Accessibility statement

The standard we hold this site to

WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Not "we aim for" — it is checked on every build, and a failure fails the build rather than getting filed.

The publisher runs an accessibility practice, which means two things: we have no excuse, and a barrier on this site is a bug we will fix rather than a feature request you have to argue for.

What is enforced automatically

Every build runs an audit that fails on:

• an image without alt text
• a missing or duplicated page title or meta description
• a missing or malformed h1
• a page with no visible "last updated" date
• missing or invalid structured data
• a missing breadcrumb trail

Colour contrast is measured rather than eyeballed. Where a token failed, it was changed: the "details unconfirmed" badge sits on a sand ground where our muted text gave 4.11:1, so that badge uses a darker token at 9.59:1. The sponsored badge's dark-mode hover state was 3.36:1 and is now 9.23:1.

We measure the four main templates with Lighthouse as part of the release check.

Specific decisions

Maps and diagrams. Every map and chart on this site is original SVG with a role="img", a title, and a text description that says what the graphic shows — the island map describes each marker's position in words ("mid-island, ocean side"), so the information is available without seeing it.

Data tables. Real <table> markup with scope attributes and a caption naming the source. Wide tables scroll inside a focusable region rather than breaking the page.

Definition lists. Facts render as <dt>/<dd> pairs. Where a note belongs to a value it sits inside the <dd>, not as a sibling — an earlier version got that wrong and it broke the semantics.

Link text. Anchor text is the destination's own name. Where a visible label and an accessible name would disagree, we remove the redundant aria-label rather than overriding what a sighted user reads.

Fonts. Webfonts load without blocking first paint, and both faces have a real fallback stack, so the page is readable before any third-party request completes.

Motion. There is no autoplay, no carousel and no parallax on this site.

Keyboard. Every interactive element is reachable and has a visible focus ring. There is a skip link to the main content.

JavaScript. Every page's content works without it. Search needs it and says so, with the directory and sitemap offered as alternatives.

Print. The print stylesheet prints link destinations, so a printed page is usable.

Accessibility of the island itself

Separately from this website: our accessibility guide covers beach wheelchairs, accessible mats, boardwalks and parking at the island's beach accesses. Where we have not confirmed whether an access has a feature, the guide says "not confirmed" rather than guessing — which for a wheelchair user is the difference between a wasted journey and a useful page.

Known gaps

• Several beach records carry unconfirmed accessibility fields. We are not guessing them.
• We have no original photography yet, so no image on this site carries a descriptive alt text of a real photograph. When photography lands, every image gets alt text written by a person.

Reporting a barrier

Email hello@thingstodoinameliaisland.com with the page and what happened. Tell us what you were using if you can — screen reader and browser, keyboard only, zoom level, reduced motion. We will reply, and we will tell you when it is fixed.

If something on this site is unusable and you need the information in it, ask us for the information directly. That is a reasonable request and we will answer it.