Accessibility

1. Where we stand

We want Tarzi to work for people who use a keyboard, a screen reader, magnification, or a system set to reduced motion. Our target is WCAG 2.2 level AA. Tarzi is partially conformant with it today: most of the site and the studio meet the standard, and the exceptions we know about are listed on this page.

This page is a self-assessment, not an independent audit. It describes what we checked, what we found, and what we have not checked yet. When the product changes, this page changes with it.

2. What we checked

The review behind this page covered:

• Automated checks against the WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules on every public page and on the studio's main screens: the gallery, the composer, the image and film viewers, menus and dialogs, and the account area.
• Keyboard walks through the same pages, recording every stop, whether it was visible, and whether it showed a focus indicator; menus and dialogs were opened and closed from the keyboard.
• Text contrast measured on the rendered pages, in the light and dark studio themes.
• English and Arabic (right-to-left) layouts, at phone and desktop widths.

We have not yet tested with people who rely on assistive technology, and we have not run scripted tests with a particular screen reader. Automated checks find only part of the barriers a person meets, so we expect this page to change as we learn.

3. What works today

Everything below is in place now. Part of it is covered by automated tests; the rest we re-check with the same keyboard and screen-reader audit whenever that part of the product changes.

• Every page begins with a “Skip to content” link and has one main landmark, a page heading, and headings in order.
• Everything you can do with a mouse can be done with the keyboard, apart from the drawing tools listed below. Focus is always visible.
• Menus, dialogs and the image and film viewers keep keyboard focus inside them while open, close with Escape, and return focus to the control that opened them.
• Buttons and links have text names, and decorative icons are hidden from screen readers. Toggle controls report their state, such as whether a film's sound is on or a piece is selected.
• Forms label every field. When something is missing or wrong, the message is tied to the field and read out with it.
• Progress is exposed: while a piece is being made, its bar reports the percentage, and finished or failed work is announced through notifications that screen readers read.
• Text meets the WCAG AA contrast ratio in both studio themes. We measure it on the rendered pages, not only in the design palette.
• When your system asks for reduced motion, the films on the home page and in your studio wait for you to press play instead of starting on their own.
• The interface is available in English and Arabic. The page language and reading direction are set correctly, so screen readers switch voices and the layout mirrors.
• The films on the home page contain no speech. The one with a soundtrack carries a caption track that describes the music.

4. Known limitations

These are the gaps we know about. Where there is another way to reach the same result, it is named.

• Drawing needs a pointer. The sketch pad, and the box or brush you draw to mark an area for an edit, require a mouse, pen or finger; there is no keyboard way to draw yet. You can still ask for the same change in words: choose “Edit design” on a piece and describe the area and the change.
• Generated pictures are described by your brief. Screen readers hear the text you wrote to make a piece, not a description of what the picture actually shows. Check a result by another means before relying on it, or ask us.
• Films have no captions or audio description. The films you make usually contain music or ambience and no speech, so there is nothing to caption, but there is no spoken description of what happens on screen either.
• Sign-in and payment happen on partner pages. Signing in and paying for credits take place on our partners' pages, whose accessibility we do not control.
• Some motion remains. A few studio transitions and loading animations still play when your system asks for reduced motion.
• Not yet checked. Behaviour at 200% browser zoom and on very narrow screens, and use with a specific screen reader, have not been tested systematically.

5. Tell us what is in your way

If a part of Tarzi is hard or impossible to use with your assistive technology, write to info@thetarzi.com. You can also use the contact page and choose “Studio support”.

Tell us the page, what you were trying to do, and the browser and assistive technology you use. We read every message, and if a barrier stops you from completing a task, we will look for another way to get it done with you.

6. Technical notes

Tarzi is built with standard HTML, WAI-ARIA and CSS, and works in current versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge on phones and computers. It needs JavaScript. The public pages need no account; the studio does.