Accessibility Statement

Last updated: 28 September 2026

We want Topical Vault to be usable by every student, including people using screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, zoom or high-contrast settings. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, level AA. This page is an honest account of where the site stands, not a claim of full compliance.

Conformance status

Partially conformant: most of the site meets WCAG 2.1 AA, with the exceptions listed under “Known limitations” below.

What’s in place

• Keyboard: every control can be reached and used with the keyboard. That includes the topic, paper and year filters (the year list opens with the arrow keys and closes with Esc), the account and sign-in forms, and question images, which you can enlarge with Enter and close with Esc. Scrolling panels can be focused and scrolled with the arrow keys. Left and right arrow keys move between questions.
• Visible focus: the element you’re on is clearly outlined when you use the keyboard.
• Screen readers: pages use proper headings, a main content landmark, labelled form fields, named dialogs, and live error messages on the sign-in forms.
• Images: every exam-page image has alternative text saying which question, session and paper it shows.
• Colour and contrast: text meets the AA contrast ratio of 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text), in both dark and light themes. A light-mode toggle is available on every subject page.
• Resizing: pages adapt to phone-sized screens and to browser zoom.
• No time limits and no auto-playing media. Sign-in links last 30 minutes.

How we tested

In September 2026 we checked every page type (homepage, level and subject pages, worksheets, sign-in and account pages, and policy pages) with the axe-core automated checker against WCAG 2.1 A and AA, fixed what it found, and checked keyboard operation by hand.

Known limitations

• Image-only questions: where a question is a scanned exam page, the alternative text says which question it is but does not transcribe the full text or diagram. Screen-reader users will know what they’re on, but not its complete content. Many subjects also show the question text itself as HTML.
• Answer-script viewer: the candidate answer scripts are drawn as images from PDFs, so their handwriting isn’t readable by screen readers.
• Bot check: the sign-in forms use Cloudflare Turnstile, which is designed to be accessible and usually needs no interaction. If it blocks you, email us and we’ll help you get in.
• We haven’t yet tested with every combination of screen reader and browser.

Feedback and contact

If you hit a barrier anywhere on the site, or need content in a different format, please tell us and we’ll fix it or find another way to get you the content. Email topicalvault@gmail.com. We aim to respond within 7 days.