden from assistive technology rather than described to it
- Severity in the checkup report carried by a word and a shape as well as a color, so it reads in grayscale and for color-blind readers
- Motion reduced to nothing under
prefers-reduced-motion, including the pixel accents and the scroll effects - Layouts that reflow without horizontal scrolling down to 320 pixels wide and at 200% text zoom
- Core content, every form and the website checkup working with JavaScript disabled
- Lists announced as lists, and the state of the checkup's progress steps given in words as well as in color
How we check it
This site is checked with automated tools on every release. They check heading structure, labels, alternative text, focus order and horizontal overflow, and they measure contrast against the color actually behind the text, at screen widths from 320 pixels up and at 200% text zoom. It is also worked through with a keyboard, and the reduced-motion behavior is measured rather than assumed. When a check finds something, it is fixed before the release goes out. This page is updated when what we test changes.
What we haven't done, and known limits
This website has not had a formal audit by an accessibility specialist. It has not been tested across every screen reader and browser. No automated check finds everything. So this is a statement of what we target and what we test, not a claim of conformance or a certification. When a specialist audit happens, its findings will be listed here.
Two parts of the site are built on third-party software whose markup we do not fully control. The forms are rendered by Gravity Forms. The checkup report is built from whatever the scanned website publishes, including its own page titles and headings. We style and test both, and we fix what we can reach. If either gives you trouble, tell us and we will find another way to get you what you need.
The websites we link to from the Work page are our clients' sites. We build them to the same target, but they change over time under their owners' care. This statement does not cover them.
On the websites we build
Accessibility is part of the build, not a phase at the end. It's cheaper that way, and retrofitting rarely works well. If you have a specific legal obligation, we'll tell you which parts are technical work and which are questions for your own lawyer.
We don't use accessibility overlay widgets. They don't make a site conformant and can interfere with the assistive technology somebody is already using successfully.
Documents
PDFs are often the biggest accessibility problem on an established website. If information can be a web page, it should be. Where a document is genuinely needed, it has to be tagged properly, with an HTML summary alongside it.
Tell us about a problem
If you have trouble using anything on this website, tell us and we'll fix it. A specific report helps more than a general one: the page, what you were trying to do, what happened, and the browser or assistive technology you were using. We respond within one business day.
If something on this site stops you from getting in touch or from reading a checkup report, email or call us. We will give you the same information another way: by email, by phone, or as a plain document.
Accessibility on your site
If you are reading this because you have an obligation of your own, that is work we do: an audit of what is actually wrong, then the fixes, scoped and quoted. We will also tell you which parts are technical work and which are questions for your own lawyer.