First incremental pass at issue #86, focused on the universal entry
points and primary navigation. All changes verified in-browser with the
axe-core engine (0 violations on the surfaces below) plus manual keyboard
testing, on both desktop (1280px) and mobile (390px).
Login / first-run setup (static/login.html)
- Add a real <h1>, wrap content in <main> + <footer> landmarks.
- Mark the decorative boat SVG aria-hidden.
- Errors now use role="alert" so screen readers announce them.
- "Remember me" checkbox is keyboard-focusable (was display:none) with an
accessible name and a focus ring; dynamic 2FA field gets a linked label.
- Darken the brand-red submit button so white text clears WCAG AA 4.5:1
(was ~3.2:1); add visible :focus-visible rings.
App shell (static/index.html, static/style.css)
- Remove invalid role="region" from the <main> chat container (it was
overriding the implicit main landmark).
- Add a persistent, visually-hidden <h1> inside <main> so the page always
exposes one logical level-1 heading — works even on mobile where the
sidebar (with the visible brand) is hidden off-canvas.
- Add a reusable .a11y-visually-hidden utility.
- Raise chat-title, model-picker, settings-helper and notes text contrast
above 4.5:1 (were 2.8-3.9:1).
Keyboard nav + dialogs (static/js/a11y.js - new)
- Make the click-only <div> sidebar navigation (New Chat, Search, Brain,
Calendar, Compare, Cookbook, Deep Research, Gallery, Library, Notes,
Tasks, Theme, account) focusable and Enter/Space-activatable, announced
as buttons (skipping role=button where a nested control would create a
nested-interactive violation). Visible focus ring reused from existing
.list-item:focus-visible.
- Upgrade modals (.modal-content and the docked .notes-pane) to labelled
role="dialog" + aria-modal, and normalise their title to heading level 2
so heading order stays valid. A MutationObserver covers runtime-rendered
rows and modals.
Decorative background canvases (static/js/theme.js)
- Mark all 7 bg-effect canvases aria-hidden.
Notes & Tasks (static/js/notes.js, static/js/tasks.js)
- Label the icon-only Note/To-do toggle pills (fixes a critical
button-name issue) and track aria-pressed state.
- Improve Notes header-button + empty-state contrast.
- Give the Tasks sort <select> an accessible name (fixes a critical
select-name issue).
Remaining data-dense tool modals (Tasks cards, Calendar, Gallery, Email,
Cookbook, Compare, Deep Research) still have muted-text contrast to polish
and are the next incremental step, per the issue's own guidance.
