Accessibility Statement

01Our commitment

We want every visitor to be able to read about our services, understand how a book gets made, and ask us for a call, whatever device, browser or assistive technology they use. The standard we aim for is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, the standard that US accessibility guidance and court settlements most often point to for websites. We have not had the site independently audited, and we do not claim full conformance.

The site is a deliberately cinematic one. It has letterbox bars, scenes, a hardcover that opens as you scroll. We think a first-time author deserves that kind of welcome. We also think it must never come at the cost of someone being unable to use the page, so we try to give every effect a plain alternative, and we list below the places where that is not finished yet.

02What the site does today

The following is true of the site as it is published on the date at the top of this page. We checked each point against the code, not against a wish list, and where the code falls short we say so in the same breath.

Reduced motion

If your operating system or browser asks for reduced motion, the site honors it. The scroll-driven scenes, the hardcover, the reel, the letterbox cuts and the custom pointer are switched off, the film-grain shimmer and the color changes stop, and the opening title plate becomes a short fade. A few things still move under this setting: the gentle easing of the scroll itself; a small red recording dot in the bottom bar and on the call sheet while you are typing in the form, which your setting freezes rather than removes; and the letterbox bars, which still take half a second to open and close around Scene 09. One scene, the production reel on wide screens, also shows only its first frame under this setting; see Known limitations.

Motion toggle

A Motion button sits at the right end of the bottom bar on every page. It cycles through on, lite and off. Lite keeps the scroll story but drops parallax, tilt, scatter and the grain shimmer; off stops the scroll-driven scenes altogether. On a device with limited memory or processor the site starts in lite by itself. The setting lasts while you move around the site, including to and from these appendix pages, but a reload or a new tab starts it afresh (at on, or at lite on a low-powered device). If you want motion off every time, use the reduced-motion setting in your operating system or browser, which the site always honors. On very narrow phones the button's label can be clipped; see Known limitations.

Headings and landmarks

Every page has one main heading, and every scene on the home page except the end credits has its own second-level heading. The page is built from the standard regions a screen reader can jump between: a main region and two navigation regions, both currently named Scenes. The end credits sit at the foot of the page but are not yet their own region and have no heading of their own; both are on the list under Ongoing work. The page language is declared as English.

Keyboard use

The first thing the Tab key reaches on every page is a Skip to content link; it is invisible until you land on it, and Enter takes you past the top bar to the start of the page. Links, buttons, the scene dots, the FAQ questions and every form field can be reached with the Tab key and used with Enter or Space. A visible focus outline appears when you move with the keyboard. On a wide screen with a mouse and motion on, the cloth and foil swatches in the printing scene become reachable once that scene has finished assembling; elsewhere, and with motion off, they can be reached at once. The custom red-pencil pointer is a decoration layered on top for mouse users; your real pointer is never hidden.

Text alternatives

Decorative art is hidden from assistive technology: the three-dimensional hardcover, the sprocket bands, the letterbox timecode, the vignette and the pencil marks. The words those devices point at stay real text. The wordmark in the top bar is a link labeled as the home link.

Typewriter text

Where a line appears to type itself in, the complete sentence is in the page underneath from the start, visually hidden, so a screen reader or a search engine reads it whole rather than one letter at a time.

The consultation form

Every field has a visible label tied to it. Every field except the three choice menus (where you are with the book, what kind of book it is, and the best time to call) is required, and the form tells you which one is missing, next to that field, as an alert. Required fields are not yet marked visibly before you press send; see Known limitations. When a message has been sent, the confirmation replaces the form on the page.

Type and contrast

Most running text is 19 pixels, 21 on wider screens, with 1.6 line spacing. Supporting text such as captions, the form's consent line and the panels inside the production and printing scenes is 16 to 18 pixels, and the typed labels, including the labels and error messages on the consultation form and the Motion button, are 13 pixels; the copyright line is 11. Most of the site is dark ink on pale paper; night scenes reverse that. Where the red pencil color is used on dark grounds it is lifted to stay legible.

Zoom and reflow

The page can be enlarged with your browser's zoom, and the layout reflows to a single column on narrow screens, apart from the poster strip described under Known limitations.

03Motion, in more detail

Because motion is the thing most likely to trouble a visitor, here is exactly how it is controlled. Two switches decide what moves: your system's reduced-motion setting, and the Motion button in our bottom bar. Motion off stops the scroll-driven scenes, the hardcover, the reel, the custom pointer and the letterbox cuts, and each of those scenes paints its final state at once. A few small things still move under the button alone: the faint film-grain shimmer, a half-second color change when a scene turns to night, the small red recording dot that blinks beside Rolling while you type in the form, the gentle easing of the scroll itself, the half-second slide of the letterbox bars when the frame opens for Scene 09 and closes again for the credits, and the FAQ answers opening and closing. Your system's reduced-motion setting also removes the grain, the color change and the FAQ motion and freezes the dot, so if any of those bother you, use that setting as well.

• Motion: on is the full film. Scenes pin to the screen on wide displays with a mouse, the hardcover opens, the reel scrubs sideways.
• Motion: lite keeps the scroll story and drops the heavier effects, including the grain shimmer. The site picks this for you on lower-powered devices; you can change it.
• Motion: off stops the scroll-driven scenes and shows them still, in the order they appear on the page, from top to bottom. The words are the same; a few decorative devices are missing.

04Known limitations

We would rather tell you where the site falls short than let you find out. These are the parts we know about today, and each one is on the list of work below.

