Accessibility Statement

1. Our Commitment

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA as a minimum standard across this website. We are also working toward Level AAA compliance in areas where it is reasonably achievable.

WCAG guidelines are built around four principles (P.O.U.R.). Content should be:

• Perceivable — information is presented in ways all users can perceive
• Operable — all functionality is available via keyboard as well as mouse
• Understandable — content and navigation are clear and consistent
• Robust — content works reliably with assistive technologies including screen readers

2. Measures We Have Taken

To support accessibility on this website, we have:

• Used a logical heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3) throughout all pages
• Written descriptive alt text for all meaningful images
• Added aria-label attributes to interactive elements including buttons, links, and audio players
• Ensured all text meets WCAG AA colour contrast ratios as a minimum
• Built keyboard-navigable menus and interactive elements
• Added visible focus indicators to all interactive elements
• Provided audio narrations with full text transcripts on all portfolio pages
• Captioned all embedded video content or provided text equivalents
• Ensured all forms have clearly labelled fields and descriptive error messages
• Used plain language throughout, targeting a Grade 6 reading level
• Ensured the site is fully responsive and usable on any screen size
• Avoided autoplay for all audio and video content
• Tested with screen readers including NVDA and VoiceOver

3. Known Limitations

We are continuously working to improve the accessibility of this website. Known areas we are actively working on include:

• Some older portfolio entries may have limited alt text — we are updating these progressively
• Some embedded third-party audio player controls (MediaElement.js) may have limited screen reader support in certain browser and screen reader combinations — transcripts are always available as a text alternative

4. Technical Specifications

This website is built on WordPress using the Divi 5 theme builder. It relies on the following technologies for accessibility:

• HTML5 semantic markup
• WAI-ARIA roles and attributes
• CSS for visual presentation
• JavaScript for interactive components

These technologies are used in conformance with accessibility best practice.

5. Testing

We test accessibility using:

• Silktide Accessibility Checker — automated and guided testing
• NVDA screen reader (Windows)
• VoiceOver screen reader (macOS and iOS)
• Keyboard-only navigation testing
• Browser developer tools including Chrome Lighthouse

We test regularly and after any significant changes to the site.

6. Feedback and Contact

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of this website. If you encounter any barriers or have difficulty using any part of this site, please contact us and we will do our best to help.

Email: info@designburst.ie.

We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within 5 working days.

7. Enforcement

If you are not satisfied with our response to an accessibility concern, you can contact the National Disability Authority (NDA) in Ireland, which monitors accessibility of public sector websites. For private sector websites, you may also contact the Office of the Ombudsman.

8. Formal Compliance Status

DesignBurst.ie is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Partial conformance means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard. We built this website with WCAG 2.2 Level AAA compliance in mind and while it passes most tests there are some paramaters outside our control that may affect this level of accessibility to all users on all devices. We are actively working to continuously make this website accessible and to improve beyond the minimum standard wherever possible.