Accessibility

What works today, what doesn’t yet, and how to tell us about a barrier.

Where we stand

We aim for WCAG 2.2 level AA on WatchSat’s content pages: the blog, the guides, About, the FAQ and the policy pages. The 3D tracker is harder, and the list below says where it falls short. This statement was last reviewed on October 13, 2026, against the pages and the code. WatchSat hasn’t had an independent accessibility audit.

What works today

Content pages are plain documents. One main heading, headings in order, links underlined in running text, and everything reachable with the keyboard alone.
Reduced motion is respected. If your device asks for less motion, the globe stops its idle spin, the home page’s solar system stops drifting, flights between worlds become jumps, and panels appear without sliding in.
The ☰ menu works from the keyboard. It opens as a dialog, the page behind it is inert while it is open (so Tab and screen readers stay on the menu), and Escape closes it.
Search works from the keyboard. On the live globe, type a satellite’s name or NORAD number, pick with the arrow keys and Enter, and focus moves to that satellite’s panel.
Touch targets. On touch screens, the tracker’s buttons and menu rows have at least a 44 px target. The markers in the solar-system view are buttons named after the world or spacecraft they mark, with a target of at least 24 px.
No WebGL, no problem for the basics. If your browser can’t draw the globe, the live page shows a table of the space stations’ positions (name, NORAD number, latitude, longitude, altitude), updated every second, with the count of tracked satellites by group.
Zoom isn’t blocked. The pages don’t lock pinch-zoom or text size.

What doesn’t work yet

No full keyboard path through the 3D view. Rotating, zooming and clicking a satellite or planet on the globe need a mouse or touch. From the keyboard you can search, move between the views and worlds in the bar at the top, and press Escape to close a satellite’s panel. A fuller keyboard path is planned.
The globe has no text equivalent. It is a canvas. A screen reader gets the satellite panel, the text under the globe on satellite and constellation pages, and the no-WebGL table above, but not the moving picture.
The sky modes are visual. Live Sky AR and Explore Sky need a camera, motion sensors or touch gestures and have no non-visual version.
No “skip to content” link yet. Keyboard users tab through the header’s links and the menu button before they reach the page.

Report a barrier

If something on WatchSat is hard or impossible for you to use, tell us through the contact page or at [email protected]. Say which page, what you tried, and which browser and assistive technology you use. We read every message.

For how WatchSat checks and corrects its content, see the editorial policy.

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