• The horizontal reel on desktop. On a wide screen with a mouse, the production scene pins in place and the film strip scrolls sideways as you scroll down. Turning motion off, or using your system's reduced-motion setting, currently shows only the first of its seven frames on that kind of screen. The full list is readable on a phone or tablet, in a browser window narrower than 1024 pixels, or as plain text we will email on request.
• Animation-heavy scenes. With motion on, the opening, the hardcover press and the end credits rely on scroll-driven animation. They are readable with motion off, but the experience is different, and we have not yet tested every scene with every screen reader.
• Pinned scenes. Several scenes hold the screen for a stretch of scrolling on wide displays. A keyboard user tabbing through them may find the focused element arrives before the scene has finished moving, and on those wide screens the cloth and foil swatches cannot be reached until the printing scene has finished assembling. Motion off removes the pinning.
• Motion is not remembered between visits. The Motion button's setting lasts while you move around the site, including to and from these appendix pages, but a reload or a new tab starts it afresh (at on, or at lite on a low-powered device). Your system's reduced-motion setting is the switch that lasts.
• The Motion button on narrow phones. On phones narrower than about 380 pixels, or at high browser zoom, the right edge of the Motion button's label can be cut off by the bar. The button still works when tapped, and a screen reader announces its full setting.
• The poster strip in Starring. On phones the four posters scroll sideways, without a visible scrollbar, so there is no cue that three more posters sit to the right. Each poster is a button, so Tab brings the next one into view.
• The edit demonstration. The red strikes, insertions and margin notes are drawn, not written. A screen reader hears the original paragraph and the finished one, but not which words were cut or added in between. The four edit types beside it are plain text.
• The name field in Scene 01. Its label is spoken but not shown; the words Type your name vanish as you type.
• Required fields. The consultation form marks nothing as required until you press send; then it tells you, next to each field, what is missing. A visible mark before you start is on the list.
• Typewriter effects. The animated letters are hidden from assistive technology and the full text sits underneath, but a sighted visitor using magnification may find the letter-by-letter reveal slow. Motion off shows every line complete.
• Small labels. Scene labels, timecodes, the Motion button and the labels and error messages on the consultation form are set in a 13-pixel monospaced face. They meet the contrast standard but they are small; browser zoom enlarges them.

05Audio and video

Although the site is styled like a film, it contains no audio and no video. Nothing plays sound, nothing autoplays, and there are no media players that would need captions or transcripts. If we add an audiobook sample, a narrated clip or any other audio or video in future, we will add captions or a transcript with it and update this statement.

06How to report a barrier

If something on the site is hard or impossible for you to use, please tell us. Email hello@theauthoroffice.com with the subject line Accessibility. It helps to include the page or scene, what you were trying to do, the device and browser you used, and any assistive technology such as a screen reader or magnifier. A screenshot is welcome but never required.

Here is what we do with a report. We read every one. We try to reply within two business days with either a fix, a workaround you can use right away, or an honest timeline. Barriers that stop someone from reading our services or sending the consultation form go to the front of the queue. Reports are also how this page gets updated: if you find a limitation that is not listed above, we add it. Tell us what is in the way and we will work on it.

07Other ways to reach us

Nothing we offer depends on the website. If any part of it is a barrier, you can reach the studio another way and get exactly the same service.

• Email. Write to hello@theauthoroffice.com with your name and a line about your book. The form also asks for a phone number and your permission to call; by email we simply ask you those things in reply, and it works just as well.
• The form. The consultation form at /#consult is built to be filled in by keyboard and screen reader. If it fails for you, the email above is the fallback and we will treat it the same way. If you see the confirmation but hear nothing from us within a week, please email us so we can check what happened.
• A phone call, arranged by us. Tell us by email that you would rather talk, and the best time to call. A producer will arrange the call. There is no number to find and no menu to navigate.
• Plain text. If you would like the text of any page or scene on this site as a plain document you can enlarge or have read aloud, ask by email and we will send it.

08Ongoing work

Accessibility is part of how we build, not a page we wrote once. The things we are working on next are listed here so you can hold us to them.

• Showing the full production reel as a column on wide screens when motion is off or reduced, so no frame is hidden.
• Stopping the grain shimmer, the color change, the recording dot, the letterbox bar slide, the FAQ motion and the scroll easing when the Motion button says off, so the button and the system setting do the same thing.
• Remembering the Motion setting across a reload, and fitting the bottom bar at every screen width so the Motion button is never clipped.
• Marking required fields visibly on the consultation form and making the confirmation announce itself to screen readers.
• Giving the name field in Scene 01 a visible label, and a visible cue that the poster strip scrolls sideways on phones.
• Describing the edit demonstration in words for screen readers.
• A heading for the end credits, making them their own region, and distinct names for the two Scenes navigation regions.
• Testing each scene with common screen readers and documenting the results on this page.
• Reviewing every new scene, form or page against WCAG 2.1 AA before it is published, and updating this statement when the site changes.

09About this statement

This statement was prepared by The Author Office and is effective from the date shown at the top of the page. It describes the website at https://theauthoroffice.com only; services we deliver by phone, email, in print or through third-party retailers are covered by the arrangements we make with you directly. We review it whenever the site changes in a way that affects accessibility, and at least once a year. When we change it, the updated date at the top moves.

This statement is our honest description of the site on the date shown. It is not a warranty, and it does not change the Terms of Service.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle the details you share with us, including by email, and our Contact page lists every way to reach the studio.

10Contact

For anything about accessibility, or to ask for this page in another format, email hello@theauthoroffice.com. Put Accessibility in the subject line so it reaches the right person quickly.