ACCESSIBILITY

Music tools should be usable.

GrooveMachine.com is designed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA principles, with keyboard access, visible focus, semantic controls, non-drag alternatives, reduced-motion support, and practical target sizes.

Updated: August 19, 2026

This is a design commitment and an internal best-practice audit, not a claim of certified WCAG conformance. A full independent audit and testing with disabled musicians have not yet been completed.

Current support

Core controls use native buttons, selects, checkboxes, and range inputs with accessible names.
Sequencer steps expose their pressed state and use a single roving keyboard stop rather than forcing users through 128 separate Tab stops.
Arrow keys move through the step grid; Home and End move to the beginning or end of a row; Space or Enter toggles the focused step.
A skip link reaches the beat maker, and another link lets keyboard users skip past the sequencer.
Playback and operation feedback uses a polite live region.
Visible two-colour focus indicators are designed to remain clear against light and dark controls.
Primary controls and sequencer steps use practical 44-by-44 CSS-pixel targets.
No core operation requires dragging, a pointer gesture, a microphone, a camera, location, or motion sensors.
Reduced-motion preferences disable non-essential animation and transitions. High-contrast and forced-colour modes receive additional support.
The sequencer remains horizontally scrollable on smaller screens rather than shrinking its controls below a practical size.

Audio considerations

Audio begins only after a user action. Visual pressed states, step positions, track labels, and status messages are provided so the interface does not rely on sound alone.

Known limitations

Music-sequencing grids are dense interfaces. The musical usefulness of detailed screen-reader announcements, browser-specific range-control behavior, and the experience with alternative input hardware still require real-user testing. We will not claim full accessibility conformance until that work and remediation are complete.

Feedback readiness

A dedicated public accessibility-feedback channel should be added before a commercial custom-domain launch. Accessibility issues that block core creation or export should be treated as release-blocking defects.