Accessibility

Last updated 15 September 2026.

The short version

I build accessible websites for a living, so this one should hold up to the same standard I ask of client work. It mostly does. Where it doesn't yet, this page says so plainly rather than claiming otherwise.

What I'm aiming for

WCAG 2.2 at level AA, which is the standard most Canadian public sector procurement asks for. That covers things like colour contrast, keyboard operability, text alternatives for images, and a heading structure that makes sense when you can't see the layout.

What's in place

Images carry real descriptions. Every image on this site has a text alternative, and in the work section they describe what's actually in the picture rather than repeating the caption, so a screen reader user gets the same sense of the piece a sighted visitor does.

You can skip the navigation. A skip link is the first thing you reach when you start tabbing, and it moves keyboard focus into the main content rather than just scrolling the page there, which is the part that's usually got wrong. Every page has one top-level heading and a heading order that follows the content, so navigating by headings works.

The contact form is properly built. Every field has a visible label tied to its input, so tapping the label focuses the field and screen readers announce it correctly. What software is told a field is called now begins with the words you can see on screen, so you can pick a field by saying them out loud. Errors, and the confirmation that your message has sent, are announced rather than only appearing. The email field is typed as an email field, so mobile keyboards adjust. Spam is caught by a hidden honeypot rather than a puzzle, which means there's no CAPTCHA standing between you and getting in touch.

The field you're filling in is circled in yellow marker, and that circle is decoration rather than the part doing the work. Yellow on pink is nowhere near enough contrast to be what tells you where you are. The underline under each field carries that instead: it goes to full black and doubles in weight on the field you're in.

Colour contrast is measured, not eyeballed. Seven background and text pairings run across this site, counting the three that flip past as you scroll the home page, and every one of them clears the 4.5:1 threshold for body text. The closest is white on the blue at 5.07:1, and the rest have a good deal more room than that.

The text can be made bigger and pushed further apart. Every page still reads on a 320 pixel screen without sideways scrolling, and it holds up when you apply the line and letter spacing the standard asks for, which is the test that usually breaks a layout built around long headlines.

If you've asked your device for reduced motion, the scrolling scenes on the home page and the about page don't run at all, and the looping videos in the work section hold still and offer you a play button instead.

The site declares its language as Canadian English, so screen readers pronounce it correctly, and it's built with real landmarks, so assistive technology can move between the navigation, the main content and the footer.

Where it falls short

Being specific here matters more than being reassuring. Three things, all found in a full audit on 15 September 2026.

On the home page, the “Say hi.” link in the opening panel takes keyboard focus at a moment when the next panel has already slid over the top of it, so you can be focused on something you can't see. On some window sizes it lands just past the bottom edge of the screen instead. The same link sits in the footer of every page, where it behaves properly, so nothing is out of reach. Reordering that opening is the fix, and it's on the list.

Two videos in the work section start themselves and loop, with no button to stop them. They're silent, and if you've asked for reduced motion they now hold still. Everyone else has no way to pause them, and that's the part that falls short.

The video player on three of the case study pages belongs to Bunny Stream rather than to me. Keyboard and screen reader behaviour inside that player is theirs, and I haven't audited it.

If anything else here gets in your way, I'd rather hear about it than assume it's fine.

How this was tested

On 15 September 2026 all twenty one pages went through automated checks in two different browser engines, the one behind Chrome and the one behind Safari, at both a desktop and a phone size. Every page was then tabbed through by keyboard, checking that focus is always visible, never trapped, and never hidden behind something else. Contrast was calculated numerically for every background and text pairing rather than judged by eye. And every page was checked at 320 pixels wide, both as it ships and with the text spacing the standard asks for.

Two things this page listed as falling short in August have since been fixed: the mismatch between the visible labels on the contact form and what software was told they were called, and form messages not being announced.

This site has not had an independent third-party audit, and I'd rather say that than imply otherwise.

Telling me about a problem

If something on this site doesn't work for you, I want to know, and you don't need to phrase it in accessibility language. Email hello@twst.studio and describe what happened. It reaches one person, and that person can fix it.

If you need something on this site in another format, ask, and I'll get it to you.