Accessibility

In short

The editor is not yet screen-reader friendly. The player, which is what solvers use, is built for keyboards and screen readers. We would rather say so plainly than pretend.

The player

• Solving works from the keyboard alone (Keyboard shortcuts).
• Every square has a label that says its clue numbers, its row and column, its letter and whether it is marked wrong.
• The current clue is announced as you move, and letters you type are announced.
• Check and Reveal results, and Solved, are announced.
• Wrong and revealed squares are shown by shape as well as colour.
• It works on a phone and inside other sites' frames.

The editor

• You can do everything with the keyboard: modes, typing, clues, menus and windows, with a visible focus ring everywhere (Keyboard shortcuts).
• Buttons, tabs, menus and windows have names, and status messages such as Valid and Saved are announced.
• Controls are at least 44 pixels high on a touch screen.

What is not good enough yet

• The editor does not announce the grid well to a screen reader: typing a letter or moving in Fill mode, and switching squares in Shape mode, are not spoken in a useful way. This is the main gap. We plan to fix it after launch.
• We have checked with automated tools and by inspecting what the page exposes, but not yet with a real screen reader such as NVDA, VoiceOver or TalkBack, so we cannot promise how it sounds.
• In a barred puzzle, a screen-reader solver cannot yet hear where an answer ends inside the grid.

Tell us

If something in Crossmith does not work for you, write to hello@crossmith.com and say what you use. We will answer, and what you tell us decides what is fixed first.