Accessibility

Our commitment #

The Open Syndrome Initiative aims to make this site accessible to as many people as possible. We target the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, level AA — the same technical standard referenced by Germany’s Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV 2.0), in keeping with our maintainer’s affiliation with the Visualization Group.

Conformance status #

This site is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 AA. Partially conformant means some parts of the content do not yet fully conform to the standard.

Known issues #

An automated audit (Pa11y, WCAG2AA ruleset, cross-checked with axe-core) in August 2026 found and we fixed:

• The GitHub link in the main menu and the Bluesky icon in the blog-post sharing links lacked accessible text for screen readers.
• The search dialog’s input field had no accessible name, and its form had no submit control, which affected keyboard-only users.
• The “#” permalink links next to headings were distinguished from surrounding text by color alone.
• The skip-to-content link (revealed on keyboard focus) had insufficient color contrast.
• The “Open Data Browser” button on the Live page, and the color-coded dots in its definitions-graph legend, had insufficient color contrast.

We also cross-checked the previous/next article-footer arrows and the floating “back to top” button that axe-core flagged as ambiguous (“needs review”, not a confirmed failure): both compute well above the required 4.5:1 in the way they’re actually shown, so we’re treating them as resolved rather than changing them further.

Fixing the legend colors above also surfaced a larger, separate item we haven’t tackled yet: the definitions-graph itself (rendered via D3) draws its node labels in a fixed gray (#666666) that falls short of AA contrast, and its “Export as SVG”/“Reset” buttons have the same issue. That’s a bigger change to the graph’s rendering code, not a quick fix, so it’s still open.

We are working through these. Automated testing does not catch everything, so other barriers may exist that we are not yet aware of.

How we test #

We assess accessibility with automated tools — Pa11y (WCAG2AA ruleset) and axe-core — run against key pages as part of routine maintenance. These flag common issues such as missing accessible names, insufficient contrast, and missing form controls, but they cannot verify everything a full WCAG audit requires; manual review is still needed for complete assurance.

Feedback #

If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this site, please let us know.

This page follows the structure of similar public-sector accessibility statements in the interest of transparency, given our affiliation with the Visualization Group. The Open Syndrome Initiative itself is not a German public body, so this page is not a formal declaration under the BGG/BITV 2.0.