https://www.ed.gov/laws-and-policy/hearings-and-appeals/hearings-and-appeals-secretary-decisions

Accessibility

· 24 checks — Landmarks, headings, alt text, forms, and link quality rolled into one auditable list.

SCORE

GRADE

FIX

REVIEW

PASS

INFO

Checks

14 PASS 1 REVIEW 9 FIX

Landmark Structure

Action

No landmarks

FIX

No landmarks

No <main> landmark found

Screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to the primary content. Wrap your main content in <main>.

No <nav> landmark found

No banner (header) landmark

No contentinfo (footer) landmark

Skip navigation link is missing (WCAG 2.4.1)

Add a skip link as the first focusable element so keyboard users can bypass repeated navigation.

No landmarks detected

Screen reader users have no way to navigate by region.

Screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to the primary content. Wrap your main content in <main>.

Why this matters

Without a <main> landmark, screen-reader users can't skip past the navigation to the page content — every page starts with re-reading the menu.

Learn more ▾

The <main> element marks the page's primary content area. Assistive tech offers a 'jump to main' shortcut — but only if <main> exists. Without it, every page navigation forces re-reading the header. Wrap your primary content in a single <main>.

Source: WAI-ARIA / WCAG 2.4.1

Add a skip link as the first focusable element so keyboard users can bypass repeated navigation.

Why this matters

Without a skip-nav link, keyboard users tab through every nav item before reaching content — every page, every visit.

Learn more ▾

WCAG 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks) requires a mechanism to skip past repeated content. The standard implementation is a 'Skip to main content' link that's the first focusable element, visually hidden until focused. Three lines of HTML + four of CSS.

Source: WCAG 2.1 SC 2.4.1

Document Language

Action

Missing <html lang> attribute (WCAG 3.1.1)

FIX

Missing <html lang> attribute (WCAG 3.1.1)

Without `<html lang="...">`, screen readers default to the user's system language even when reading content in a different one -- words get pronounced wrong (English text read with French phonetics, etc.). Add a BCP-47 language tag to the <html> root element.

Mobile-Readable Font Sizes

Action

50% of visible text renders at >= 12 CSS px (1 below threshold)

FIX

50% of visible text renders at >= 12 CSS px (1 below threshold)

1 text node(s) render below 12 CSS pixels on mobile

Mobile browsers default the root font-size to 16 px; text below ~ 12 px (75% of root) is hard to read without zooming. WCAG 1.4.4 (Resize Text) requires the page to support 200% zoom without loss of functionality -- which most layouts handle, but small base text still costs readability and conversion. Audit which selectors set sizes below 12 px (often footers, fine print, table cells) and bump them to 14-16 px or use rem units that scale with user preferences. Examples: <span> 11.0px ("20261015T034942Z-1556dbf4b58t5bd7hC1MADe...").

404 Error Page

Action

HTTP 403, custom page

FIX

HTTP 403, custom page

Unexpected status code: HTTP 403

Expected HTTP 404 but received 403. This may confuse search engine crawlers.

Got: HTTP 403

Custom styled 404 page

404 Page Quality ✓ Custom 404 Page

Status Code HTTP 403 ✗Page Title Azure WAF ✓Custom Styling ✓Navigation ✗Homepage Link ✗Search Form ✗

Favicon & Branding

Action

No icons detected

FIX

No icons detected

No favicon.ico at site root

Some older browsers, bookmark tools, and RSS readers look for /favicon.ico. Add one as a fallback.

No apple-touch-icon detected

iOS devices use this when users add your site to their home screen. Add <link rel='apple-touch-icon' sizes='180x180' href='/apple-touch-icon.png'>.

No favicon or icon links detected

Your site will show the browser's generic page icon in tabs, bookmarks, and home screens.

✗ favicon.ico Missing

✗ PNG Icons Missing

✗ Apple Touch Missing

✗ SVG Favicon Missing

✗ Manifest Icons Missing

✗ Multiple Sizes Missing

Web Manifest

Action

Not found

FIX

Not found

No web manifest found

No manifest at standard paths (/manifest.json, /site.webmanifest). A manifest is optional but enables PWA features like home screen installation and standalone display.

No web manifest found.

