Accessibility Conformance Report

Based on VPAT® (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) Version 2.5Rev, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) edition, covering WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA. The plain-language version is the accessibility statement.

Product information

Name of product: stevemcgarvey.me (personal website)
Version: Live site as of October 20, 2026
Report date: October 20, 2026 (revised; first published October 19, 2026)
Product description: Personal site of Steve McGarvey: essays and notes, a reading list, work history, public portfolio case studies, and site search. Built with Astro, hosted on Cloudflare Workers.
Contact: steve@upstreamxd.com

Notes

Scope: all public pages on the live site, including the 404 page and the portfolio password page and its error state.
Out of scope: the two password-protected case studies. They aren't publicly available, so they weren't evaluated.
Third-party content: site search is Pagefind, which is part of the site and was tested. Comments are giscus, a third-party widget that loads only when a reader selects "Show comments." Where giscus affects a result, the remark says so.
Imported writing: twelve essays were imported from Medium. They were checked for heading structure and alt text along with the rest of the site.
Beyond this report: a review against the September 2026 Working Draft of WCAG 3.0 led to abbreviations spelled out at first use (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.1.4, Level AAA, which this report doesn't evaluate) and dates marked up with <time>. Abbreviations in titles carry a tooltip instead. These don't change any result below.

Evaluation methods used

Automated: axe-core 4.10.2 (WCAG 2.0 to 2.2 A and AA, plus best-practice rules) on the live site, in light and dark themes.
Scripted DOM (Document Object Model) checks on 21 templates: headings, landmarks, accessible names, alt text, link text, target size, title attributes, autoplay.
Keyboard: real Tab and Enter events, with focus order, visibility, and obscuring logged.
Reflow and spacing: 320 CSS px reflow and the WCAG 1.4.12 text-spacing override, each on 22 templates.
Contrast: computed from the design tokens for every text and focus pairing, in both themes.
Screen reader: a 40-case manual VoiceOver protocol on macOS 27.0.1 and Safari 27.0.1, with default verbosity and hints on. Safari's "Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage" setting was turned on. Issues found during the pass were fixed the same day and retested.
October 20 revision: changes to case-study tables, figure captions, dark-theme muted text, homepage series cards, abbreviations, and date markup were checked on the live site with scripted DOM checks across all public pages and with contrast math. A VoiceOver spot check of a case-study table passed. The axe-core scan and the full VoiceOver pass were not re-run for this revision.

Applicable standards

WCAG 2.2 Level A: included
WCAG 2.2 Level AA: included
WCAG 2.2 Level AAA: not included

Terms

Supports:: the functionality meets the criterion without known defects, or meets it with equivalent facilitation.
Partially Supports:: some functionality doesn't meet the criterion.
Does Not Support:: the majority of functionality doesn't meet the criterion.
Not Applicable:: the criterion isn't relevant to the product.
Not Evaluated:: the product hasn't been evaluated against the criterion. Only used for AAA.

