Chandler Weekly is committed to making our journalism accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of ability, device, or technology. Accessibility is not an afterthought or a compliance exercise for us; it is part of our wider commitment to reaching and serving every reader, which also shapes how we write and design. This statement explains the standard we work toward, what we do to meet it, where we know we fall short, and how to reach us if you encounter a barrier.
Our standard
We aim to meet the internationally recognised Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. These guidelines, published by the World Wide Web Consortium, describe how to make web content more perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for people with a wide range of disabilities — including visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive differences. WCAG 2.1 AA is the standard most widely referenced by accessibility law and best practice, and it is the bar we hold ourselves to.
What we do
In practice, our commitment to accessibility shapes many everyday choices:
- We write in plain, clear language and structure articles with proper, logical headings, so both people and assistive technologies can navigate them.
- We provide text alternatives (alt text) for meaningful images, so screen-reader users are not left out.
- We design for readable colour contrast and for text that can be resized without breaking the layout.
- We support keyboard navigation and a logical reading and focus order, so the site can be used without a mouse.
- We use semantic, standards-based markup, so browsers and assistive technologies can interpret our pages reliably.
- We offer a light and dark mode, and design for comfortable reading on both small and large screens.
An ongoing effort
Accessibility is a continuous process, not a one-time certification. The web, our content, and assistive technologies all change, and we test and improve the site over time. New content and features are considered with accessibility in mind, and we treat accessibility issues as genuine bugs to be fixed rather than optional extras.
Known limitations
We want to be honest rather than make a blanket claim of perfection. Some older content may not yet fully meet our target, and some third-party elements that we do not fully control — such as embedded media, certain interactive components, or advertising served by partners — may not always meet the same standard. Where we identify such issues, we work to address or replace the problematic elements, and we welcome reports that help us find them.
Assistive technology
We aim for the site to work well with common assistive technologies, including screen readers, screen magnifiers, speech-recognition software, and browser accessibility features. If you use assistive technology and encounter something that does not work as it should, telling us about your setup helps us reproduce and fix the problem.
Tell us about a problem
If you encounter a barrier using this site, or you need a piece of content in a different, more accessible format, please contact us at [email protected]. It helps if you can tell us the page or article involved, a description of the problem, and — where relevant — the browser, device, and assistive technology you are using. We treat accessibility feedback as a priority and will do our best to help and to put things right.
Our commitment going forward
We see accessibility as inseparable from our mission of clear, useful, practical journalism: content that cannot be read by everyone who needs it is not doing its job. We will keep working to make Chandler Weekly usable by as many people as possible, and we are grateful to the readers who help us do it better.
Accessibility shapes our editorial choices, too
Accessibility is not only a technical concern; it is an editorial one. Writing in plain language, structuring articles with clear headings, summarising key points, and avoiding needless jargon all make our content easier to use for everyone — including people using assistive technology, people reading in a second language, and people who are simply tired or in a hurry. In that sense, our accessibility commitment and our editorial mission of clarity point in the same direction.
Our approach to conformance
We treat WCAG 2.1 AA as a working standard rather than a certificate to be earned once and forgotten. We build new pages and features with it in mind, we review existing content over time, and we prioritise fixes for issues that most affect people’s ability to use the site. Where a perfect solution is not immediately possible — for example with certain third-party components — we look for reasonable alternatives and keep working at it.
How we handle your feedback
When you report an accessibility problem, we treat it as a priority. We aim to acknowledge reports, reproduce the issue, and either fix it or offer a workable alternative — such as providing the content you need in a more accessible format. Your reports are one of the most valuable ways we find and fix real barriers, because they tell us how the site behaves with setups and needs we might not otherwise test.
Requesting content in another format
If a particular article or resource is not accessible to you in its current form, let us know and we will do our best to provide the information in an alternative format that works for you. We would rather go out of our way to help a reader than leave anyone unable to use what we publish.
Contact and standards
To report a barrier, request an alternative format, or ask about accessibility, email [email protected] with the page involved and a description of the problem. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines we reference are published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and we aim to keep our practice aligned with them as they evolve.
Thank you
Accessibility is a shared effort, and the readers who take the time to tell us what is not working are a real part of how Chandler Weekly gets better. We are grateful for that feedback, we act on it, and we remain committed to a site that as many people as possible can read, navigate, and use with ease.