Accessibility statement
How usable this site is, what is known to be wrong with it, and how to tell us.
Something on this site unusable?
Email info@thecodeabides.co.uk and describe what happened. You do not need to know what is wrong technically, or to use any particular words — “I could not read the times on my phone” is a useful report.
Every report is read by the people who maintain the site, and you will get a reply.
§1 What this covers
This statement covers ferndownjuniorchess.co.uk and everything published on it. It does not cover other people’s websites that we link to, such as the English Chess Federation’s or Dorset Council’s.
We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. That is an international standard for making websites usable by people who browse with a keyboard rather than a mouse, who enlarge the text, who use a screen reader, or who need to change how text is spaced.
§2 How accessible this site is
We believe this site meets WCAG 2.2 level AA, with the exceptions listed in §4. That is a belief based on testing rather than a certification, and §4 and §3 say plainly what has and has not been checked.
What is tested automatically, on every change
Every change to the site is checked before it is published. Nothing can go live that fails any of these:
- an automated accessibility scan of every page, against WCAG 2.2 AA
- page layout at 320 pixels wide, and at 200% and 400% browser zoom, so nothing needs sideways scrolling
- page speed and stability, so the page does not shift under you while it loads
- every chess board’s keyboard controls, and the words it announces to a screen reader
⚠️ Automated checks find perhaps a third of accessibility problems. They are why nothing gets worse without somebody noticing; they are not why we believe the site is usable. That comes from the audits below.
What was tested by a person, and when
Four audits were carried out by hand on 18 August 2026:
| What was tested | How | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Using the site by keyboard alone | Every page walked by machine, then five pages by hand in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 | One problem found and fixed |
| Screen readers | NVDA with Firefox on Windows 11, and VoiceOver with Safari on iOS | No problems found |
| Zoom, and changing text spacing | Every page measured, then five by hand in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 | One problem found and fixed |
| Reduced motion, and the size of things you tap | Every page measured, then by hand in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 and Safari on iOS | No problems found |
Both problems found were fixed the same day. Dated records of each audit are kept, naming the tester, the software and the versions used; they are not published, and we will send them to anyone who asks.
§3 The legal position
⚠️ We are not required by law to publish this statement, and we are publishing it anyway. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 apply to public sector organisations. Ferndown Junior Chess is a voluntary community club and is not one, so those regulations do not apply to it and no accessibility statement is legally mandated.
The Equality Act 2010 does apply. It requires reasonable adjustments so that disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage, and a website that cannot be used is a recognised way of failing that duty. Meeting WCAG 2.2 AA is how we try to discharge it.
The club is responsible for this website. It is built and maintained for the club by The Code Abides Limited, which is why §5 sends reports there.
§4 Known issues
An honest list is what makes a statement worth reading. Two things on this site are known to fall short, and neither was found by the audits — both were known before them and are recorded here rather than quietly left out.
| What does not work | Where, and what we are doing |
|---|---|
| Two pictures contain words | The recruitment poster and the castling worksheet are artwork. A screen reader cannot read words inside a picture, and enlarging the text does not enlarge them. The session details printed on the poster are written out as ordinary text beside it, so nothing on it is only available as a picture. Replacing the artwork would mean losing it, so we have kept it and written the facts out instead. |
| The chess move text is small | On the Games page and the teaching pages, moves such as Nf3 are set smaller than the body text. It enlarges correctly when you zoom, and a screen reader reads it as words, but it is small to begin with. |
What has not been tested
This matters as much as the list above, and a statement that leaves it out is overclaiming:
- The keyboard, zoom and text-spacing audits were done in one browser. The screen-reader audit used Firefox and Safari, and the motion audit used Edge and Safari.
- The screen-reader audit read four pages aloud, not all of them.
- We have not tested with JAWS, TalkBack, Narrator or a braille display.
- No disabled person has tested this site. Everything above was done by the people who built it.
⛔ So “no problems found” above means none were found by those tests, on those pages, in those browsers. If you hit something we missed, §5 is the whole point of this document.
§5 Reporting a problem
If any part of this site is difficult or impossible to use, please tell us.
Email info@thecodeabides.co.uk. That reaches The Code Abides Limited, who build and maintain the site for the club — so it goes straight to the people who can change it. Every report is read, and you will get a reply.
You do not need to describe the problem technically. What page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what happened is enough. If you use a screen reader, magnifier or other assistive software, telling us which one helps us reproduce it.
For anything that is not about the website — sessions, membership, or the club itself — the club’s own contact details are on the Contact page.