Accessibility, plainly

What we test for, and what to tell us about.

Last updated 30 July 2026.

The short version. vahtian.com is built to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, level AA. Automated accessibility checks run on every change before it ships. Automated checks do not catch everything, so if something on this site blocks you, tell us and we will fix it or explain why we cannot.

Our target

The working standard for this site is WCAG 2.2 level AA, the level referenced by the European accessibility standard EN 301 549. We publish this statement voluntarily, because a site about making research decisions inspectable should hold its own work to the same rule: state the standard, show the checks, keep a record.

What the site does

• Keyboard first. Every page carries a skip-to-content link, interactive controls are reachable and operable by keyboard, and focus stays visible.
• Motion respects your settings. Animations — including the homepage lighthouse illustration — are paused or never started when your system asks for reduced motion (WCAG 2.2, SC 2.3.3).
• Screen-reader hygiene. Semantic HTML with one heading per page at the top level, labelled landmarks, accessible names on icon-only controls, and decorative graphics hidden from assistive technology.
• No third parties. The site makes no external requests — no CDN scripts, no tracking, no font servers — so no third-party script or outage can take the page down with it.
• Readable at any size. Responsive layout with relative units; text reflows rather than clipping when you zoom.

How we test

Two checks run in continuous integration on every change:

• pa11y-ci tests the public pages against WCAG 2.2 AA. A failure blocks the change from shipping.
• Lighthouse tracks accessibility, performance, and SEO budgets over time.

We also review pages by hand — keyboard walk-throughs and reduced-motion checks — when they change. What we have not done yet is a full independent manual audit with assistive-technology users. Automated tools find only part of what real users hit, so we do not claim full conformance; we claim a target, a test suite, and a way to reach us when the suite misses something.

Known limitations

• The interactive demos and in-browser tools are more complex than the content pages and are the most likely place for gaps. Reports about them get priority.
• Some figures in Learn articles carry brief alternative text rather than full data equivalents.
• Downloadable documents (kits, templates) are separate files and may not be fully tagged for assistive technology.

Scope

This statement covers the website vahtian.com, including the pages, demos, and in-browser tools served here. The downloadable applications are separate software; we apply the same principles there, and accessibility issues in them can be reported the same way, or on GitHub.

Report a barrier

If any part of this site is hard or impossible for you to use, email hello@vahtian.com with "Accessibility" in the subject line, or open an issue on GitHub. Say what you were trying to do, on which page, and with what browser or assistive technology if you know it. A barrier that blocks a task goes to the front of the queue.

Changes

When the site's accessibility posture changes — a new test, a fixed limitation, a new known issue — we will update this page and the date above.