Open Law Services InstituteOpen Knowledge. Greater Justice.
Accessibility

Accessibility Statement

Open Law Services Institute exists to make civil law usable by the people it affects. That includes people who use screen readers, keyboards, magnification, captions, or other assistive technology. This page explains the standard we build to, how we check our work, the limits we know about, and how to reach us if something gets in your way.

StandardWCAG 2.1, Level AA
Last reviewedOctober 25, 2026

Our commitment

The standard we build to

We design and test openlawservices.org to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium. WCAG 2.1 AA is the technical standard the U.S. Department of Justice adopted for state and local government websites under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Courts and regulators also use it to measure website accessibility under the ADA generally. We also check the newer WCAG 2.2 Level AA success criteria.

What we have done

  • A “Skip to main content” link at the top of every page, and all content and functions can be reached with a keyboard alone.
  • A visible focus outline on every link, button, and form field.
  • Text and interface colors that meet the WCAG AA contrast ratios.
  • A logical heading structure and page landmarks (header, navigation, main content, footer) so screen-reader users can move around quickly.
  • Text descriptions for meaningful images; decorative images are hidden from assistive technology.
  • Form fields with programmatic labels, required fields announced as “required,” and error messages that say what is missing and move focus to the first problem.
  • Layouts that reflow to a 320-pixel-wide screen and to 200% zoom without horizontal scrolling or loss of content.
  • Animations that stop when your device’s “reduce motion” setting is on.
  • Typefaces chosen for legibility, set at a comfortable reading size.
  • Links that open a new browser tab say so to screen-reader users.

How we test

We tested every page of this site at desktop and mobile widths with the axe-core accessibility engine and Google Lighthouse, and reviewed pages by hand: navigating with a keyboard only, checking reading order and headings, zooming to 200%, and checking color contrast. Our most recent full review was completed on October 25, 2026.

Guides, PDFs, and video walkthroughs

  • Written guides (web pages). Every guide is published as a full web page. That web page is the accessible version of the guide and contains the complete text, tables, and sources.
  • PDF downloads. The downloadable PDF is a print-friendly copy of the same guide. If the PDF does not work with your assistive technology, use the web-page version of the guide. You can also contact us for the guide in another format.
  • Video walkthroughs. Walkthroughs show on-screen captions throughout, can be paused and moved scene by scene with the keyboard, and are always paired with the full written guide.

Third-party content

A few items on this site come from other organizations, such as the Candid transparency seal. We choose third-party services with accessibility in mind, but we do not control their content.

Tell us about a barrier

If any part of this website is difficult to use, or you need information in a different format, please contact us. Tell us the page and what happened, and we will work with you to provide the information in a way that works for you.

The information on this site, including this page, is legal information, not legal advice.