Accessibility

Our commitment

Loma is meant to work for every student, including students who use a screen reader, a keyboard without a mouse, magnification, or high contrast. The target is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA. Accessibility is part of how Loma is built, not an add-on: every change runs an automated WCAG 2.1 A and AA check before it can ship.

What Loma does

• Typing math two ways. Every answer field has a math editor and a plain-text mode (“Type as text instead”), so an answer can be typed in a normal text box, such as (3x^2+1)/sqrt(x).
• Math that screen readers can read. Displayed math includes MathML, and multiple-choice options carry spoken labels.
• Graphs in words. Every graph question has a written description generated from the same data that draws it, a sound trace you can step through with the arrow keys, and a high-contrast version for embossing. Where a description would give the answer away, a text version of the question is offered instead.
• Keyboard throughout. Every control, including the skill map, works without a mouse. Focus is always visible.
• Status in words, not color alone. Right and wrong, passed and not yet, are shown with text and shape as well as color, in light and dark mode, at WCAG contrast minimums.
• No time limits. Nothing in Loma is timed.

The accessibility tools (text mode, graph descriptions, the sound trace, text versions of graph questions) are switched on under Settings on any practice page.

Known limitations

• The sign-in and sign-up forms are provided by an outside sign-in service. We check them with the same automated audit, but we don’t control their markup.
• The math editor has not yet been tested by hand with every screen reader. If it doesn’t work with yours, use “Type as text instead” on any answer field.
• Loma has not yet had an outside accessibility audit or an Accessibility Conformance Report. The automated checks catch many problems but not all; what’s here is a self-assessment.

Tell us about a problem

If any part of Loma is hard or impossible for you to use, please tell us. Use the help button (?) at the top of any page and say what you were trying to do and what assistive technology you use. The founder reads every message and will reply within five business days. If you need a problem or a graph in another format in the meantime, say so in the message and we’ll send one.

For disability offices

Loma is free and needs no account, so a student can use it with their own assistive technology without any setup. If your office needs documentation, a conformance report, or a different format of any problem set, contact us the same way and we’ll work with you. See also the privacy page for what Loma keeps.