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.

The following is a list of items we have included in our website to improve its accessibility:

• Our website design has a mobile-responsive version with appropriately sized tap-targets.
• Our brand colors were intentionally selected for color contrast and meet AAA requirements, even for small text.
• Navigational aids are provided on all pages. Skip navigation links have been incorporated to facilitate keyboard navigation and to bypass content on a page, allowing users to jump directly to the primary navigation, main content, and footer.
• Our website declares a language in the header.
• All images and other non-text elements have appropriate alternative text associated with them.
• Structural markup to indicate expected section containers, headings, lists, and buttons has been provided to make our content more understandable and “skim-able” by all users, regardless of device.
• Forms are associated with labels and instructions on filling in forms are available, along with clearly understandable error states.
• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) screen-reader only text is present when links, buttons, icons, or images require additional context to understand their meaning.
• PDF/UA requirements checked by PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) are fulfilled. PAC evaluates the accessibility of PDF files according to ISO-/DIN-Standard 14289-1 (PDF/UA) by using the Matterhorn Protocol. It checks 107 criteria that can be checked automatically.

In our efforts to bring our website up to standard, we are targeting the following areas:

• Vermilion Hill Tree Selection Catalogue (Interactive Map)

This is part of our broader effort to make everyone’s experience at Qualico Communities Calgary 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.