Dark Mode Support

Action

No dark mode signals

FIX

No dark mode signals

No dark mode signals detected

Consider adding CSS with @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) and <meta name='color-scheme' content='light dark'>.

Detection limited to meta tags and inline styles

External CSS files may contain prefers-color-scheme rules not visible to this scan.

Dark ModeNo Dark Mode Detected

color-scheme meta Not set ✗Dark theme-color Not set ✗CSS indicators Not detected ✗

Detection limited to meta tags and inline styles.

Print Stylesheet

Action

No print styles

FIX

No print styles

No print-specific styles detected

When users print this page, they get the screen layout including navigation and non-essential elements. Add @media print rules to hide navigation and optimize layout for paper.

Print Stylesheet No Print Styles

Print stylesheet Not found ✗Inline @media print Not detected ✗

Heading Hierarchy

1 headings

REVIEW

1 headings

No H1 heading found

Every page should have one H1 that describes the page content.

H2 The request is blocked.

Every page should have one H1 that describes the page content.

Why this matters

No H1 means screen-reader users can't identify the page's primary topic, and Google's content-extraction degrades.

Learn more ▾

The H1 is the document title for assistive tech and a strong signal to search engines about page topic. Pages without one force screen readers to fall back to the <title> attribute or page chrome. Add a single H1 that names the page's primary subject.

Source: WCAG 2.4.6 / Google Search Central

A+

Heading Text Quality

All 1 heading(s) have substantive, well-formed text

PASS

All 1 heading(s) have substantive, well-formed text

Heading text quality is clean -- no placeholder, length, or styling issues

A+

Alt Text Quality

No images

PASS

No images

No images on this page

No images on this page.

A+

Form Accessibility

No form controls

PASS

No form controls

No form controls on this page

No form controls found.

A+

Link & Button Quality

No links or buttons

PASS

No links or buttons

No links or buttons on this page

0 links

0 empty

0 generic text

0 new tab

0 empty buttons

All links and buttons have descriptive accessible text.

A+

Form Input Types

No form controls on this page

PASS

No form controls on this page

A+

Form Input Quality

No form controls on this page

PASS

No form controls on this page

A+

Mobile Keyboard & Autofill

No form controls -- mobile keyboard check is N/A

PASS

No form controls -- mobile keyboard check is N/A

No form controls on this page

A+

Tabindex Anti-Patterns

No explicit tabindex attributes found

PASS

No explicit tabindex attributes found

A+

Iframe Accessibility

No iframes on this page

PASS

No iframes on this page

A+

Tap Target Adequacy

All tap targets meet WCAG 2.5.5/2.5.8 sizing

PASS

All tap targets meet WCAG 2.5.5/2.5.8 sizing

All tap targets meet WCAG 2.5.5 (44x44px) sizing

A+

PWA Depth

No PWA depth issues detected

PASS

No PWA depth issues detected

A+

Mobile UX Depth

1 mobile-depth signal(s) detected

PASS

1 mobile-depth signal(s) detected

No `<meta name="theme-color">` -- browser chrome falls back to default

Without `theme-color`, Android Chrome's status bar and iOS Safari's toolbar fall back to a generic gray. Adding a single hex color in `<meta name="theme-color" content="#0066cc">` tints them to your brand color across all mobile browsers.

A+

Color Contrast (Screenshot)

3 text elements analyzed, 0 fail WCAG AA

PASS

Analyzes text contrast against the actual rendered page, including background images, gradients, and overlays that CSS-based tools cannot detect.

3 pass

Show all checked elements (3)

Element	Ratio	Required	FG	BG	Result
h2 The request is block…	21.00:1	3.0:1	#000000	#FFFFFF	Pass
title Service unavailable	21.00:1	4.5:1	#000000	#FFFFFF	Pass
span 20261015T034942Z-155…	21.00:1	4.5:1	#000000	#FFFFFF	Pass

Methodology: The top 20 text elements by font size were checked. Background color was sampled from the desktop screenshot using a 5-point pattern. WCAG 2.1 AA requires 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

A+

Lighthouse Accessibility Audits

Score 100/100 — 1 failing, 37 passed

PASS

100

Accessibility

These checks highlight opportunities to improve the accessibility of your web app. Automatic detection can only detect a subset of issues and does not guarantee the accessibility of your web app, so manual testing is also encouraged.

