Terra Studio

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Accessibility

How Terra Studio works for everyone, how we checked it, and what is still to do.
Version
Last updated: 1 November 2026
In this guide
5 short sections
Contents

Draft for review. This is a plain-language first draft. It must be reviewed by a qualified lawyer before Terra Studio is offered commercially, and the details in square brackets must be filled in.

Our aim

We want everyone to be able to use Terra Studio and for it to look just as lovely while they do. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA.

What works today

  • No sound ever plays until you press a button.
  • Every page has a “Skip to content” link, and the Studio has “Skip to controls”.
  • You can place every sound without a mouse. Move to a sound in the field and use the arrow keys (hold Shift for bigger steps). Enter or Space switches it on or off. Its new place is read out in words, such as “Rain, front left, near”. You can also type an exact position.
  • Sliders read their values in full, such as “Rain level, 55 percent” or “Rain warmth, 8000 hertz”.
  • Playing, pausing, the end of a sleep timer and messages such as “saved” are announced to screen readers.
  • Text meets the contrast levels of WCAG 2.2 AA in every theme, including the dark ones.
  • Every control shows a clear outline when you move to it with the keyboard.
  • The water and light never flash more than three times a second, in any theme, at any volume.
  • Terra Studio follows your device’s reduced motion setting: the water becomes nearly still, and drifting light and pointer ripples stop. Calm visuals, on every page, does the same for anyone, and the home page has a “Pause motion” button.
  • Pages work at 200 percent zoom and with wider text spacing, without scrolling sideways. The Studio scrolls on short screens instead of squeezing.
  • Windows high contrast mode keeps every control outlined and uses standard sliders.
  • Locked controls explain why in words, not just with an icon.
  • The safety guide and legal pages can be printed as plain text.

How we checked

  • Automated checks with axe on every page, and in the Studio in every theme, run on every change. They also run with Windows high contrast switched on.
  • An automated test plays thunder and rain at full volume in light and dark themes, measures the brightness of the picture frame by frame, and fails if anything flashes.
  • Automated keyboard tests: the skip links, and placing, moving and switching sounds with the keyboard alone.
  • Every page checked by eye at 200 percent zoom with wider text spacing.

Known gaps

We are honest about what is not finished yet:

  • We have not yet tested with the screen readers people use every day (VoiceOver on Mac and iPhone, NVDA on Windows), or with Windows high contrast on a real Windows computer. Those tests are next, and this page will list what they find.
  • The moving water behind the Studio is decoration. It is hidden from screen readers and described in a sentence instead.
  • Automated tools cannot measure contrast over the moving water, so the few words placed directly on it (the “Sound field” heading and its hint) were checked by eye. They sit on a soft halo for this reason.

Tell us

If something gets in your way, please write to [Contact email]. We will reply within five working days and, where we can, help you another way while we fix it.