Accessibility

ClutchChess aims to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. We work at it as we go. When we add or redesign a feature, we test it against those standards and fix what doesn't pass.

• Keyboard access. You can reach and use every button, link, menu, form control, and the drill board itself with the keyboard alone (see The Chessboard below). A “Skip to main content” link lets keyboard and screen-reader users jump past the navigation on every page.
• Focus & dialogs. Menus and dialogs keep focus inside them while open, close on Esc, and put focus back where you left it. A visible focus ring shows where you are.
• Color & contrast. Text clears the AA contrast minimum against its background, and we never use color on its own to carry meaning.
• Reduced motion. If your device asks for reduced motion, we cut animations back, including the board piece animation and the pre-drill countdown. You can also turn this on yourself in settings.
• Structure & labels. Pages use real landmarks and headings, images carry text descriptions, and form fields have labels tied to them.

The drill board works with a pointer or the keyboard. With a mouse, trackpad, or touch, drag a piece to its square, or tap the piece's square and then the target square.

With the keyboard, Tab to the board and use the arrow keys to move between squares. Each square is announced with its coordinate and the piece on it, for example “e4, white pawn,” so a screen reader can read the position. Press Enter or Space to pick up a piece, then again to drop it on its destination. The focused square shows a ring.

We use a mix of automated and manual checks:

• Automated axe-core and pa11y scans against WCAG 2.1 AA on our main pages, run with the rest of our tests.
• A linter rule set (eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y) that catches common mistakes before code ships.
• Manual keyboard-only walkthroughs of the main flows, including solving a drill without a mouse.

Hit a barrier, or have a suggestion? Email support@clutchchess.app. Tell us the page and what you were trying to do. We aim to reply within 30 days, and we put fixes that block people from training first.

You can also manage your account and preferences, including the reduce-motion setting, on the settings page.