Accessibility
Built for everyone
(or trying to be)
Last updated: 18 May 2026
Highbury Bound is committed to being usable by everyone, regardless of how they access the web. This statement describes the current state of accessibility honestly — what we have built, what we know is incomplete, and how to reach us if you find a barrier.
Our target standard
We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA across all pages. This is a technical standard published by the W3C that covers a wide range of disabilities: vision, motor, cognitive, and auditory.
Important caveat
Our current audit is internal. We have not yet commissioned an external accessibility audit or third-party certification. We are confident in the work listed below, but we acknowledge that independent review may surface issues we have missed. An external audit is planned. Until then, this statement reflects our own assessment.
What we have built
Features in production today:
- Skip link — a “Skip to main content” link is the first focusable element on every page. Keyboard and screen-reader users can bypass the navigation.
- Landmark regions —
<main id="main">,<nav>,<footer>,<header>on every page. - Dialog semantics and focus trapping — every modal uses
role="dialog",aria-modal="true", and a focus trap. Closing returns focus to the trigger. - Live region announcements — filter results, save confirmations, and error states announced via
aria-live. - Colour contrast — text meets the 4.5:1 AA ratio for normal text in both light and dark themes. Tokens enforced by the design system.
- Touch targets — interactive elements at least 44 × 44 CSS pixels on mobile (WCAG 2.5.8 AA).
- Full keyboard navigation — every interactive element reachable and operable by keyboard. No keyboard traps outside intentional focus-trapped modals.
- Reduced motion — animations disabled when the user's OS has
prefers-reduced-motion: reduce. - Multiple languages — available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese. All 220 content keys translated at full parity. The
langattribute is set correctly on the<html>element for each locale. - PWA install accessibility — install prompt (Android) and iOS share-sheet coachmark have visible dismissal controls and do not interrupt page content.
CI enforcement (live)
Automated pa11y (Deque axe-core engine) and Lighthouse CI workflows run against every deployment of the live URL. Failing the WCAG 2.2 AA gate blocks the deploy from being marked successful. The axe runner is the modern industry-standard accessibility engine.
Pages currently in the CI gate: /, /privacy, /terms, /accessibility, /methodology, /about. The map and listings pages depend on third-party tile imagery whose contrast we cannot reliably measure programmatically; they are audited manually pending an external review.
About axe-core “needs further review” results
axe-core categorises every test into one of three outcomes: violation (definitive WCAG failure), pass, or incomplete (axe could not determine an outcome — common when text sits over a photo, gradient, or an absolutely-positioned sibling). Our CI gate fails on violations only. Incomplete results are surfaced in the workflow log and verified manually against the colour-contrast math in our design tokens — every (text colour, background colour) pairing on the homepage achieves ≥ 4.5:1 (the AA threshold for normal text) in both light and dark mode. The math is in plain sight in src/styles/globals.css with the computed ratio next to every token.
We do not silently ignore. The workflow prints the count of axe-incomplete results on every run. If that count ever rises unexpectedly, it is a signal to re-walk the design and re-do the math.
Known issues and gaps
We are being deliberate about not claiming conformance we have not verified. Items still under review:
- External audit not yet conducted. Internal review is not a substitute. Independent audit may surface issues not listed here.
- Map tile alternative text. Embedded OpenStreetMap tiles do not have per-tile alt text — a limitation of the tile-serving architecture. The search and list views provide all venue information in text form independently of the map, so the map is supplementary rather than the sole access path.
If you find an issue not listed here, please tell us. That is more useful to us than any internal checklist.
How to report an issue
Email hello@highburybound.com with a description of what you were trying to do, what happened, and if possible the page URL and the browser or assistive technology you were using.
We aim to acknowledge every report within 5 working days.
Resolution targets:
- Critical barriers — task is impossible to complete — within 30 days.
- Significant but workable issues — harder than it should be — within 90 days.
- Minor or cosmetic issues — addressed in the next scheduled sprint.
We take these targets seriously. If we cannot meet them, we will say so and explain why.
Compatibility
Highbury Bound is tested against current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge on desktop and mobile. Screen-reader testing is conducted with VoiceOver (macOS and iOS) and NVDA (Windows). We do not support Internet Explorer.
Enforcement (UK)
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) or the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) if you are in Northern Ireland.
Contact
Disclaimer: Highbury Bound is independent and not affiliated with Arsenal FC.