Accessibility
Accessibility
Statement
Inclusion is my profession, so this site should hold itself to the standard I ask of others. This statement sets out where it stands, honestly — what works, what doesn't yet, and how to tell me if something gets in your way.
Our commitment
hughokeeffe.com is built to be usable by as many people as possible, regardless of how they browse — including those using screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, screen magnification, or browser settings that reduce motion or increase text size. Accessibility is treated as a baseline requirement of the design, not an afterthought.
Conformance status
This site aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. To the best of my knowledge it currently meets that target, based on a self-review rather than a formal third-party audit. Where any element falls short, I treat it as a defect to be fixed.
Measures taken
Specific steps that have been built into the site:
- A "skip to main content" link so keyboard and screen-reader users can bypass the navigation.
- Semantic HTML structure with clear landmarks (navigation, main, footer) and a single, logical heading order.
- Clearly visible keyboard focus indicators on every interactive element.
- Text and interface colours that meet WCAG AA contrast ratios against their backgrounds.
- Full support for reduced-motion preferences — all animation and the scrolling hero effect switch off automatically when a visitor has asked their system to minimise motion.
- Descriptive text alternatives for meaningful images, with purely decorative elements hidden from assistive technology.
- Descriptive link names, including a spoken cue where a link opens in a new tab.
- A responsive layout that reflows cleanly and supports text resizing and zoom without loss of content.
- The page language is declared so screen readers use the correct pronunciation.
Known limitations
A few things are honestly worth flagging. My writing is published on Substack, a third-party platform whose accessibility I do not control; if you have difficulty there, the Substack help channels are the most direct route. The site also uses a subtle parallax effect on the opening screen — this is disabled automatically for anyone with reduced-motion settings enabled, but if you experience any discomfort and aren't sure how to enable that setting, contact me and I'll help.
Feedback
If you encounter any barrier on this site, or need information here in a different format, I want to know — and I'll treat it as a priority. Email me at hugh@hughokeeffe.com with a brief description of the problem and the page or feature involved, and I'll respond and aim to put it right.
Technical information
This site relies on HTML, CSS, and a small amount of JavaScript. Where JavaScript enhances the experience (such as the hero animation), the content remains fully readable and navigable without it.