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Accessibility statement

Accessibility is the product. We hold the product to it.

This statement covers the Ada Editor web app and the documents it exports. It says where we meet WCAG 2.1 AA, where we don’t yet, and how to reach a person when something gets in your way.

Target
WCAG 2.1 AA
Status
Partially conformant
Last reviewed

Conformance status

“Partially conformant” means some parts of the app do not fully meet the standard yet. We list those parts below instead of rounding up.

StandardApplies toStatus
WCAG 2.1 AAEditor appPartially conforms
Section 508Editor appPartially conforms
PDF/UA-1Exported PDFsValidated with veraPDF in CI
WCAG 2.2 · 2.5.8 Target SizeButtons24px minimum built into every button

What’s built in

These aren’t settings you turn on. They are how the editor works for everyone.

  • Keyboard first

    Every action, including every finding, is reachable and operable without a pointer. Focus is always visible.

  • Announced to screen readers

    One live region reports what the editor did — a fix applied, a finding dismissed, an export finished — so nothing changes silently.

  • Never colour alone

    Severity is carried by underline shape, glyph and a visible text label.

  • High contrast aware

    Windows forced colours are respected. We don’t override your system palette.

  • Reduced motion honoured

    If your system asks for less motion, transitions stop.

  • Readable at any size

    Body text never drops below 16px, and pages reflow at 320 CSS pixels (400% zoom) without sideways scrolling.

Known limitations

Written with the same severity labels the editor uses for your documents.

  • Needs your call (Not machine-decidable)1.1.1 Non-text Content

    We can check that alt text exists, not that it’s good

    Whether a description is accurate and useful needs a person. The editor flags what it can spot, like alt text that only says it’s an image.

  • Advisory (AAA / best practice)1.3.1 Info and Relationships

    Tables with merged cells can’t be fully linked to their headers

    The editor flags them. If you can, split merged cells or break the table into simpler tables; otherwise check it with a screen reader.

  • Advisory (AAA / best practice)3.1.5 Reading Level

    Reading-level and word checks are English only

    Rules that rely on English words and syllables run only on documents set to English.

  • Advisory (AAA / best practice)PDF/UA-1

    PDF export covers Latin scripts only

    A document with Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic or CJK text is not exported as PDF, rather than exported with missing characters. Export HTML works for every language.

How we test

On every change

  • axe-core on the components and every app screen
  • Keyboard, reflow and forced-colours checks
  • veraPDF validation of exported PDFs

Screen readers in CI

  • NVDA on Windows
  • VoiceOver on macOS
  • Orca on Linux
  • Run against the design-system components

If something blocks you, tell a person.

Describe what you were trying to do and what you use to browse. Messages go to the team that builds Ada Editor.

Send us a message