Keyboard path
Permanent routes, controls, disclosures, search, and studio experiences provide keyboard-operable paths and visible focus.
Accessibility
The universe should remain understandable when spectacle is reduced.
The root website is designed around semantic structure, visible focus, touch and keyboard parity, readable text, reduced sensory settings, optional audio, and non-spatial alternatives. Accessibility claims are limited to behavior that can be inspected and tested.
Accessibility review
Readable structure
Landmarks, heading hierarchy, labels, responsive text, high contrast, and scalable layouts support common assistive workflows.
Reduced experience
Motion, visual effects, quiet mode, calm audio, mute, and audio-off operation preserve the full explanation.
Equivalent routes
Spatial Atlas and studio interactions include list, disclosure, or linear alternatives that do not rely on position or color alone.
01 · Current approach
Accessibility is a design constraint, not a final disclaimer.
The site is built with native HTML landmarks, headings, links, buttons, form labels, tables, lists, and disclosure elements wherever those semantics fit. Custom interactions add names, roles, states, focus handling, status announcements, and non-spatial equivalents. Core public copy and ordinary navigation remain available when scripts are disabled.
This page describes the current root site, reviewed . It does not claim universal conformance across every device, browser, zoom level, operating system, input method, or assistive technology.
02 · Input and navigation
Touch-first does not mean keyboard-second.
Keyboard
A skip link moves to main content. Visible focus follows direct navigation, fragments, dialog use, and Back/Forward restoration. Arrow keys supplement appropriate dock and spatial controls.
Touch and pointer
Primary controls use touch-sized targets and avoid hover-only meaning. Spatial views include direct focus, step, list, or disclosure controls.
Screen readers
Landmarks, headings, labels, current-page states, status regions, table captions, summaries, and equivalent text communicate structure without requiring the visual scene.
Zoom and reflow
Responsive layouts avoid fixed reading columns, preserve horizontal containment at tested sizes, and keep policy text in comfortable line lengths.
03 · Sensory controls
Audio and spectacle are optional layers.
| Control | Effect | Understanding preserved |
|---|---|---|
| Motion | Automatic or reduced | Navigation, hierarchy, state, and content remain complete without animated transitions. |
| Effects | Full, reduced, or off | Decorative particles, depth, and spectacle can be reduced without removing labels or actions. |
| Quiet mode | Suppresses nonessential motion, effects, and sound | All required information remains visible and operable. |
| Audio | Off by default; enable, mute, volume, calm profile | No instruction, state, objective, or route depends on sound alone. |
The browser stores these choices locally so they can persist. The site also follows the operating system’s reduced-motion preference.
04 · Complex experiences
Spatial orientation always has a textual counterpart.
- The Observatory portals have direct studio links and native deeper-reveal disclosures.
- Universe Atlas map mode has an equivalent expandable hierarchy, search, summaries, and direct links.
- Game Universe supports category-first, edition-first, matrix, search, and list paths from one canonical data source.
- Studio-world anatomy interactions include linear explanations and native controls.
- Color, sound, motion, and position are never the sole carriers of required meaning.
05 · Scripts-disabled and failure behavior
Progressive enhancement keeps the route intact.
Without JavaScript, ordinary links, trust pages, studio copy, native details elements, breadcrumbs, header navigation, footer navigation, and direct Atlas routes remain available. The interactive dock, local search dialog, enhanced spatial controls, focus restoration, optional audio, and some visual transformations require JavaScript.
If an optional asset or audio cue fails, the site reports the unavailable layer and preserves navigation and text. No audio is required to recover from an error.
06 · Limits and issue records
Useful reporting begins with reproducible detail.
The root site does not publish an unverified support mailbox. For a useful accessibility issue record, note the page URL, browser and version, operating system, device, assistive technology, input method, zoom level, expected result, actual result, and the shortest steps that reproduce the problem. General troubleshooting is available on Website Guidance. A verified product includes its own working support path before it can appear publicly.
07 · Commitment
When verification is not possible, simplify the design.
ICU does not preserve an effect, interaction, or feature merely because it is visually impressive. If a required path cannot be made understandable and directly verified, it is repaired, replaced by a clear alternative, disclosed accurately, or removed.