Last updated: 20 September 2026
We want this site to be usable by everyone who wants to read it. That includes people using a screen reader, a keyboard alone, magnification, or a reduced-motion setting.
This page says what we're committed to, what we already know is wrong, and what we have not yet tested. It is deliberately not a conformance badge.
Why there's no conformance claim here
The honest position is the short one: no accessibility audit has been run against the live theme, so we are not claiming a WCAG level.
Publishing "WCAG 2.2 AA compliant" without testing would be exactly the kind of unverified claim we refuse to print about other people's products. We're not going to make it about our own site.
When a proper pass has been done, this page will say who did it and when. It will name the standard and list what was found — including what failed.
What we are committed to
- Readable structure. Real headings in order, real lists, real tables, and link text that means something out of context.
- Content, not pictures of content. Scores, prices, criteria breakdowns and verdicts are text in the page, not baked into images. Our score rail is built as text and markup for exactly this reason.
- Keyboard access. Everything you can do with a mouse should be doable from a keyboard.
- Meaningful alternative text on images that carry information, and none on images that are decoration.
- Plain Australian English, short sentences, and a verdict you can find without reading the whole piece.
- No auto-playing media, no pop-ups over the article, and no interstitials between you and what you came to read.
- Fixing an accessibility problem is a bug, not a feature request. It goes to the front of the queue.
Known gaps
These are the things we already know about. Listing them is the point of the page.
No site search. The site has no search function, and the 404 page currently tells readers to "use search in the menu". That's a broken promise on the page most likely to be reached by a dead link. It hurts most if browsing a large directory by hand is difficult for you. Both the missing search and the misleading 404 text are on the fix list.
No light-mode accommodation. The site's palette is deliberately dark. There is no light theme, no user toggle, and the theme does not respond to an operating system set to light mode. If low contrast or a dark background is hard for you to read, the site currently offers no in-page way to change it.
Fonts load from a third party. The site's typefaces are requested from Google Fonts. If that request is slow or blocked, text may render in a fallback font before it settles.
No tested conformance level. Colour contrast ratios, focus indicators and form labelling in the newsletter sign-up have not been formally checked. Neither has screen-reader behaviour across the review page or the directory. We are not going to guess at whether they pass.
No published VPAT or accessibility audit report, because there is no audit to report.
What happens next
A full accessibility pass on the live theme is on the pre-launch and post-launch list. When it is done, this page gains three things it doesn't have today. A named standard, a date, and a list of findings with fixes.
Until then, treat this page as a statement of intent and an honest gap list, not a conformance claim.
Tell us when something doesn't work
This is the most useful thing on the page. If something here doesn't work for you, tell us and we'll fix it.
Email adam@theaidirectory.com.au with ACCESSIBILITY in the subject line, and include:
- the page URL
- what you were trying to do
- what happened instead
- the browser, device and any assistive technology you were using, if you know it
We aim to acknowledge within two business days. If a fix will take time, we'll tell you what we're doing and when. If you'd rather have the content another way in the meantime — plain text, for example — ask, and we'll send it.
If you're not satisfied with how we handle it, see Complaints Handling.
Last reviewed: 20 September 2026. This page is reviewed every six months, and rewritten as soon as an accessibility pass has been run on the live theme. Next review due: 20 March 2027.
Update history
- 20 Sep 2026 — First version. Publishes the known gaps found in the 20 September launch sweep: no site search, the 404 page's search promise, no light-mode accommodation, third-party font loading. No conformance claim is made until the live theme is audited.