Accessibility
AllSides is committed to making our website usable by everyone. We work to align with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level A and AA.
The table below is our Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), documenting how AllSides.com conforms to each WCAG 2.1 success criterion. It reflects our own testing and remediation work, including known gaps we are actively addressing.
Summary
This assessment covers 78 WCAG 2.1 success criteria at Levels A and AA. Level AAA criteria will be assessed in the future.
- Supports: 37
- Partially Supports: 6
- Not Applicable: 7
- Not Assessed: 28
WCAG 2.1 conformance details
Scroll horizontally to read the full remarks for each criterion.
| Criterion | Name | Level | Compliance | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 | Non-text Content | A | Partially Supports | Images built into our own page templates — including the color-coded bias-rating icons — always include a text description, so the rating is available in words (for example, "Left rating") even when the graphic itself isn't visible. Inline and featured images are sometimes missing alt text. We're planning editorial process changes to ensure all our images consistently have alt text. |
| 1.2.1 | Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) | A | Not Applicable | Our site uses no audio-only or silent video-only media. |
| 1.2.2 | Captions (Prerecorded) | A | Supports | All embedded videos include auto-generated captions that we've reviewed for accuracy. |
| 1.2.3 | Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) | A | Supports | We reviewed each video on our website and confirmed the audio track alone conveys everything important and the visuals are illustrative rather than essential, so a separate audio description isn't necessary. |
| 1.2.4 | Captions (Live) | AA | Not Applicable | The site does not include any live-streamed audio or video content. |
| 1.2.5 | Audio Description (Prerecorded) | AA | Supports | We reviewed each video on our website and confirmed the audio track alone conveys everything important and the visuals are illustrative rather than essential, so a separate audio description isn't necessary. |
| 1.2.6 | Sign Language (Prerecorded) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.2.7 | Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.2.8 | Media Alternative (Prerecorded) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.2.9 | Audio-only (Live) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.3.1 | Info and Relationships | A | Partially Supports | Our site is optimized for navigation with a screen reader. On certain pages, a script hides the visible page heading, which also removes the heading from assistive technology entirely rather than just restyling it. We plan to remediate this gap. |
| 1.3.2 | Meaningful Sequence | A | Supports | Content appears to keyboard and screen-reader users in the same order it's shown visually. |
| 1.3.3 | Sensory Characteristics | A | Supports | Instructions and controls are identified by their text or name, not solely by their shape, color, or position on the page. |
| 1.3.4 | Orientation | AA | Supports | The site works equally well in portrait and landscape orientation and is not locked to either. |
| 1.3.5 | Identify Input Purpose | AA | Supports | Fields that collect a user's own information, such as email and password fields, are tagged so browsers and password managers can recognize and autofill them correctly. |
| 1.3.6 | Identify Purpose | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.4.1 | Use of Color | A | Supports | Wherever we indicate a news source's bias rating, that information is also available as text — either as part of a link or image's label, or as a visible caption — and is never conveyed by color alone. We reviewed our main bias-display elements (the bias meter, bias gauge, source bias icon, and ratings table) and confirmed each pairs color with a text label. |
| 1.4.2 | Audio Control | A | Not Applicable | No audio or video plays automatically on any page. |
| 1.4.3 | Contrast (Minimum) | AA | Partially Supports | Body text, links, and most labels and icons meet the minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio against their background. The light blue color used by the "Lean Left" bias-category label falls under 4.5:1 on a white background. We're planning a fix. |
| 1.4.4 | Resize text | AA | Supports | Text can be resized up to 200% using standard browser zoom without losing content or functionality. |
| 1.4.5 | Images of Text | AA | Supports | Text on the site is real, selectable text rather than images. The few images that do contain text are app-store badges (governed by Apple's and Google's own branding requirements) and small bias-rating icons, which are always shown alongside the same information in real text. |
| 1.4.6 | Contrast (Enhanced) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.4.7 | Low or No Background Audio | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.4.8 | Visual Presentation | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.4.9 | Images of Text (No Exception) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 1.4.10 | Reflow | AA | Supports | Page content reflows to fit narrow screens without requiring users to scroll sideways. Wide tables, such as our media bias ratings table, intentionally scroll within their own boundary, which the guideline permits for tabular data. |
| 1.4.11 | Non-Text Contrast | AA | Partially Supports | Focus indicators and most interactive controls meet the minimum 3:1 contrast requirement against their background. We identified a gold color that falls under this threshold in several places. We're planning to replace it with higher-contrast colors. Some form-field borders use a very light gray that may not provide enough contrast where it's the only visual boundary of the field; we're evaluating a fix for this as well. |
| 1.4.12 | Text Spacing | AA | Supports | We reviewed the site's styling for rules that would block a user's custom text-spacing preferences (wider line height, paragraph spacing, letter- and word-spacing) and found only a small number of narrowly-scoped exceptions, on decorative elements rather than body content. |
| 1.4.13 | Content on Hover or Focus | AA | Supports | No content appears automatically on hover or focus; all superimposed content can be dismissed with the Escape key. |
| 2.1.1 | Keyboard | A | Supports | All interactive elements built directly into our site — navigation, forms, the Rate Your Bias tool, dropdown menus, and modal windows — can be fully operated using a keyboard alone. |
| 2.1.2 | No Keyboard Trap | A | Supports | We combed our site for keyboard traps and fixed all of them. |
| 2.1.3 | Keyboard (No Exception) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.1.4 | Character Key Shortcuts | A | Supports | The site does not use any single-key keyboard shortcuts that could be triggered accidentally while typing. |
| 2.2.1 | Timing Adjustable | A | Supports | No part of the site imposes a time limit on reading or completing a task. |
