What we build to, and what is still weak.

The target

WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Not as an aspiration: contrast on this site is measured with a script rather than eyeballed, and the build fails if a required pair falls below the threshold.

What is in place

• Body text starts at 18px. A floor, not a default. Some of our readers are 80, and 16px grey text is the most common failure in this category.
• Measured contrast. Body text runs at 12.9:1 against the page background. The primary button uses a dark label on amber at 5.05:1, because white on that amber measures 2.71:1 and fails. That pairing is a requirement, not a style choice.
• Touch targets of at least 48px, and 64px for anything primary, including every option in the check.
• Full keyboard operation. The menu opens with Enter, moves with arrow keys, closes with Escape and returns focus to where you were. Focus is never trapped, so Tab can always leave.
• Visible focus. A solid three pixel outline with an offset, never removed.
• A skip link to the main content as the first thing in the tab order.
• Real semantics. One h1 per page in a sensible order, labelled form fields, grouped radio sets with legends, and errors announced rather than only coloured.
• Never colour alone. Every status in your results carries a word, so Likely and Ruled out do not depend on being able to tell green from grey.
• Reduced motion respected. If your system asks for less movement, transitions are switched off rather than shortened.
• Text scaling. The layout holds at 200% zoom without content being lost.

What is still weak

Being straight about this is more useful than a compliance badge.

• The check needs JavaScript. Everything runs in your browser, which is what keeps your answers off our servers, but it means the check will not run without it. The five California programs are written out in full on the home page for that reason.
• English only so far. No Spanish version yet, which is a real gap for California specifically and is on the list.
• Screen reader testing has been done against the standard rather than against every combination. If something behaves badly in yours, we want to know which one.
• No plain text or large print version of your results yet.

Tell us when we get it wrong

If any part of this site is hard to use, please email [email protected] and say what you were trying to do and what got in the way. Accessibility problems are treated as defects, not as feature requests, and they go to the front.

Last reviewed 28 July 2026