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Introduction

This document provides an overview of the accessibility features and considerations implemented on Ligature Creative’s proprietary StageHand platform. Accessibility ensures that all users, including those with ability differences and disabilities, can access and interact with your website effectively.

Disclaimer

StageHand is a template designed and developed with accessibility in mind. 

However, the client is responsible for ensuring that their website content—including text, images, designed graphics, video and audio, downloadable PDFs, etc—complies with accessibility standards. 

For example, the client is responsible for:

  1. Adding alternative text to images
  2. Ensuring appropriate semantic heading structure when adding text content 
  3. Adding synchronized open-caption, closed-caption, audio descriptions and/or transcripts for any audio or video content. 
  4. Accessible PDFs. Client should consider whether the information needs to be a PDF. Content living as a web page is often more accessible than a PDF.
  5. And more!

Note, any accessible guidelines outlined in this document that require client action will be noted with an asterisk*

Accessibility Statement

Ligature Creative is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We strive to continually improve the user experience for everyone and apply relevant accessibility standards on the StageHand platform. If you and your team have found a StageHand feature that is not meeting accessibility guidelines, please reach out to Kate Fleming, kate@ligcreative.com to get this feature added to StageHand.

Standards and Guidelines

StageHand adheres to the following standards and guidelines to ensure accessibility:

  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA
  • Section 508 (for U.S. government websites)
  • Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) 1.1 specifications

Accessibility Features

Visual Accessibility

  • Text Alternatives: All non-text content (images, audio, videos, etc.) has the option to add descriptive alternative text. Client is responsible for adding alternative text to images.*
  • Color Contrast: Sufficient color contrast exists for text and background elements. Ligature will provide a color contrast audit of your brand colors as part of the initial StageHand setup. However, the client is responsible for ensuring that any new content or color palette updates adhere to contrast minimums.*
  • Resizable Text: Users can adjust the text size without loss of content or functionality. CHROME, adjust viewport to 1280 pixels wide and zoom up to 400%.
    FIREFOX, choose View > Zoom > Zoom Text Only. Zoom to up 130-150%

Keyboard Navigation

  • Focus Indicators: Clearly visible focus indicators for keyboard navigation.
  • Skip Links: Provide “Skip to main content” links and navigation menus.
  • Tab Order: Logical tab order ensures ease of navigation.

Assistive Technology Compatibility

  • Screen Readers: Compatible with major screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver.
  • Keyboard Navigation: Fully operable using only a keyboard.
  • ARIA Roles and Attributes: Used to enhance accessibility for dynamic content and widgets.

Content Structure and Semantics

  • Semantic HTML: Proper use of HTML5 elements to convey document structure, including using lists instead of long paragraphs listed items.*
  • Heading Structure: Hierarchical heading structure to aid in navigation and content order. Client is responsible for ensuring that any text content adheres to accessible heading structures.* For example, each page has only one H1 and following headlines follow sequential order: H2, H3, H4, etc. — not selecting heading structure based on the heading font size or color.
  • Landmarks: Use of ARIA landmarks to identify regions of a page (header, main content, footer, etc.).

Forms and Interactive Elements

  • Labels: Clear and descriptive labels for form inputs.
  • Error Handling: Informative error messages for form validation.
  • Accessible Widgets: Keyboard navigable  date pickers, sliders, and other interactive components.

Media Accessibility

  • Captions: Client is responsible for using a video service that enables synchronized  open/closed captions audio descriptions.
  • Transcripts: Provide transcript section for multimedia content (videos, audio). Client is responsible for adding transcripts for multimedia content.*
  • Audio Descriptions: Provide audio description sections where necessary for video content. Client is responsible for adding descriptions to video content.*

Accessibility Testing

Regular accessibility testing is conducted to ensure compliance with standards. Testing methods include manual review and automated testing tools. Additionally, our team attends accessibility trainings and reads current news articles to keep up-to-speed and learn new methods to meet the guidelines. Accessibility is an ever-changing landscape that requires continuous monitoring from a design, development and content perspective.