Visible text labels that do not match the accessible name can result in a confusing experience for screen reader users. Learn more about accessible names.

Why this matters

Performance issues directly impact user engagement and conversion rates.

Failing Elements
U.S. Department of Education `div.region > div#logo > em.usa-logo__text > a`

○Interactive controls are keyboard focusable

○Interactive elements indicate their purpose and state

○The page has a logical tab order

○Visual order on the page follows DOM order

○User focus is not accidentally trapped in a region

○The user's focus is directed to new content added to the page

○HTML5 landmark elements are used to improve navigation

○Offscreen content is hidden from assistive technology

○Custom controls have associated labels

○Custom controls have ARIA roles

●`[aria-*]` attributes match their roles

●`[aria-hidden="true"]` is not present on the document `<body>`

●`[role]`s have all required `[aria-*]` attributes

●Elements with an ARIA `[role]` that require children to contain a specific `[role]` have all required children.

●`[role]`s are contained by their required parent element

●`[role]` values are valid

●`[aria-*]` attributes have valid values

●`[aria-*]` attributes are valid and not misspelled

●Buttons have an accessible name

●Image elements have `[alt]` attributes

●Form elements have associated labels

●`[user-scalable="no"]` is not used in the `<meta name="viewport">` element and the `[maximum-scale]` attribute is not less than 5.

●Select elements have associated label elements.

●`[accesskey]` values are unique

●`button`, `link`, and `menuitem` elements have accessible names

●ARIA attributes are used as specified for the element's role

●`[aria-hidden="true"]` elements do not contain focusable descendents

●Elements use only permitted ARIA attributes

●Background and foreground colors have a sufficient contrast ratio

●Document has a `<title>` element

●`<html>` element has a `[lang]` attribute

●`<html>` element has a valid value for its `[lang]` attribute

●Links are distinguishable without relying on color.

●Links have a discernible name

●Lists contain only `<li>` elements and script supporting elements (`<script>` and `<template>`).

●List items (`<li>`) are contained within `<ul>`, `<ol>` or `<menu>` parent elements

●No element has a `[tabindex]` value greater than 0

●Touch targets have sufficient size and spacing.

●Cells in a `<table>` element that use the `[headers]` attribute refer to table cells within the same table.

●Heading elements appear in a sequentially-descending order

●Skip links are focusable.

●Document has a main landmark.

●Deprecated ARIA roles were not used

●`<th>` elements and elements with `[role="columnheader"/"rowheader"]` have data cells they describe.

●Identical links have the same purpose.

●Tables use `<caption>` instead of cells with the `[colspan]` attribute to indicate a caption.

●`<td>` elements in a large `<table>` have one or more table headers.

○Elements with `role="dialog"` or `role="alertdialog"` have accessible names.

○ARIA input fields have accessible names

○ARIA `meter` elements have accessible names

○ARIA `progressbar` elements have accessible names

○Elements with the `role=text` attribute do not have focusable descendents.

○ARIA toggle fields have accessible names

○ARIA `tooltip` elements have accessible names

○ARIA `treeitem` elements have accessible names

○The page contains a heading, skip link, or landmark region

○`<dl>`'s contain only properly-ordered `<dt>` and `<dd>` groups, `<script>`, `<template>` or `<div>` elements.

○Definition list items are wrapped in `<dl>` elements

○ARIA IDs are unique

○No form fields have multiple labels

○`<frame>` or `<iframe>` elements have a title

○`<html>` element has an `[xml:lang]` attribute with the same base language as the `[lang]` attribute.

○Input buttons have discernible text.

○`<input type="image">` elements have `[alt]` text

○The document does not use `<meta http-equiv="refresh">`

○`<object>` elements have alternate text

○`[lang]` attributes have a valid value

○`<video>` elements contain a `<track>` element with `[kind="captions"]`

○Tables have different content in the summary attribute and `<caption>`.

○All heading elements contain content.

○Uses ARIA roles only on compatible elements

○Image elements do not have `[alt]` attributes that are redundant text.

All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.