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Accessibility Statement

Effective date: May 2026 · Last updated: May 2026

piano.org is committed to making piano education accessible to all learners. This statement describes our target conformance level, the accessibility features we have implemented, the issues we know about, and how to request an accommodation.

1. Target Conformance Level

piano.org targets WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance. This is the level recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice for public accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA Title III) and by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act for federal contexts. We have not yet completed a formal third-party audit; the statement below reflects our internal review.

2. Features Implemented

  • Semantic HTML. Pages use heading hierarchy (h1 → h2 → h3), landmark elements (<main>, <nav>, <footer>), and native form controls so that assistive technology can navigate the document structure.
  • Keyboard navigation. Standard browser keyboard navigation works site-wide. Quizzes and drills can be answered with the keyboard; the chat widget is reachable and operable by keyboard.
  • Image alt text. Chord and scale hero images include descriptive alt text that names the chord or scale and its notes (e.g. “C Major on the piano — Notes: C - E - G”).
  • Native FAQ accordions. All accordions are implemented with native HTML <details>/<summary>, which screen readers announce correctly without JavaScript.
  • Color contrast. Body text and interactive elements meet the WCAG 2.1 AA contrast ratio of 4.5:1. Brand-red highlights on white background also meet AA.
  • Sheet music staves. All staff renderings use VexFlow, which produces accessible SVG with consistent positioning across browsers and devices.

3. Known Issues and Limitations

We track accessibility limitations openly. The current known issues are:

  • MIDI features require Chromium-based browsers. Web MIDI is not available in Safari (desktop or iOS) or in older versions of some browsers. Practice Mode, Practice Room, the MIDI Monitor, and the Player Diagnostic Assessment will display a notice asking you to switch to Chrome, Edge, or another Chromium-based browser. Reference pages (chords, scales, modes, theory) remain fully usable without MIDI.
  • Piano keyboard widget keyboard navigation. The interactive 88-key keyboard widget supports clicking individual keys but does not yet have full keyboard navigation (e.g. arrow keys to move between piano keys, Enter to play). Note labels are visible and chord/scale information is duplicated in the accompanying text table so the same content is reachable without interacting with the widget.
  • Audio playback has no user-facing volume control. Audio playback respects the system and browser-tab volume only. You can mute the browser tab to silence playback.
  • Charts and visualizations. Practice-dashboard charts (rendered with Recharts) include text labels but do not yet include a downloadable data-table alternative. The underlying numbers are summarized in the body copy on the same page.

4. Browser Requirements

piano.org is tested on current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari on desktop, and Chrome and Safari on iOS and Android. MIDI features additionally require a Chromium-based browser; everything else works on all four engines. Users with very old browsers may see a degraded layout but should still be able to read the content.

5. Reporting an Issue or Requesting Help

If you encounter a part of piano.org that is not usable with your assistive technology, or if you would like to request the content in an alternative format, please contact us via the Contact page. Please include:

  • The URL of the page where you ran into the problem.
  • Your browser, operating system, and assistive technology (if applicable).
  • A short description of what you were trying to do.

We aim to respond within 5 business days and to remediate confirmed issues within 30 days where reasonably practicable.

6. Ongoing Work

Accessibility is treated as an ongoing commitment rather than a one-time project. We re-test major features as they ship and update this page when known issues are resolved or new ones are introduced. If you have suggestions for improvement, we want to hear them.