Spines Publishing USA is committed to ensuring our website and services are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. We believe every author deserves equal access to the tools and resources that help them publish their book.
Our Commitment
We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We actively work to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and in doing so adhere to many of the available standards and guidelines.
Accessibility is an ongoing effort, not a one-time project. We have dedicated internal resources and work with third-party accessibility consultants to review, test, and improve our website and platform on a regular basis.
Standards We Follow
Our website aims to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities, and define requirements for designers and developers.
We use the following principles to guide our accessibility efforts:
- Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. We provide text alternatives for non-text content, captions for video, and content that can be presented in multiple ways.
- Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. All functionality is available via keyboard, users have sufficient time to read content, and we avoid content that could cause seizures.
- Understandable: Information and operation of the interface must be understandable. We use clear language, predictable navigation, and input assistance to prevent and correct mistakes.
- Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. We use valid, semantic HTML and ARIA attributes where appropriate.
Accessibility Features
Our current accessibility implementation includes:
- Keyboard navigation: All interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields) are accessible via keyboard alone.
- Screen reader support: We use semantic HTML, ARIA labels, and role attributes to ensure compatibility with screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver.
- Colour contrast: Text and interactive elements meet or exceed WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratio requirements (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text).
- Scalable text: Our layout supports browser-based text scaling up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.
- Focus indicators: Visible focus indicators are present on all interactive elements.
- Alternative text: All meaningful images include descriptive alt text.
- Form labels: All form inputs have associated labels and clear error messages.
- Skip navigation: A skip-to-main-content link is available for keyboard users.
Known Limitations
While we strive for full WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, some areas of our platform may not yet fully meet this standard. Known current limitations include:
- Some third-party embedded content (payment processors, live chat widgets) may not fully comply with WCAG 2.1 AA standards. We are working with our vendors on remediation.
- Older PDF documents (such as some publishing guides) may not be fully accessible. We are progressively updating these documents.
- Some complex data tables on our website are being updated to improve screen reader navigation.
We are actively working to address these limitations and welcome feedback to help us prioritise improvements.
Feedback and Contact
We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of our website. If you encounter any accessibility barriers, please contact us:
- Email: accessibility@spinespublishingusa.com
- Phone: +1 (800) 555-0198 (Mon–Fri, 9 AM–6 PM EST)
- Contact form: spinespublishingusa.com/contact
We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within 3 business days and will work with you to provide information in an accessible format or help you complete tasks if you are having difficulty using our website.
Formal Complaints
If you are not satisfied with our response to your accessibility feedback, you may file a complaint with the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division or seek recourse under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other applicable federal or state accessibility laws.
