DegreeMapper is built as static HTML with semantic landmarks, real headings, and high-contrast typography. Every page on the site is a real document on disk that can be read top-to-bottom by any assistive technology without depending on JavaScript to render content. The site is keyboard-navigable, supports browser zoom up to at least 200% without horizontal scrolling on standard breakpoints, and uses focus-visible outlines on every interactive element so that keyboard users can always see where they are on the page. We aim to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA conformance across the full site.
The deliberate design choices behind that goal include: a single skip-to-content link as the first focusable element on every page; one and only one h1 per page describing the page's primary subject; a logical heading hierarchy below it that mirrors the visual structure; semantic landmarks (header, nav, main, aside, footer) on every layout so that screen-reader users can jump directly to the section they want; and tabular data structured with proper th scopes so the column or row context is announced as a user navigates the table.
Color is never the sole carrier of information. Charts and rankings include the underlying numerical value beside any color cue, links are underlined as well as colored, and our text-to-background contrast ratios are tested against the WCAG AA threshold (4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text and non-text components). The body font is set in a generous 17-pixel base size with a comfortable 1.6 line-height to support extended reading and to reduce visual fatigue for users with dyslexia or low vision.
Because the site is statically generated, page weight is small and time-to-interactive is essentially the network round-trip. That is by design: it makes the site usable on slow connections, on older devices, and behind assistive-technology proxies that struggle with heavyweight JavaScript single-page applications. We do not load tracking scripts, autoplaying media, or third-party widgets that would inject inaccessible content into the page.
If you encounter an accessibility issue — for example, a color that fails contrast, a heading order that confuses your screen reader, a table that doesn't read in a sensible row order, a focus indicator that is missing or hard to see, or any keyboard trap — please get in touch through the contact information on our about page so we can correct it. We treat accessibility regressions as bugs and prioritize them ahead of cosmetic changes. We are also interested in feedback from users of any specific assistive technology where the rendered output is suboptimal, even when the underlying HTML is technically conformant.