Our commitment to web accessibility
Castlegate IT is committed to providing a fully accessible website experience for all users of all abilities, including those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, screen enlargement software, and alternative keyboard input devices to navigate the web.
Ongoing efforts to ensure accessibility
We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 as our guiding principle for determining accessibility. These are internationally agreed-upon standards that cover a wide range of recommendations and best practices for making content useable. As we add new pages and functionality to our website, all designs, code, and content entry practices are checked against these standards.
Website accessibility is an ongoing process. We continually test content and features for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance and remediate any issues to ensure we meet or exceed the standards. Testing of our website is performed by our team members using industry-standard tools such as the Accessibility Checker WordPress Plugin, color contrast analysers, keyboard-only navigation techniques, and Flesch-Kincaid readability tests.
The following is a list of items we have included in our website to improve its accessibility:
- The site is built using semantic HTML, and all page types are validated to be free from HTML errors.
- The site is designed such that all text should pass the WCAG AA standard for contrast.
- The site is built using responsive web design techniques. It adapts for optimal performance, readability and usability, regardless of the device or screen size being used by the visitor.
- All page types are tested to ensure they are usable with images disabled.
- All page types are tested to ensure they are usable with CSS disabled.
- All page types are tested to ensure they are usable with Javascript disabled.
How accessible is our website
We are working to improve the accessibility of all our websites, but we know that some areas are not yet fully accessible. In particular, we know that you may encounter:
- PDF and office documents that are not properly formatted to be accessible.
- Images with missing or unhelpful alternative text.
- Iframes without titles and videos without closed captions or transcripts.
- HTML and ARIA markup errors that may make using a screen reader difficult.
- Some of the text over images or video may not provide sufficient contrast.
- Links which open a new window or tab without warning.
Where we’re improving
In our efforts to bring our website up to standard, we are targeting the following areas:
- Reviewing images for missing alternative text, and adding new alternative text where necessary.
- Rolling out accessibility training to staff who create web content.
- Raising general accessibility awareness across the organisation.
- Investigating how we can fix our PDF documents and videos.
- Assessing third party tools for accessibility compliance.
- Updating our internal development standards and processes.
This is part of our broader effort to make everyone’s experience at Castlegate IT a welcoming and enjoyable one. Please note that while we make every effort to provide information accessible for all users, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third party websites to which we may link.
Accessibility support contact
We welcome comments, questions, and feedback on our website. If you are using assistive technologies and are having difficulty using our website, please email info@castlegateit.co.uk or give us a call at 01904 654 036. We will do our best to assist you and resolve issues.
