Accessibility Statement

Our commitment

Accessibility is part of how the site is built, not something added on at the end. When we build a page we use plain, standard HTML, keep the controls operable from a keyboard, and check that the page still works when it is zoomed in or read out.

We are a small team and we do not have an in-house accessibility specialist. What we can promise is that we take reports seriously, that we answer them from the same mailbox that answers order questions, and that we would rather fix a real barrier than publish a page claiming there are none.

If any part of this statement does not match your experience of the site, that is worth telling us about. Your report is more useful to us than our own assumptions.

The standard we work toward

We work toward the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. That is the standard commonly used to judge whether a website is accessible, and it is the target we design and build against.

We state that as a goal, not as a badge. Hearthsweep has not been audited or certified by an independent third party, and we do not claim to conform fully to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Parts of the site meet it, some parts we have not verified, and the known gaps are listed further down this page.

Anyone who tells you a website is permanently and completely conformant is usually overstating it. Content changes, browsers change, and images arrive from manufacturers in whatever form they arrive in. We treat conformance as something to keep working at.

How the pages are built

The site is built with standard HTML structure rather than generic containers stacked on top of each other. That matters because assistive technology relies on that structure to make sense of a page.

• Each page declares its language as English, so a screen reader uses the right pronunciation rules.
• Pages use real landmark elements — a header, navigation, a main content area and a footer — so you can jump between the regions of a page instead of reading through it.
• Headings are real headings, in order, so the heading list in a screen reader gives you a usable outline of a product page or a policy page.
• Links are links and buttons are buttons. We do not attach click handlers to plain blocks of text, which is the most common reason a control works with a mouse but not with a keyboard.
• Prices, quantities and totals are plain text on the page, not images of text.

The layout is responsive. It reflows to a single column on small screens, and the same reflow means the site remains usable when you enlarge the page with browser zoom rather than forcing you to scroll sideways to read a line of text.

Keyboard use and focus

Everything on our own pages that you need in order to browse the catalogue and reach checkout can be reached and operated from a keyboard alone: the navigation, the mobile menu, product links, image thumbnails, the quantity controls, the wishlist button, add to cart and buy now.

• Focus is visible. The element you are on is outlined in a solid blue ring set slightly away from the control, so it stays legible against white, grey and coloured backgrounds.
• Focus order follows the reading order of the page, so tabbing through does not jump around unexpectedly.
• We do not trap focus. There is no overlay or dialog that captures the keyboard and refuses to give it back.
• Controls that show only an icon carry a text label for assistive technology — the cart and wishlist buttons in the header, the menu toggle, the quantity plus and minus buttons, and each product image thumbnail.
• The quantity value on a product page is announced when it changes, and an error when we cannot start checkout is announced on our cart page rather than only appearing in a different colour.

We do not use CAPTCHA anywhere on our own pages, and nothing on the site times out or forces you to hurry. Your cart is stored in your own browser, so you can leave a page open, come back later, and it will still be there.

Text, colour and images

Body text and headings are dark slate on white. Those combinations sit comfortably above the 4.5:1 contrast ratio WCAG asks for at Level AA, and the blue used for links and for the focus ring is dark enough to stand out against white. One exception is noted under known limitations below.

We do not rely on colour alone to carry meaning. Where a saving is shown, the original price is struck through and labelled for screen readers as the list price, so the discount is not communicated only by a change of colour.

Product images carry alternative text naming the product. Thumbnail images that are purely a smaller copy of the main image are marked as decorative, so a screen reader does not read the same product name several times over.

Text is set in relative units, so it responds to browser zoom and to a larger default text size in your browser settings. We do not disable pinch zoom on phones.

Motion, sound and interruptions

If your operating system is set to reduce motion, the site respects it. The prefers-reduced-motion setting switches off the transitions and the smooth scrolling across the whole site — you do not have to find a control on our page to turn animation off, because your device has already told us.

