Scholar Sidekick aims to be usable by as many people as possible across both account-free and optional account-based features, including users with disabilities. Accessibility is treated as an ongoing responsibility rather than a one-time checklist.
Scholar Sidekick aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This is the level referenced by major accessibility frameworks, including the EU Web Accessibility Directive and the European Accessibility Act (EAA), the UK Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018, and US Section 508 (revised). While Scholar Sidekick is a private project rather than a covered public-sector or large-enterprise service, we adopt these standards as the practical bar to design and test against.
Some areas may not yet fully meet every Level AA success criterion; identified gaps are tracked as bugs (see Known limitations below).
In practice, this means we focus on:
We use a combination of automated checks and manual review:
Automated accessibility checks currently focus on the default (light) theme. Screen reader testing is not a regular part of our process today; we treat reports of screen-reader issues as bugs and aim to address them when raised.
Because Scholar Sidekick is a small, evolving service, there may be areas where accessibility can be improved. Examples may include:
We treat identified issues as bugs and aim to address them when they are discovered.
If you encounter any accessibility barriers while using Scholar Sidekick, we want to hear about them.
Please contact us with:
Email: accessibility@scholar-sidekick.com
We take accessibility feedback seriously and will do our best to respond promptly.
Accessibility work is iterative. As the service evolves, we aim to continue improving accessibility alongside new features and fixes.