Accessibility

Much of what makes this app accessible is also what makes it work at all. Here's what was decided on purpose.

The typeface

Everything a child reads is set in Andika, designed by SIL specifically for literacy learners. Its letterforms keep easily-confused shapes apart — the b, d, p and q are not mirror images of each other, and the a and g are the single-storey forms children are taught to write. It's set large, with generous spacing, and never in all caps.

Motion

There is no fast motion anywhere in the app: no flashing, no shaking, no zooming, no autoplay, nothing that moves without a child asking it to. If your device is set to Reduce Motion, the app respects it and the remaining transitions are dropped.

Sound

Nothing plays unless a child taps it. There is no background music, no sound effects, and no noise on success or failure — because there is no success or failure. The app is fully usable with the sound off; the letters carry their meaning visually.

Colour and contrast

Reading text is dark ink on a warm off-white page, comfortably above the WCAG AA contrast threshold. Every letter has its own colour, but colour is never the only signal — the shape of the picture inside each letter carries the meaning, so the app works for colour-blind readers, and works in plain black ink by the last levels anyway.

Touch

Everything a child taps is large. There are no drag gestures, no swipes, no double-taps, no long-presses and no timed interactions — a single tap, held as long as they like, is the only thing the app ever asks for.

Pace

There are no timers, no countdowns and no autoadvancing pages. You can sit on one page for as long as you like. Nothing is ever taken away for being slow.

Still to do

Full screen-reader labelling of the reader is not finished, and the app has not yet been tested with VoiceOver end to end. If you use assistive technology with a child and something blocks you, please tell us — that feedback goes to the top of the list.