Whitespace Digital is committed to making this website usable by as many people as possible, including people who use assistive technology. This statement explains what we have done, what we know is imperfect, and how to tell us if you hit a problem.

We publish this because we think anyone who builds websites for a living should be prepared to be held to the standard they sell.

Our commitment

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA on every page of this website, and to build every client website to the same standard as part of the normal price rather than as a paid extra.

In practical terms, that means we want this site to work if you:

Navigate entirely by keyboard
Use a screen reader such as VoiceOver, NVDA, JAWS, Narrator or TalkBack
Zoom the page to 200% or more, or increase your browser's minimum font size
Use speech recognition software
Need reduced motion, or high contrast, or your operating system's dark mode
Are reading on a small phone, outdoors, one-handed

Conformance status

We believe this website conforms to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, with the exceptions noted under "Known limitations" below.

That assessment is based on our own testing rather than a third-party audit. It has not been independently certified, and we would rather say so plainly than imply otherwise.

What we have done

Structure and semantics. Pages use real HTML landmarks (header, nav, main, footer), one h1 per page and a correctly nested heading order. ARIA is used only where native HTML cannot express something, on the principle that the first rule of ARIA is not to use ARIA.

Keyboard support. Every interactive element is reachable and operable by keyboard, in a logical order. There is a skip link to the main content as the first focusable element. The mobile menu is a modal dialog that traps focus, closes on Escape and returns focus to the button that opened it. Focus is never obscured by the sticky header.

Visible focus. A single, consistent focus indicator is used site-wide, with a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against every background it appears on. We have not removed focus outlines anywhere.

Colour and contrast. All colour pairs are checked programmatically against WCAG thresholds — 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text and for interface components including form borders and icons. Both the light and dark themes are verified. No information is conveyed by colour alone: errors and states always carry an icon and a text label as well.

Forms. Every control has a visible, permanently associated label; placeholders are never used as labels. Optional fields are marked "(optional)" rather than marking required fields with a symbol alone. Errors are described specifically in text, associated with the field using aria-describedby, and summarised at the top of the form with links to each problem. Focus moves to that summary after a failed submission. Autocomplete attributes are set so browsers and password managers can fill fields correctly.

Authentication and anti-spam. The enquiry form uses invisible, score-based bot protection rather than an image or puzzle challenge, because those challenges are a genuine barrier for people with visual and cognitive impairments — see WCAG 2.2 criterion 3.3.8. If a submission is ever wrongly rejected, the telephone number is offered as an alternative on the same screen.

Images. Meaningful images have descriptive alternative text. Decorative images have an empty alt attribute so screen readers skip them. No information is presented only as text inside an image.

Motion. Animation is subtle and brief, and the prefers-reduced-motion setting is honoured throughout: when it is set, animation and smooth scrolling are effectively disabled. Nothing autoplays, nothing flashes and there are no carousels.

Zoom and reflow. The site reflows to a single column and remains fully usable at 320 CSS pixels wide and at 400% zoom, without horizontal scrolling or loss of content.

High contrast. Windows High Contrast Mode (forced-colors) is supported: borders and focus indicators use system colours, and decorative gradients are removed so text remains legible.

Language and readability. The page language is declared. We write in plain British English, keep line lengths comfortable to read, and use headings that describe what follows rather than headings chosen for their size.

Known limitations

We would rather list these than pretend they do not exist.

Third-party consent banner. Cookie consent is provided by Cookiebot. We have selected its accessible template and we test it, but we do not control its markup. If you have difficulty with the consent panel, tell us and we will raise it with the supplier as well as looking for a workaround.

Third-party anti-spam. Google reCAPTCHA runs on the enquiry form. It is invisible and requires no interaction, but it is third-party code we do not control. The telephone number is always offered as an alternative route.

PDF and other documents. We do not currently publish PDFs. If we ever do, we will make them tagged and accessible, or provide an HTML equivalent.

Long articles. Our articles are detailed, which is deliberate — but length is itself a barrier for some readers. Each article includes an on-page contents list and a reading time so you can navigate rather than read linearly. We are continuing to look at how to summarise better.

How we test

Automated testing with axe DevTools and Lighthouse on every template
Manual keyboard-only navigation of every page and every interactive component
Screen reader testing with VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, and NVDA on Windows, focusing on the navigation and the enquiry form
Programmatic contrast verification of every colour token pair in both themes, run as part of our development process
Zoom testing to 400% and reflow testing at 320 CSS pixels
Testing with prefers-reduced-motion and Windows High Contrast Mode enabled
Testing on real devices, including an older mid-range Android phone

Technical specifications

Accessibility of this website relies on HTML, CSS, WAI-ARIA and JavaScript. The site is built so that all content is present in the server-rendered HTML: if JavaScript fails or is blocked, every page remains readable and navigable, and the telephone number remains available.

Feedback

If you cannot use part of this website, or you find something that does not work with your assistive technology, please tell us. It is genuinely useful — most accessibility improvements we make come from somebody taking the trouble to report a problem.

Telephone 01420 446331, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm. We will acknowledge within two working days and tell you what we intend to do about it. If you would prefer to write, call and we will give you a postal address.

If the barrier is stopping you enquiring about our services, please also tell us what you needed to know and we will simply answer it over the telephone.

Enforcement

We are a private business, so the public sector accessibility regulations do not apply to us. The Equality Act 2010 does, and we take it seriously.

If you are not satisfied with how we respond to a complaint about accessibility, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), which advises on discrimination in England, Scotland and Wales: equalityadvisoryservice.com, telephone 0808 800 0082.

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 1 June 2026 and reflects testing carried out during May and June 2026. It is reviewed whenever the site changes materially, and at least annually.

Accessibility Statement