Accessibility

Last updated 3 September 2026 · Applies to the Ahead staging environment

A job search is not optional work. A product that helps with one has to be usable by everyone who needs it, so accessibility here is a build requirement rather than a later pass.

What we target

WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We have not commissioned a third-party audit and do not claim certified conformance. What follows is what is actually implemented.

What's implemented

• Semantic HTML. Real buttons for actions, real links for navigation, real headings in order. No clickable divs standing in for controls.
• Keyboard access. Every interactive control is reachable and operable by keyboard, in a sensible order. Each page starts with a "skip to main content" link.
• Visible focus. A focus ring is defined globally and is never removed without a replacement.
• Labels. Every form control has an associated label. Icon-only buttons carry accessible names.
• Live regions. Aliya's replies, step changes and recording state are announced to screen readers rather than only appearing visually.
• Errors. Validation problems are shown as text next to the thing that caused them, not by colour alone.
• Reduced motion. prefers-reduced-motion is honoured globally, so a new animation cannot forget to opt in.
• Contrast. Body and interface text is designed against the AA contrast ratio on our light background.
• Zoom and reflow. Layouts use relative units and reflow to 320px without horizontal scrolling. Touch targets stay large enough to hit.
• Voice input is an addition, never a requirement. Everything Aliya can be told by voice can be typed instead, and a transcript is always shown for correction before anything is sent.

Known gaps

• No independent accessibility audit has been performed.
• Voice input depends on the browser's own speech recognition, whose accuracy varies with accent and background noise. This is why the transcript is always editable before sending.
• Some data-dense screens (the application audit trail in particular) have not been tested with a screen reader end to end.

Tell us what's broken

If something on Ahead is hard or impossible for you to use, please tell us what you were trying to do, what happened, and what you use to browse. We will treat it as a defect. Reach us through your account settings.