Built to be usable by everyone.

This site is built to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2, level AA — the standard most US public-sector procurement and ADA-related case law refers to. We also test against Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which governs federal agencies and organisations that receive federal funding.

• Full keyboard navigation. Every link, menu, button, dialogue and form field is reachable with Tab and operable with Enter or Space.
• Visible focus rings on every interactive element. A skip-to-content link is the first focusable item on every page.
• Semantic HTML — proper landmarks (header, nav, main, footer), heading hierarchy, list and table structure, and ARIA labels where the visual cue is non-textual.
• Screen-reader testing on the primary reading flows with NVDA (Windows), VoiceOver (macOS / iOS), and TalkBack (Android).
• Colour contrast meets AA on body text, navigation, and form controls. The editorial accent (warm tan) is tested against the dark-paper background.
• Respect for user motion preferences: prefers-reduced-motion turns decorative animation off — the wagon-wheel idle in the brand, spinners, and the music player progress glide all freeze. The layout is responsive down to 320 pixels wide.
• Captions and meaningful alt text on illustrative images. Decorative images carry empty alt and are hidden from assistive technology.
• The interactive Trail Map ships with a built-in list view: every milestone is reachable as an ordered list with previous / next controls and a live-updating detail panel, so screen-reader users get the same content without relying on visual region-to-pin association.

• The in-browser game on /play runs the original 1990 DOS build, whose graphics and input model long predate accessibility standards. The game itself cannot be made AA-conformant. As alternatives we provide a textual About the game page and written descriptions of every screenshot.
• The site ships in dark mode only — there is no light-theme toggle today. Contrast still meets AA against the dark-paper background; users who need a forced light palette can rely on browser / OS-level reader modes (Reading View in Edge, Reader in Safari).

If something on the archive is unusable for you — missing alt text, a contrast issue, a keyboard trap, anything — please email contact@oregontrail.ws with the page URL and a short description. Real human replies, usually within a few days.

For urgent classroom blockers (a teacher with a student who needs the page now), put Accessibility — urgent in the subject line and we will respond within one business day.

2026-05-02. The site is re-tested on a rolling schedule and after every major editorial release.