What works,and what does not yet.

The standard we build to

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. That is the level public sector bodies in the UK are held to, and it is the level this site is built and checked against.

This is a self assessment. No independent audit has been carried out, and no testing has yet been done with disabled people using their own assistive technology. Both would tell us things automated checking cannot, and neither has happened, so we are not going to imply otherwise.

What has actually been tested

Every item here was measured on the built site rather than assumed from the code.

• Automated checks, zero violations. axe against the WCAG 2.2 AA rule set, at 375px and 1440px, on the calendar, an event page, About, Submit and the page you get when a link is broken. Every route is re-checked whenever it changes.
• Keyboard only. Every page starts with a skip link to the content. The common questions on the About page open and close from the keyboard alone, because they are native disclosure elements rather than scripted ones. Focus is always visible: a gold outline, never removed.
• Reduced motion. If your device is set to reduce motion, every animation and transition on the site is switched off, including the scrolling gold strip.
• Never colour alone. Links inside a paragraph are underlined as well as gold. A free event says the word Free rather than only being green, and every listing states a price in words, including when the price is not known.
• It works without JavaScript. Every event is in the page as delivered, with its date, venue and price. Filtering and searching improve that; they are not required to read it.
• Text size and targets. No text on the site is set below 11px. Buttons, filter chips and navigation links are at least 44px by 44px on a phone, and never below 32px on a wide screen. Links inside a sentence are the height of the line they sit in, which is the exception the standard makes for inline links.
• Posters carry their information in text too. Every poster image is described with the event name, the date, the venue and the borough, so nothing on the wall is reachable only by looking at artwork.
• The page does not jump as it loads. The exact space for every poster is reserved before the image arrives, so a link does not move out from under your finger while the page settles.
• The countdown reads as a sentence. The clock on the front page is a designed thing with each numeral in its own cell, which a screen reader used to announce one digit at a time. It now reads as one plain sentence naming the event, how long is left, the date and the venue, and it does not interrupt to say the seconds have changed.

What is not right yet

These are known. They are written down here because a problem you can read about is one you do not have to spend your afternoon reporting.

• Text inside a poster is not selectable or resizable. Posters are artwork supplied by organisers, so any wording designed into the image cannot reflow or grow with your text settings. The event name, date, venue, borough and price are always repeated as real text underneath, and the full details are on the event page.
• Some listings are thinner than others. Most of the events this year were gathered from public listings rather than submitted, so a few carry less detail, and age guidance and access information are missing for several. We are asking organisers for what is missing rather than guessing at it.
• Automated checking only finds part of it. A tool that reports zero violations has not proved a page is usable, only that it broke none of the rules a tool can check. That is the gap independent testing would close, and it has not happened yet.

Tell us about a problem

If something here does not work for you, please tell us. You do not need to know why it is broken or what to call it. What you were trying to do, and what happened instead, is enough.

Email bhm@cahn.org.uk and a person will reply.

If you need something on this site in another format, ask and we will find a way to get it to you. If an event listing itself is the problem, say which one and we will go back to the organiser.

Elsewhere on the site

Submitting an event is free and open to any organiser in Greater Manchester.

This statement was prepared on 16 August 2026 and last updated on 17 August 2026, when the countdown was fixed. It applies to bhmgreatermcr.com.