Sartaba Mind Games | Accessibility Statement

Our Aim

We aim to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA on every page of the site. This is an ongoing job. We review the site after each larger change and we list below what we know is not yet right.

What We Have Done

Every page has a skip link, a page language, one main heading, headings in a sensible order and clear page regions.
All menus, forms, buttons, tabs and windows can be reached and used with the keyboard. A visible outline shows where the keyboard focus is. When a window opens, the focus moves into it and goes back to where it was when it closes.
Images that carry meaning have a text description. Decorative images are hidden from screen readers.
Form fields have labels, and buttons that show only an icon have a name.
There are five themes, Midnight, Light, Forest, Slate and Ember. We check the text colors of each theme against the WCAG contrast limits.
The theme menu has four text sizes, Normal, Large, Larger and Largest. Your choice is kept on your device. Zooming the page with your browser also works.
Animations are reduced or switched off for people whose device asks for less motion.
All six games can be played with the keyboard. Each board square, column, point or hex has a name that says what is on it. A status line announces whose turn it is and what happened last.

How We Tested

We ran an automated check (axe-core, which follows the WCAG rules) on every public page, on a computer screen and on a phone screen, in the Midnight and Light themes. We checked every page at the larger text sizes for content that no longer fits the screen.

Our testers also went through the main pages and the games by hand, on computers and on phones, with the mouse, with touch and with the keyboard only. We tried the keyboard controls of all six games with test scripts as well, and we checked the text colors of all five themes.

We have not yet had the site reviewed by a person who uses a screen reader every day. Automatic tools find only part of the problems, so we expect that such a review will find more.

How To Use The Features

Moving with the keyboard

Press Tab to go forward and Shift and Tab to go back. Press Enter or Space to use the button or link that has the focus. Press Escape to close a menu or a window.
When a page opens, press Tab once. The link "Skip to main content" appears, and Enter takes you past the menu to the page itself.
On rows of tabs, such as the sections of the Profile page or the time ranges of the Leaderboard, use the left and right arrow keys to switch.

Playing with the keyboard

Chess. Press Tab until you reach the board, then use the arrow keys to move between the squares. Press Enter on a piece to pick it up and Enter on the square where it goes.
Connect 4. Press Tab to reach the Drop buttons above the board, and press Enter on the column you want.
Checkers. Press Tab to move over the squares, and press Enter on a piece and then on the square it jumps or moves to.
Backgammon. Press Tab to move over the points, the bar and the tray. Press Enter on the point you move from and then on the point you move to.
Walls. Press Tab to reach the board and use the arrow keys to move over the squares. Press Enter on your pawn and then on the square it moves to. Press W to switch to walls, then the arrow keys move the wall slot, R turns the wall between horizontal and vertical, and Enter sets it. Escape takes you back to the squares.
Sartaba Dominion. Place your units from the tray under the board, whose buttons you reach with Tab. Press Tab to reach the board, use the arrow keys to move to the next hex in that direction, press Enter on a hex with your unit to pick it, and Enter on a hex that is marked as a legal move.
Each square, column or point has a name, for example "e4, white pawn", so a screen reader tells you what is there. The line under the board tells whose turn it is and what happened last, and a screen reader reads it out when it changes.

Colors and themes

Turn on. Press the round color button at the right end of the top menu, or open "Theme and board colors" on your Profile page, and choose a theme.
Turn off. Choose Midnight, the theme every visitor starts with. The board colors are in the same menu.
Your choice stays on your device, and on your account when you are signed in.

Less motion

The site follows the setting of your device. Turn on the option called reduce motion or animation effects off in the accessibility settings of Windows, macOS, iOS or Android, and the moving parts of our pages slow down or stop.
To turn it off, switch that option off on your device.

Screen readers

Nothing needs to be turned on. Pages use headings, landmarks and labels, and windows such as the sign in window and the result card take the focus when they open and give it back when they close.

What Is Not Yet Accessible

The 3D board on the home page is decoration and is hidden from screen readers. Everything it links to is also available as ordinary links on the page.
The Download Game page, where you turn a game into a video, is built around watching a preview that cannot be described in words. Its buttons and progress messages are labelled, but we have not tested the page with a screen reader.
Tournaments run in a fixed time window, with a clock kept by our server, and the time is the same for every player. If the time limit is a barrier for you, please tell us on the Contact page.
Pages of other companies, such as the advertising and the cookie consent window, are outside our control.

Tell Us What Gets In Your Way

If something on the site is hard for you to use, please tell us on the Contact page. Say which page it is, what you tried to do, and which device, browser or assistive technology you use. We try to reply within five working days, and we will say when we expect to fix it.

Changes To This Statement

We update this page when we fix something on the list or find a new problem. The date at the top is the date of the last review. See also our Privacy Policy and Terms.