Accessibility

Last updated 29 July 2026

Sans Souci Art Gallery is a small gallery in Toronto, Ontario. We want anyone to be able to look at the work, read about it and get in touch, whatever device or assistive technology they use. This page says plainly what we have done, what we have not, and how to tell us when something does not work.

The standard we work to

We build towards WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the standard referenced by the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation under Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We have not commissioned a formal third-party audit, so we describe this as work in progress rather than claiming full conformance. We would rather be accurate than reassuring.

What is in place

  • Every artwork image has descriptive alternative text generated from the catalogue — the title, the materials and the artist — so a screen reader announces what the picture is, not "image".
  • Social and interface icons carry real descriptions — "Sans Souci Art Gallery on Instagram", not "image" or a filename.
  • One clear heading structure per page: a single H1, then headings in order, so the page can be navigated by headings alone.
  • Text is real text, never an image of text, so it can be resized, re-flowed, read aloud or restyled by your own settings.
  • The site works on a phone down to a 320 pixel viewport without sideways scrolling, and layouts reflow rather than shrink.
  • Keyboard use: menus, links and the enquiry form can be reached and operated with the Tab and Enter keys. The mobile menu button takes focus, opens with Enter or Space, reports its state with aria-expanded, and closes with Escape, which returns focus to the button.
  • Form fields have visible labels, not placeholder text standing in for a label, and errors are announced in a live region rather than only shown in colour.
  • Colour is never the only signal — availability, errors and success messages carry words as well as colour.
  • A "skip to content" landmark and a <main> region on every page.

Where we know it falls short

Being honest about the gaps is more useful than a clean-sounding statement:

  • The texture magnifier on artwork and home pages is a pointer feature. It is switched off on touch devices and it is not keyboard operable — it adds detail but never carries information you cannot get from the page text.
  • Some artwork descriptions come from the artist in his own words and vary in length; a few are short.
  • The anti-spam check on the enquiry form is provided by Cloudflare Turnstile. If it ever blocks you, email or phone us instead — we will never treat that as a reason to ignore an enquiry.

Other ways to reach us

If any part of this site does not work for you, or you would like information about a work in another format — larger text, a plain-text description, or simply a conversation — contact us and we will provide it. There is no form to fill in for this.

Please tell us the page, what you were trying to do and what got in the way. We aim to reply within two business days, and we treat an accessibility report as a bug to fix, not a complaint to file.

Visiting in person

Viewings are by appointment. Tell us in advance about any access needs — step-free access, seating, lighting, or extra time — and we will arrange the visit around them.

See also our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.