Accessibility at Cortex

• Keyboard operation Partly supported

  The first Tab stop is a skip link that becomes visible when focused. Tab then reaches all 11 controls on the Status page in order (three nav tabs, the theme toggle, Force Reindex All, and five Reindex buttons), each with a visible focus indicator, before wrapping back to the skip link, and Search runs from the keyboard with Enter. Ask submits with Ctrl or Command and Enter.

  Evidence

  • screenshots/captures/cortex.spec.ts in the fleet harness, test 'a11y: keyboard, reduced motion, and reflow': skip link focused and on screen, every Tab stop through the 11 Status controls shows an outline, Search submitted with Enter
  • the Cortex repo's frontend/src/__tests__/a11y.test.tsx: the skip link reveals itself on focus (this was broken before 10/29/2026: it relied on Tailwind classes the app does not use)
  • Focus indicators are the browser's default rings on buttons and links; their 3:1 contrast has not been measured, and a full keyboard-only pass through an Ask answer has not been recorded.

• Screen reader landmarks and labels Partly supported

  axe-core finds no violations in the app, including names, labels, table headers, landmarks, one h1, and heading order. The app has not been used with a screen reader, and streaming answers are not announced as they arrive.

  Evidence

  • cortex.spec.ts (fleet harness) runs axe-core 4.x (WCAG 2.0 to 2.2 A and AA plus best-practice rules) on all 16 captured states (8 views, both themes, including answered Ask pages) and on Status, Search, and Ask at 375 and 1440 pixels in both themes; the run recorded zero violations, and serious or critical ones fail it
  • the Cortex repo's frontend/src/__tests__/contrast.test.tsx: exactly one h1, and no h3 or h4 under it

• Contrast in light and dark Supported

  Text, buttons, badges, and the wordmark clear 4.5:1 in both themes. A scan on 10/29/2026 found white text on the accent at 4.3:1 in light and 3.0:1 in dark, a green badge at 3.0:1, accent-colored scores at 3.7:1, and status text that faded below 4.5:1 while pulsing; all were fixed.

  Evidence

  • axe-core color-contrast rule on all 16 captured states, both themes (cortex.spec.ts in the fleet harness); zero violations after the fixes
  • the Cortex repo's frontend/src/__tests__/contrast.test.tsx computes the contrast of every foreground and background pair the components use, from the stylesheet tokens, in both themes

• Reduced motion Supported

  With the reduced-motion setting on, animations and transitions in the app collapse to about a hundredth of a millisecond, and the one animated element, a pulsing dot on the events list, animates a dot rather than the text.

  Evidence

  • cortex.spec.ts (fleet harness): with reduced motion emulated, the computed animation duration is 0.01 ms (measured as 1e-05 s)
  • the Cortex repo's frontend/src/global.css: a prefers-reduced-motion rule covering every element and pseudo-element

• Text resize and zoom Partly supported

  The layout reflows without sideways scrolling at 640 and 320 pixels wide, which is a 1280-pixel window zoomed to 200 and 400 percent. Text sizes are set in pixels, so a larger default font size chosen in the browser settings does not enlarge them; browser zoom does.

  Evidence

  • cortex.spec.ts (fleet harness): no horizontal scroll at 640 and 320 pixels on the Status page
  • Changing the browser's default font size has not been tested, and the stylesheet uses pixel sizes.

• Mobile and touch Partly supported

  Status, Search, and Ask fit a 375-pixel phone screen with no sideways page scroll, in both themes. Their controls are 32 to 37 pixels tall, under the 44 pixels the rest of the fleet aims for.

  Evidence

  • cortex.spec.ts (fleet harness): document width equals the viewport at 375 pixels on all three screens, in light and dark; a visually hidden table header that made the page scroll sideways on a phone was fixed on 10/29/2026
  • Measured control sizes at 375 pixels: nav tabs and buttons 32 to 37 pixels tall (recorded in the run's a11y.json, not asserted)

No WCAG conformance level is claimed for Cortex. Its checks are automated (axe-core and a scripted keyboard pass); no one has audited it against WCAG or tested it with a screen reader or other assistive technology.

• Structure

  A skip link, labeled landmarks (header, navigation, main, footer), one h1 per page, and headings that do not skip levels.

• Keyboard and focus

  Links and buttons are native elements, so they work from the keyboard. Focus is drawn as a visible ring, and the menu closes with Escape.

• Contrast

  Text meets 4.5 to 1 in both the light and dark themes, checked against the stylesheet by the test suite.

• Motion

  Transitions and animation switch off when your system asks for reduced motion.

• Small screens and zoom

  Layouts hold at 375 pixels wide with no sideways scrolling, text resizes with the browser, and touch targets are at least 44 pixels.

• Automated scan

  Every page is scanned with axe-core at 375 and 1440 pixels in light and dark, and the checks fail on any serious or critical violation. Automated tools find only part of the problems, so this is a floor, not proof.

• Images

  Every product screenshot has a text description and comes in a light and a dark version that follows your theme.

• Your theme choice

  The theme follows your system setting until you pick one with the button in the header.