WCAG 2.2 report

Table 1: Success Criteria, Level A

Criteria	Conformance level	Remarks and explanations
1.1.1 Non-text Content	Supports	Content images have descriptive alt text. Decorative images (book covers next to visible titles) have empty alt. Figures read alt, then a new-tab hint, then a caption that adds to the alt rather than repeating it. The caption also says, visibly, that the full-size image opens in a new tab.
1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)	Not Applicable	No audio or video content.
1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)	Not Applicable	No video content.
1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)	Not Applicable	No video content.
1.3.1 Info and Relationships	Supports	Headings, lists, landmarks, description lists, tables, and form labels are coded in markup. Lists styled without bullets carry role="list" so Safari keeps list semantics. Case-study tables mark each row label as a row header, and none has an empty header row.
1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence	Supports	Reading order matches visual order, including margin notes, which read beside the paragraph they annotate.
1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics	Supports	Instructions don't rely on shape, size, position, or sound alone. Image descriptions that mention left and right also name what's there.
1.4.1 Use of Color	Supports	Links in body text are underlined. The password error is shown as text, not only as a red border.
1.4.2 Audio Control	Not Applicable	No audio plays automatically.
2.1.1 Keyboard	Supports	All links, buttons, search, comments, and the password form work from the keyboard. In Safari, Tab reaches links only when "Press Tab to highlight each item" is on (Option + Tab otherwise), which is a browser setting.
2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap	Supports	Tab order cycles through each page and back out without traps.
2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts	Not Applicable	The site defines no keyboard shortcuts.
2.2.1 Timing Adjustable	Not Applicable	No time limits.
2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide	Not Applicable	No moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating content.
2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold	Supports	No flashing content.
2.4.1 Bypass Blocks	Supports	A skip link is the first focusable item and moves focus to the main content. Landmarks and headings also allow navigation.
2.4.2 Page Titled	Supports	Every page has a unique, descriptive title, including the 404 page. After a failed password attempt, the title starts with "Error:".
2.4.3 Focus Order	Supports	Focus follows reading order. "Show comments" moves focus to the Comments heading. A failed password attempt moves focus to the error message.
2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)	Supports	Link names describe their destination. Repeated links such as "View case study" and "Read the series" include the item's name.
2.5.1 Pointer Gestures	Not Applicable	No multipoint or path-based gestures.
2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation	Supports	Controls are native links and buttons that activate on release.
2.5.3 Label in Name	Supports	Accessible names begin with the visible label, e.g. writing cards read the visible type label and then the title.
2.5.4 Motion Actuation	Not Applicable	No motion-triggered functions.
3.1.1 Language of Page	Supports	lang="en" on every page.
3.2.1 On Focus	Supports	Focus doesn't trigger a change of context.
3.2.2 On Input	Supports	Typing in search updates the results on the same page, with no change of context.
3.2.6 Consistent Help	Supports	The contact email and Accessibility link are in the same footer position on every page.
3.3.1 Error Identification	Supports	A wrong password returns a text error ("That password didn't work. Check it and try again."), marks the field invalid, and links the error as the field's description. VoiceOver announces it on load.
3.3.2 Labels or Instructions	Supports	Every field has a visible label. Remark: on the portfolio overview, VoiceOver announced only "Password" for the password field, without its type or required state. The markup has the label, type="password", and required.
3.3.7 Redundant Entry	Not Applicable	No multi-step processes.
4.1.1 Parsing	Supports	Obsolete in WCAG 2.2 and treated as always satisfied. Listed for VPAT 2.5 compatibility.
4.1.2 Name, Role, Value	Partially Supports	Site controls expose name, role, and state. Exception: when a reader loads comments, the third-party giscus frame adds a second main landmark to the page. Comments stay readable and operable. Reported upstream as giscus/giscus#1734. Remark: see 3.3.2 on the portfolio overview password field.

Table 2: Success Criteria, Level AA

Criteria	Conformance level	Remarks and explanations
1.2.4 Captions (Live)	Not Applicable	No live media.
1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)	Not Applicable	No video content.
1.3.4 Orientation	Supports	No orientation lock.
1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose	Supports	The password field uses autocomplete="current-password". No other fields collect personal data.
1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)	Supports	Body text 11.2:1 or higher. Muted text 4.51:1 or higher in light theme and 7.83:1 or higher in dark. Checked in both themes.
1.4.4 Resize Text	Supports	Text resizes without loss of content or function.
1.4.5 Images of Text	Supports	Text is real text. Case-study figures are images of design artifacts and annotation boards, where the visual presentation is the subject. Each has full alt text and a full-size version.
1.4.10 Reflow	Supports	No horizontal scrolling at 320 CSS px on any template.
1.4.11 Non-text Contrast	Supports	Focus indicator 6.59:1 to 18.45:1. Password field border 5.33:1. Decorative hairline borders aren't required to meet contrast.
1.4.12 Text Spacing	Supports	No clipped or overlapping text with the text-spacing override.
1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus	Not Applicable	No content appears on hover or focus.
2.4.5 Multiple Ways	Supports	Main navigation, site search, and index pages for Writing, Reading, and Work.
2.4.6 Headings and Labels	Supports	Headings describe their sections, including repeated subheadings within each step of an essay. Remark: VoiceOver speaks the "Read" heading on the Reading page in the present tense.
2.4.7 Focus Visible	Supports	A visible outline on every focusable element, in both themes.
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)	Supports	The header isn't sticky, and no focused element is hidden.
2.5.7 Dragging Movements	Not Applicable	No drag interactions.
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)	Supports	Targets under 24 by 24 px (the search icon and nav and footer links) meet the spacing exception. The tightest spacing is 25.1 px.
3.1.2 Language of Parts	Supports	Passages in other languages are marked with their language, e.g. a Greek word in "Wolves and Sheep; Serpents and Doves."
3.2.3 Consistent Navigation	Supports	Navigation is in the same order on every page.
3.2.4 Consistent Identification	Supports	Components with the same function have the same name across pages, e.g. "Search".
3.3.3 Error Suggestion	Supports	The password error says what to do next. A specific correction can't be suggested without revealing the password.
3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)	Not Applicable	No legal, financial, or data submissions.
3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum)	Supports	The password field allows paste and supports password managers. No cognitive function test.
4.1.3 Status Messages	Supports	Search announces the result count ("46 results for accessibility") and "No results" without moving focus.

Table 3: Success Criteria, Level AAA

Not evaluated.

Report date October 20, 2026 (revised; first published October 19, 2026). Found something this report gets wrong? Email steve@upstreamxd.com.