Built to be read by everyone

The intention

Hospitality that begins with a page should be as considered as hospitality that begins at a door. This site is built so that it can be read comfortably, whatever you are reading it with.

Reading aloud

The settings panel can read the page aloud using the reading voice built into your browser, and it can be paused, continued or stopped. Select a passage first and only that passage is read. The pages are also written in proper headings, lists and landmarks, so a screen reader moves through them in a sensible order.

Contrast and colour

The house palette is set so that reading text meets recognised contrast levels, and the small capitals used for labels are given deeper tones on light pages and lifted tones on dark ones. A higher-contrast mode firms the quieter tones further, and filters are offered for red, green and blue colour weakness, along with a mode without colour.

Colour is never the only way something is said. Errors carry words, links carry an underline or a rule, and each world carries a name as well as a tone.

Text size

Three reading sizes are offered, and the layout holds at each. Your browser's own zoom is also respected, up to twice the size, without content being cut off.

Motion

Movement on this site is limited to a slow arrival of content and a quiet drift on opening photography. If your device asks for less motion, that is honoured without being told, and the panel can also ask for stillness directly.

Keyboard and pointer

Every link, control and form field can be reached and used from the keyboard, with a visible gold focus ring. A skip link at the top of each page moves straight to the content. Controls are sized for a comfortable touch on a phone.

Where the house knows it can improve

Reading a page aloud depends on the voices your browser provides, and some browsers offer none. Photographic pages carry long descriptions in their alternative text, which continues to be reviewed as imagery is added.

Telling the house about a barrier

If something here is hard to read or impossible to use, write to the house and it will be treated as a fault rather than a preference. The particulars are below.