Accessibility

We want LocalsVoted to work for everyone who wants to vote.

Our aim

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA. We have not had an independent audit, so we do not claim that the site meets it fully.

What we have done

• Pages have a skip link that jumps to the main content, and the page language is declared.
• Links, buttons, search boxes, form fields and tabs show a clear focus outline when you use the keyboard.
• Form fields have visible labels, and several forms announce errors to screen readers.
• Putting places in order when you start a board uses Up and Down buttons, so it needs no dragging.
• Main text, secondary text, link and button colours were measured at 4.5 to 1 or better against their backgrounds, in both the light and dark themes.
• Buttons are 44 pixels tall by default, and the site follows your device’s light or dark setting.
• The site uses very little motion: a few short fades, a light sweep while a picture is being drawn, and a small lift when you point at a button. Every animation stops when your device is set to reduce motion.
• Pages are laid out for phones first.

Known gaps

• We have not yet tested the whole site with screen readers, so some pages may be harder to use than they should be.
• Smaller buttons, such as those in lists, are 36 pixels tall, which is below the 44 pixel size we use elsewhere.
• Topic pictures, city icons and business logos are treated as decorative and carry no text description. Photos that a business adds can carry a caption.
• Signing in uses a phone number and a texted code, with no alternative way to sign in yet.

Tell us about a problem

If something on LocalsVoted is hard to use, write to [email protected] or use Report a problem. Say which page it is and what got in the way, and we will look at it.