Accessibility Statement

The City Cal is committed to making its website usable for as many people as possible, including people who rely on assistive technology such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, speech input, or keyboard-only navigation.

This statement explains where the site currently stands, what we have done, what we know still needs work, and how to reach us if something is not working for you.

Conformance status

We are working toward conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This is the standard commonly used to meet the expectations of the Americans with Disabilities Act for websites.

The City Cal is currently partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. “Partially conformant” means that most of the site meets the standard, but some content or components do not yet fully meet it. The known gaps are listed under “Known limitations” below.

This statement applies to the website at thecitycal.com. It does not cover third-party websites that we link to, or content published on other services.

What we have done

Over a focused remediation effort we have made the following changes across the site:

• Structured every page with standard HTML landmarks (header, navigation, main, footer) and a single, descriptive page heading, so assistive technology can present an accurate outline of each page.
• Given every page a unique, descriptive browser tab title.
• Added a “Skip to main content” link as the first item reachable with the keyboard on every page.
• Made all interactive controls operable with the keyboard alone, with a visible focus indicator, and in an order that follows the visual layout.
• Rebuilt the event calendar grid so it can be operated with arrow keys and announces each date and its state.
• Replaced custom checkboxes, radio buttons, menus, dialogs, and disclosure toggles with implementations that expose the correct roles, states, and labels.
• Added visible labels, programmatic required-field indicators, and inline error messages to every form, and made form errors move focus and announce themselves.
• Added status announcements for changes that happen without a page reload, such as filter result counts and save confirmations.
• Reviewed color contrast against the WCAG AA thresholds and adjusted text colors that did not meet them.
• Added support for the operating system “reduce motion” setting, including removing the scroll-linked animation on the home page for people who prefer reduced motion.
• Added text alternatives to meaningful images and marked purely decorative images so they are skipped by screen readers.
• Made each event in the main feed a labelled region with a full accessible name (its category, title, and date), so screen reader users can move through the feed and open any event.

How we test

We check the site with automated accessibility tooling (axe-core) on every release, at both mobile and desktop screen sizes, and we manually test keyboard operation of the components we change.

Manual screen-reader testing (VoiceOver and NVDA) is ongoing and not yet exhaustive. If you use a screen reader and hit a problem, a report from you is the most valuable thing we can get — please see “Feedback” below.

Known limitations

We are aware of the following areas that do not yet fully meet WCAG 2.1 AA, or that depend on third parties:

• Brand wordmark. “The City Cal” wordmark in the colored page headers is styled in a low-contrast tone as part of the visual identity. WCAG exempts logos and brand names from the contrast requirements, but we note it here for transparency.
• Human-verification step. Some forms, including the feedback form, use a third-party challenge (Cloudflare Turnstile) to block automated abuse. Its internal behavior is outside our control. If this step prevents you from contacting us, see the note in “Feedback” below.
• Event information from other sources. Some event listings are gathered from venue and organizer websites. We rewrite descriptions in our own words, but event titles and factual details originate elsewhere and we cannot guarantee their wording or formatting.
• Business dashboard. The tools that businesses use to manage their own listings have had structural and automated accessibility work, but less manual testing than the public-facing pages. These tools are not used by regular visitors.
• Linked and embedded third-party content. Maps, external ticketing links, and other content hosted by third parties are not covered by this statement.

Feedback

If you encounter an accessibility barrier on The City Cal, or you need information from the site in a different format, please tell us. Use the “Contact Us” menu at the bottom of any page and choose “Send Feedback.”

It helps to describe the page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what went wrong. If you use assistive technology, telling us which one helps us reproduce the problem.

We will respond as soon as we can, and we prioritize fixes that block core tasks such as finding events, saving them, and contacting a business.

The feedback form includes a human-verification step (see “Known limitations”). If that step prevents you from submitting the form, you can also reach us using the contact details in our Terms of Use.

About this statement

This statement was first published in 2026, at the end of a focused round of accessibility work. It will be updated as the site changes and is re-tested, and as any remaining items are addressed.

The City Cal is operated by Tara Elizabeth LLC and is based in Madison, Wisconsin.