Our Commitment to Web Accessibility

Smiles in the Gardens is committed to providing a fully accessible website experience for all users of all abilities, including those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, screen enlargement software, and alternative keyboard input devices to navigate the web.

Ongoing Efforts to Ensure Accessibility

We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 as our guiding principle for determining accessibility. These are internationally agreed-upon standards that cover a wide range of recommendations and best practices for making content useable. As we add new pages and functionality to our website, all designs, code, and content entry practices are checked against these standards. Website accessibility is an ongoing process. We continually test content and features for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance and remediate any issues to ensure we meet or exceed the standards. Testing of our website is performed by our team members using industry-standard tools such as the Accessibility Checker WordPress Plugin, color contrast analyzers, keyboard-only navigation techniques, and Flesch-Kincaid readability tests.

Accessibility Features On Our Website

The following is a list of items we have included in our website to improve its accessibility:
  • Images have alternative text so if you can’t see the image you can still read the text.
  • Color contrast between the foreground and background is sufficiently strong.
  • Text resizes according to user preference.
  • Headings are correctly used and represent an accurate and logical outline of the content (they’re not just ordinary text made to look big and bold).
  • Links make sense by themselves (no links that say “click here” or “more…”).
  • The content is fully accessible and operable with keyboard navigation only.

Where We’re Improving

In our efforts to bring our website up to standard, we are targeting the following areas:
  • Tables are used for laying out tabular information and have proper headings and summaries.
  • Lists items are defined as HTML bulleted lists to present items of equal status or value and as numbered lists if a particular order to the items is appropriate.
This is part of our broader effort to make everyone’s experience at Next Step Smiles a welcoming and enjoyable one. Please note that while we make every effort to provide information accessible for all users, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third party websites to which we may link.

Accessibility Support Contact

We welcome comments, questions, and feedback on our website. If you are using assistive technologies and are having difficulty using our website, please email support@smilesinthedgardens.com or give us a call at 518-283-2188. We will do our best to assist you and resolve issues.