Accessibility Statement
Our commitment to making outdoor safety tools accessible to everyone.
Last updated: July 16, 2026
1. Our Commitment
TrekFreely is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people of all abilities. Safety tools should be usable by everyone, regardless of disability or assistive technology. We have designed and built our platform to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, and we maintain that standard as the platform evolves.
2. Standards
We target conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility. This standard addresses accessibility for people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities.
3. Measures Taken
TrekFreely takes the following measures to ensure accessibility:
- Semantic HTML: We use proper HTML5 semantic elements (nav, main, article, footer) to provide meaningful structure for assistive technologies.
- Keyboard navigation: All interactive elements are accessible via keyboard. A skip-to-main-content link is provided for keyboard users.
- ARIA attributes: We use ARIA labels, roles, and states where semantic HTML alone is insufficient to convey meaning.
- Color contrast: We maintain sufficient color contrast ratios between text and background colors in accordance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA requirements.
- Responsive design: The platform is designed to work across screen sizes and orientations, supporting text resizing up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.
- No reliance on color alone: Information conveyed by color is also conveyed through text, icons, or other visual indicators.
- Self-hosted fonts: We serve our webfonts directly from our own servers — no third-party font CDN and no external requests. Fonts load with fallback typefaces so text remains readable while they download, and text stays fully legible if a font fails to load.
- No auto-playing media: We do not auto-play audio or video content.
- Form accessibility: All form fields have associated labels, required fields are indicated both visually and to assistive technology, and validation errors are programmatically linked to their fields with focus moved to the first error on submission.
- Visible focus & focus management: Interactive elements show a visible focus indicator. Dialogs and menus trap focus while open and return focus to the triggering control when closed.
- Status announcements: Dynamic updates—form errors, search result counts, and status messages—are announced to screen readers through ARIA live regions.
- Reduced motion: We honor the operating-system "reduce motion" preference and neutralize non-essential animations and transitions when it is set.
- Headings & landmarks: Pages use a consistent heading hierarchy and landmark regions, including descriptive headings on error pages, so assistive technology users can navigate structure reliably.
4. Conformance Status
TrekFreely is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. "Partially conformant" means that most of the content conforms to the accessibility standard, with the documented exceptions in the Known Limitations section below, which we are actively addressing.
All features are built with accessibility as a requirement, not an afterthought. We review accessibility during development and before release.
In June 2026 we completed a comprehensive accessibility audit of the platform and remediated the issues it identified. Conformance was assessed against WCAG 2.1 Level AA through automated testing, manual code review, and color-contrast measurement, and verified with assistive technology including screen readers and keyboard-only navigation; we also evaluated select WCAG 2.2 criteria. This statement was last reviewed on July 16, 2026.
5. Known Limitations
Despite our efforts, some areas of the platform may have accessibility limitations:
- Interactive maps: Map components (Mapbox GL JS) may not be fully accessible to screen readers. We provide text-based alternatives for critical location information wherever maps are used.
- Third-party content: Embedded content from third-party sources may not meet our accessibility standards.
- PDF documents: Generated PDF documents (trip plan exports, SAR reports) may have limited accessibility. We are working to improve PDF accessibility.
We are committed to addressing these limitations as the platform develops.
6. Feedback
We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of TrekFreely. If you encounter accessibility barriers or have suggestions for improvement, please contact us:
- Email: contact@trekfreely.org
Please include the following information in your message:
- A description of the accessibility problem you encountered.
- The page or feature where the problem occurred.
- The assistive technology you were using (if applicable).
- Your contact information so we can follow up.
We will acknowledge accessibility feedback within 5 business days and work to resolve reported issues as quickly as possible.
7. Enforcement Procedure
If you are not satisfied with our response to your accessibility concern, you may file a complaint with the relevant enforcement body in your jurisdiction. In the United States, this may include filing a complaint with the Department of Justice under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
TrekFreely
Colorado, United States