=== Accessibility Statement ===

Ariade is built to be accessible first, not corrected afterwards. Every
pattern, template part and block style that ships with the theme is written
against WCAG 2.2 Level AA and is tested before release, using automated
tooling and by hand with screen readers and the keyboard. Accessibility is
treated as a release blocker: a pattern that does not pass does not ship.

== Quick Information ==

Accessibility audit completed: Yes
Most recent audit date: 2026-09-10
Tested to standard and conformance level: WCAG 2.2 AA (supports)
Audited by: anblik, [M/S. Anblik](https://ananyoo.com)

== Testing Tools and Methodology ==

Ariade is audited on a clean WordPress install with no plugins other than
Theme Check, so the theme is tested the way a reviewer will see it, and again
on a site carrying the official Theme Unit Test data.

Automated testing, run on every release:

* axe-core 4.10.2, with the wcag2a, wcag2aa, wcag21a, wcag21aa, wcag22aa and
  best-practice rulesets, across the front page, single post, static page,
  category archive, author archive, date archive, search results, empty search
  results and 404 views, each at 1280px and at 390px, and repeated over the
  Theme Unit Test data. The logged-in admin bar is removed before the run,
  because it is WordPress core markup that a visitor never sees.
* WAVE (WebAIM), run on the public test site over the same nine view types.
* Lighthouse 12.2.1, desktop and mobile.
* Theme Check, the same plugin WordPress.org runs.

Manual testing, run before a release that changes markup, patterns or styles:

* Screen readers: NVDA and JAWS on Windows with Chrome and Firefox, VoiceOver
  on macOS Safari and on iOS, TalkBack on Android Chrome.
* A full keyboard walk of every view, forward with Tab and backwards with
  Shift + Tab, checking reachability, focus visibility, focus order, absence
  of focus traps, and operation of every control with Enter, Space, Escape
  and the arrow keys.
* Reflow and resize: 200 percent and 400 percent zoom at a 1280px viewport,
  a 320px viewport, and Firefox with Zoom Text Only enabled.
* Text spacing: line height 1.5x, letter spacing 0.12x, word spacing 0.16x
  and paragraph spacing 2x the font size, applied together.
* Colour contrast measured with the Colour Contrast Analyser, including hover
  and focus states, which automated tools do not check. Text is held to
  4.5:1, large text and user interface components to 3:1.
* Windows High Contrast mode and forced-colors.

Anything an automated tool reports as "incomplete" is measured by hand rather
than dismissed. Text sitting on a gradient, on an image or on overlapping
boxes is measured against the actual computed background.

== Screen Reader Text Class ==

screen-reader-text

The theme also defines .sr-only with the same behaviour, for use inside its
own patterns. Both keep the text available to assistive technology while
hiding it visually, and both become visible on focus where they wrap a
focusable element.

== Accessibility Features ==

* A skip link to the main content, present on every view, visible on focus,
  and pointing at a target that exists.
* One main landmark per view, with header, navigation, main and footer
  landmarks present and named.
* Exactly one h1 per view, belonging to the page content, with the site title
  as an h2 in the header and in the footer, so the heading order stays valid.
* A mobile menu that is a real dialog, with role="dialog", aria-modal="true",
  an accessible name, a labelled close button, focus moved into the panel and
  Escape to close.
* A visible focus indicator throughout, at least a 2px outline, meeting 3:1
  against its background.
* No text below 12px anywhere in the theme.
* Underlined links in running text, so a link is not identified by colour
  alone.
* Form fields with real labels, grouped fieldsets where a group exists, and
  errors announced to assistive technology.
* Accessible 404 patterns: the large "404" is part of the h1, marked with
  role="img" and labelled "Error 404", so a screen reader announces the error
  and then the sentence.
* No content that appears on hover only, and no control that changes context
  without the user asking for it.
* Colour palettes shipped in theme.json are checked for contrast in every
  combination the theme offers.

== Accessibility Help Contact ==

shivaji@anblik.com

== Where to Report Issues ==

shivaji@anblik.com

Please include the theme version, the WordPress version, the browser and the
assistive technology you were using, and the page or pattern where the problem
appears. Accessibility reports are treated as bugs, not as feature requests,
and are fixed in the parent theme so that every site using Ariade gets the fix.