<h2>What is accessibility?</h2>
At Red Newt Cellars we strive to create an online experience that is accessible to as many people as possible.

Red Newt Cellars has adopted the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/">Worldwide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines</a> version 2.0, Level AA Conformance (WCAG 2.0 Level AA) as our goal for accessibility. The guidelines and success criteria of WCAG 2.0 Level AA are organized around the following four principles which lay the foundation for users with disabilities to access and use web content.  These guidelines address many details of web design and content including, but not limited to use of text sizes, text contrast,  proper headers and formatting, unambiguous and clear hyperlinks, supplemental image information, text and subtitles with video content,  moving and/or flashing images, and navigation structures requiring only one's keyboard.  There are also plenty of nitty-gritty under the hood details that must be considered and addresses.

We strive to make our website perceivable (information presented in ways that users can perceive), operable (user interface components and navigation must work), understandable (information and operation of user interface must be understandable) and robust (content must be robust enough to be viewed by sight limited users and/or be readable with assistive technologies). It is our goal to develop and maintain our website to meet these standards and provide unimpeded access for all.
<h2>How do we achieve accessibility?</h2>
<h3>We use Wordpress web platform</h3>
Wordpress is a one of the most widely used website software platforms in the world, running over 30% of all websites and blogs on the internet.  Wordpress has made the commitment to bring all the platform into full WCAG 2.0 AA compliance by auditing existing coding for accessibility, and to demand that ALL future code written for the platform meets the most currently accepted accessibility standards.  We are always running the most current release of the core Wordpress code, as well as current updates of all plugins in order to best meet accessibility with our platform.  There is no website development team with a stronger commitment to accessibility that Wordpress.<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/handbook/#our-mission"> (read about Wordpress accessibility mission)</a>
<h3>We compose in computer accessible format</h3>
Gone is the day of using wild colors, fonts and formats to make the point.  Every page and post on our website is carefully authored with proper headers and tags to render the text in a way that is most easily navigated and read with automated screen readers.  The computer screen was designed as an exclusively visual interface, but with careful formatting, and prudent use of software cues that lie under the visible text, we are able to provide the proper software cues to computer driven audio screen readers.   By considering <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/handbook/best-practices/">documented best practices</a> for managing and composing in our site, we maximize accessibility to content. We use live checks of content while editing using the <em>WP ADA Compliance Check plugin,</em> as well as reviewing compliance and structure of each page using <em>WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool</em>.
<h3>We maximize visibility</h3>
We select colors for fonts and backgrounds to provide the adequate and proper contrast that can be seen.  Built into Wordpress is the ability to dynamically resize and reformat pages to make the text really big.  But size isn't everything.  We review every page to ensure that all text/background color combinations are appropriate for colorblind users.
<h3>We monitor our site with regular audits</h3>
We routinely audit our entire website with automated tools developed by <em>Online ADA </em>to report any problems or anomalies that might contribute to accessibility issues.  Audit reports are logged and acted upon promptly to keep our site accessible.
<h2>We test our site</h2>
Meeting the coding rules and standards of WCAG 2.0 alone does not assure that our site is navigable and usable with limited inputs (using a keyboard only) and for visually impaired users.  We use the combination of Firefox web browser (the world's most widely used open source web browser) and NVDA (the world's most widely used open source screen reader) to audit our web site.  We continually utilize these tools for developing and improving the function and infrastructure of our site, as well as tweaking and optimizing navigation and content format.  As it turns out, taking a critical view of our site through the lens of limited access abilities helps us to optimize website functionality for all.   Use these links to <a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/accessibility-features-firefox-make-firefox-and-we">learn more about Firefox accessibility</a> and <a href="https://www.nvaccess.org/">NVDA screen reader</a>.
<h2>We aren't perfect</h2>
Developing, authoring and maintaining a fully content managed, blogging and eCommerce site that is fully accessible for the visually impaired can be complicated and difficult.  And it is an ongoing process:  we know that there are always ways in which we can improve.  We are up to this challenge.

In addition to the website code that we directly maintain and have control over, some elements of our website are developed and/or provided by third parties.   It is important to us that all aspects of our website is accessible.  In order to assure accessibility with these third party components, we will work with our suppliers to encourage them to bring their products into compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines.  In cases where third parties fall short of making this commitment,  we will explore alternate developers and providers who share our commitment to accessibility.
<h2>We would like your help</h2>
The best way to evaluate and improve usability and accessibility on our website is to subject it to live testing and evaluation.  We also ask that you, as a Red Newt website user, help us in this effort.  If you encounter any difficulties or challenges with using our website please let us know!  We are caring human beings, and are here to create an exceptional experience for you.

Please contact us directly at webmaster@rednewt.com or call on the telephone at 607-275-1674

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