Accessibility
statement
We are working towards WCAG 2.2 Level AA. We are not there yet, and this page says where the gaps are.
- level we target
- AA
- faults we know of
- 4
- to a first reply
- 1 day
- to a plan or fix
- 10 days
On this pageThe standard we target
01 · WCAG 2.2, Level AA
The standard we target
WCAG 2.2, Level AA. That is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. AA sits at the middle of its three conformance levels.
Level AA is the level referenced by the European Accessibility Act and EN 301 549. The UK public sector regulations and US Department of Justice guidance under the ADA point at it too. It is the practical benchmark for a commercial store.
Current status: partially conformant. Parts of printfabrix.com do not meet Level AA. Section 4 lists the failures we know about.
We publish the gaps rather than a compliance badge. A statement claiming AA we do not hold would be a false claim about our own site, and it would carry its own legal risk as well.
02 · Self-assessment
How we assessed the site
This statement is based on a self-assessment, carried out by a content and technical reviewer.
Method: manual review of markup, heading structure and tables.
Pages covered: the homepage, a sample of the 17 fabric pages, the collection pages, and the policy pages.
Two honest limits on that method
- No independent third-party audit has been commissioned. One is recommended in section 6.
- No formal testing with assistive technology users has taken place. Automated checkers were not the basis for this list.
So section 4 is a floor, not a ceiling. There are likely faults we have not found.
03 · Starting position
What already works
- Text content is real text, not text baked into images.
- Fabric specifications are published as tables and prose, so they can be read aloud and enlarged.
- The site reflows on a phone, and text can be zoomed without loss of content.
- Policy pages, including this one, use real heading elements in a correct order.
- Colour is not the only way information is conveyed in body copy.
These are a starting position, not a conformance claim. Each still needs testing at Level AA.
04 · Four confirmed faults
Known issues, and what we are doing about them
Four confirmed faults. All four are on the pages that matter most.
| Issue | Where | Criterion | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|---|
| No <h2> anywhere on the page, and the heading order runs H1 → H3 → H4 with a level skipped | All 17 fabric pages | 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) | Screen reader users navigating by heading, who lose the page's top-level structure entirely |
| Section labels are styled <div> elements rather than heading elements, so they look like headings and are not | Fabric pages, homepage blocks | 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) · 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA) | Screen reader and keyboard users. A heading list that omits half the page is worse than no headings |
| A heading renders as “See it beforeyou print.” — whitespace is missing in the markup | Homepage | 1.3.1 as a text defect. No exact success criterion maps to it | Screen reader users, who hear one nonsense word. Everyone else reads a typo |
| Specification tables have no scope on their header cells, so rows and columns are not programmatically associated | All 17 fabric pages | 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) | Screen reader users, who hear cell values with no idea which spec they belong to. The worst of the four for someone comparing fabrics |
All four faults are identified and scheduled for remediation. Work is in progress, and we confirm target dates as each fix is scheduled.
Areas we have not yet tested
Naming these is part of being honest about the gaps.
- The price calculator. Keyboard operation, label association, error messaging and announcement of the updated price are all untested. This is the highest-risk component on the site, because it is how the store takes money.
- The artwork upload field. File type errors, the 20 MB limit and progress feedback need testing with a screen reader.
- Focus visibility and focus order. Across the theme, including WCAG 2.2's newer criteria — 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured and 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum).
- Colour contrast. Across the theme, at 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text and interface components.
- Digital proofs. A proof is a rendered image of your artwork. It cannot be made accessible, because it exists to show visual appearance. Section 5 gives the alternative.
- The checkout. Partly outside our control. See section 7.
Our commitment
We fix accessibility faults as defects, not as feature requests.
- Confirmed faults in section 4 are scheduled for remediation.
- New reports get a first reply within 1 working day and a plan within 10 working days.
- No new page ships with a heading structure like the one in issue 1. Real headings, correct order, scope on every table.
- This statement is reviewed after any theme change.
05 · The human route
If something here blocks you
There is a human route, and it is not a worse route.
Email sales@printfabrix.com with what you are trying to print. We will price it, take the order and send the proof by email.
Include what you can
Any of it helps, and none of it is required.
- The fabric, or a description of the job.
- Finished width and height, in ft, in or cm.
- Finishing — pole pockets, eyelets or Velcro backing.
- Delivery country.
06 · Reporting
Report a problem, or ask for a fix
Email sales@printfabrix.com and put “Accessibility” in the subject line.
Useful detail, if you have it
- The page address.
- What you were trying to do.
- Your browser, and any assistive technology you use.
Accessibility contact
| sales@printfabrix.com | |
| First reply | 1 working day |
| Plan or fix | 10 working days |
Every other way to reach us, and our hours, are on the contact page.
If our reply does not resolve it, ask for it to be escalated in the same thread. We will tell you who is looking at it.
07 · Third parties
Parts of the site we do not fully control
Some components come from third parties. We can raise faults with them, and we cannot rewrite their code.
- The checkout, which our e-commerce platform hosts and renders.
- The payment step, hosted by our payment processor.
- Embedded video, if a fabric page carries one.
- Any third-party app added to the store.
Report a fault in one of these to us anyway. We will pass it to the supplier and give you their reference.
We are responsible for choosing suppliers, so accessibility is part of how we choose the next one.
08 · The physical object
Accessibility of what we print
Printed fabric is a physical object, so WCAG does not apply to it. Two things carry over from it anyway.
- Contrast. We will tell you if artwork will read poorly at the size you have chosen, and design help is free.
- Text size on large-format prints. Send the viewing distance and we will say whether your type is large enough.
Ask before you approve the proof. Both checks are free.
09 · For the record
Formal statement
printfabrix.com is operated by PrintFabrix. We are committed to making the site usable by as many people as possible. That commitment does not turn on your ability or your technology.
printfabrix.com is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. “Partially conformant” means parts of the content do not fully conform to the standard.
This statement was prepared from the self-assessment described in section 2.
Found something we have missed?
Tell us and it goes on the list. First reply within one working day, a plan within ten.