There is no audio anywhere on the site, no auto-playing video, no flashing content and no carousel that advances on its own. The product image rail only moves when you move it.

There are no pop-ups, no interstitials and no newsletter overlay, because we do not run a newsletter. There is no cookie consent overlay either: the site sets no advertising or analytics cookies, so there is nothing to interrupt you about. Your cart and wishlist are kept in your own browser's storage on your device.

Forms and checkout

There is very little to fill in on this site. There is no customer account, no login, no registration and no newsletter sign-up, so there are no forms to work through before you can buy.

The only place you type anything is the payment page, and that page is not ours. Card payments are handled by Stripe on Stripe's own hosted checkout page, which Stripe builds, labels and maintains. We never see or store card numbers. That page's accessibility is Stripe's responsibility, not something we can change, though we will pass on anything you report about it and help you around it if we can.

Every interactive control we do own — quantity, cart, wishlist, navigation — is a standard button or link with either visible text or a text label for assistive technology.

Known limitations

These are the gaps we are aware of. Listing them is more honest than implying they do not exist.

• We have not had a formal third-party accessibility audit. Everything described above is our own assessment, made while building and reviewing the site. An independent audit would very likely find issues we have missed.
• Some product images are supplied by the manufacturer and have text printed inside the image — feature callouts, dimensions, comparison charts. We cannot edit those images. The information in them is not always repeated in the page text, which means a screen reader will not reach it. If you need what an image says, ask us and we will send it as plain text.
• A few small secondary labels — the brand name printed above a product title, a struck-through list price, and the small section headings inside the navigation menu — are set in a light grey that does not reach the 4.5:1 contrast ratio. None of them is the only place that information appears: the brand name is part of the product title, and the price you will pay is shown in full-contrast text. We are darkening them.
• The site does not yet have a skip-to-main-content link, so a keyboard user passes through the header navigation on each page. It is on our list.
• We have not tested the site against every combination of browser, operating system and assistive technology. Our checks are done with keyboard-only navigation and browser zoom, not across a full matrix of screen readers.
• The checkout page is operated by Stripe and is outside our control, as described above.

Product information in another format

If any part of a product page is hard for you to use, ask us and we will send the information another way, free of charge. This applies to anything on the site, not only to the images with text baked into them.

• The full specification of a product as plain text in an email — dimensions, weight, capacity, runtime, filter type, what is in the box.
• A written description of what a product image or a comparison chart shows.
• The relevant part of a shipping, returns or warranty term written out for you rather than linked.

Email support@hearthsweep.store with the product name or the page you are looking at. We normally reply within one business day, and we will not ask you to explain why you need it.

Telling us about an accessibility barrier

If something on this site stops you doing what you came to do, please tell us. Email is the only support channel we run, and it is read by the same people who handle orders.

• Email: support@hearthsweep.store
• Support hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00-18:00 ET

It helps if you can include the page you were on, what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and the device, browser and assistive technology you were using — but a one-line message is fine too. Do not hold back a report because you are not sure how to describe it.

What to expect from us:

• We aim to acknowledge your message within one business day.
• Within five business days we will tell you what we found, whether we can fix it and roughly when, or explain honestly if we cannot.
• If a barrier is blocking an order, we will help you get past it in the meantime — for example by sending you the product details you need in plain text, or by talking you through the step by email.

We treat an accessibility report as a fault report, not a complaint. Nothing about your order, your delivery or your right to return an item within 30 days changes because you raised one.

Status of this statement

This statement describes the Hearthsweep website as it stands today. It is a self-assessment. We have not been audited or certified by anyone else, and nothing here is a legal opinion or a guarantee of conformance with any particular law or standard.

We review this statement whenever we make a material change to the site, and at least once a year, so that the measures and the limitations listed above stay accurate. Last reviewed August 2026.

If you think this page overstates what the site does, tell us at support@hearthsweep.store and we will correct it. A statement that does not match the site is worse than no statement at all.