| 2.2.2 | Pause, Stop, Hide | A | Supports | The only auto-advancing carousel currently in use — testimonials shown during membership signup — includes a visible pause/play control, stops automatically when a user interacts with or hovers over it, and does not auto-advance at all for users whose devices are set to reduce motion. No other page has automatically moving or updating content. |
| 2.2.3 | No Timing | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.2.4 | Interruptions | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.2.5 | Re-authenticating | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.2.6 | Timeouts | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.3.1 | Three Flashes or Below Threshold | A | Supports | No content on the site flashes or strobes. |
| 2.3.2 | Three Flashes | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.3.3 | Animation from Interactions | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.4.1 | Bypass Blocks | A | Supports | A "Skip to main content" link is provided at the very beginning of every page. Activating it moves keyboard focus directly into the main content area, letting keyboard and screen-reader users bypass the header and navigation menu. |
| 2.4.2 | Page Titled | A | Supports | Every page has a unique, descriptive title — such as an article's headline or a specific bias-rating category — rather than one generic site-wide title. |
| 2.4.3 | Focus Order | A | Supports | When a same-page link (such as "Join" or "Host" on our discussion pages) is activated, or after a plan is selected on our /upgrade page, keyboard focus automatically moves to the relevant section, so the next Tab press continues logically rather than jumping back to the top of the page. |
| 2.4.4 | Link Purpose (In Context) | A | Partially Supports | Links generated by our own page templates announce their content. Our media bias ratings table, the "Agree"/"Disagree" voting buttons use the same label in every row; users navigating the table itself have the source name for context, but a user browsing straight through a list of buttons may not. Our content contains hyperlinks either embedded in the content itself or with descriptive text. |
| 2.4.5 | Multiple Ways | AA | Supports | Visitors can find any page through the main navigation menu, a dedicated search page and header search box, or special menus on some pages — more than one way to reach the same content. |
| 2.4.6 | Headings and Labels | AA | Supports | Headings and form labels describe what they introduce — for example, a bias-rating chart's heading or a form field's label — rather than being vague or purely decorative. |
| 2.4.7 | Focus Visible | AA | Supports | Interactive elements show a clear, high-contrast focus outline when reached by keyboard. |
| 2.4.8 | Location | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.4.9 | Link Purpose (Link Only) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.4.10 | Section Headings | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.5.1 | Pointer Gestures | A | Not Applicable | The site has no swipe, pinch, or other multi-point or path-based gestures — every interaction works with a single tap, click, or button press. |
| 2.5.2 | Pointer Cancellation | A | Not Applicable | No functionality on the site depends on the initial press of a pointer in a way that would need a separate cancellation step; standard click/tap behavior is used throughout. |
| 2.5.3 | Label in Name | A | Supports | Where a control's accessible name is set explicitly for screen readers and voice-control users, it always includes the visible label text too, so a voice-control user saying what they see on screen will work as expected. |
| 2.5.4 | Motion Actuation | A | Not Applicable | No functionality on the site is triggered by shaking, tilting, or other device motion. |
| 2.5.5 | Target Size | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 2.5.6 | Concurrent Input Mechanisms | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.1.1 | Language of Page | A | Supports | Every page declares English as its language, so screen readers use the correct pronunciation rules. |
| 3.1.2 | Language of Parts | AA | Not Applicable | The site is entirely in English. |
| 3.1.3 | Unusual Words | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.1.4 | Abbreviations | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.1.5 | Reading Level | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.1.6 | Pronunciation | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.2.1 | On Focus | A | Supports | Moving keyboard focus to an element never by itself triggers a page change, pop-up, or submission; an explicit action like pressing Enter or clicking is always required first. |
| 3.2.2 | On Input | A | Supports | Changing a dropdown, checkbox, or other form setting does not unexpectedly redirect the page or submit a form without the user taking a separate, explicit action. |
| 3.2.3 | Consistent Navigation | AA | Supports | The header, footer, and primary navigation are shared across the site, so their position and order stay the same from page to page. |
| 3.2.4 | Consistent Identification | AA | Supports | Controls that perform the same function — such as search, subscribe, or share — are labeled the same way everywhere they appear on the site. |
| 3.2.5 | Change on Request | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.3.1 | Error Identification | A | Supports | Forms across the site — including login, password reset, newsletter signup, and contact — identify which field has a problem and describe the issue in text next to that field, not just with a color change. |
| 3.3.2 | Labels or Instructions | A | Supports | Every form field has a visible label describing what to enter, and fields that require a specific format include guidance on that format. |
| 3.3.3 | Error Suggestion | AA | Supports | Where a fix is knowable — for example, a required field left blank — the error message tells the user what to do next, not just that something is wrong. |
| 3.3.4 | Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) | AA | Supports | Before any membership payment is finalized, users see a review step, provided by our payment processor's checkout flow, summarizing the plan and price, and can correct or cancel before completing the transaction. |
| 3.3.5 | Help | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 3.3.6 | Error Prevention (All) | AAA | Not Assessed | To be assessed. |
| 4.1.1 | Parsing | A | Supports | All elements have unique IDs. |
| 4.1.2 | Name, Role, Value | A | Partially Supports | Custom interactive controls across the site are built with the names and roles assistive technology needs to announce them correctly. The event cards in our Dialogue/Roundtables events list announce only "link, Register" with no indication of which event it is. We're planning a fix. |
| 4.1.3 | Status Messages | AA | Supports | When a user votes on a source's bias rating or subscribes to a newsletter, the confirmation message is announced to screen reader users automatically, without requiring them to move focus to notice it. |
Feedback and assistance
If you encounter a barrier on AllSides.com, or need content in an alternative format, please contact us. We review accessibility feedback regularly and use it to prioritize fixes.
Last updated: July 2026. Conformance statements in this table are based on internal testing of allsides.com and may be updated as we make improvements.