MyTextMate Accessibility Conformance Report
WCAG Edition, based on VPAT® Version 2.5 (Information Technology Industry Council)
Name of Product/Version
MyTextMate, the service as of November 2026
Report Date
November 6, 2026
Product Description
MyTextMate texts students a short daily list of their upcoming Canvas deadlines and anything else they text in to remember. Students sign up and use it entirely by text message, in their phone's own messaging app. A few web pages support it:
- Canvas connection pages (beta.mytextmate.com, moving to app.mytextmate.com): a texted, one-time link opens a school search, then the school's own Canvas login, then a confirmation page.
- Text-only page: tells visitors to the old web app that everything now happens by text.
- Website (mytextmate.com): 14 pages describing the service, plus a "page not found" page.
Contact Information
Charlie Levine, Founder, Lazy Texts, LLC (d/b/a MyTextMate), charlie@mytextmate.com
Notes
- Text messages are the product. They are plain text with no images, colors or emoji (the only link is the one a student asks for to connect Canvas), so every phone's own accessibility features apply: screen readers (VoiceOver, TalkBack), braille displays, voice dictation, text size and switch control. A student who can send a text can use every feature, including all settings.
- Out of scope: the Canvas login page belongs to Instructure, which publishes its own report, and the messaging app belongs to each student's phone maker.
- WCAG 2.1 is applied to text messages as non-web content, following the W3C's guidance on applying WCAG to non-web information and communications technology (WCAG2ICT).
Evaluation Methods Used
- Automated: axe-core, with every WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 Level A and AA rule, on every web page at desktop and phone width (November 5, 2026). Every page passes, after fixing color contrast, a logo link without a name, and a list item outside its list.
- Keyboard: every web page tabbed through at desktop and phone width in Firefox (November 5) and Microsoft Edge (November 6), comparing each control's look when focused and not. The menu button and carousel controls had no visible focus; they now show a ring on keyboard focus.
- Layout: every web page in Microsoft Edge at 320 pixels wide (reflow) and 640 pixels wide (200% zoom), with and without WCAG 1.4.12's text spacing: no sideways scrolling and no text cut off.
- Code review: the HTML of the Canvas connection pages, and the rules every text message follows (plain text, length, wording).
- Not yet done: testing with screen readers, and an audit by a third party (see the roadmap below).
Applicable Standards/Guidelines
| Standard/Guideline | Included In Report |
|---|---|
| Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 | Level A (Yes), Level AA (Yes), Level AAA (No) |
| Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 | Level A (Yes), Level AA (Yes), Level AAA (No) |
Terms
- Supports: the functionality has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects, or meets it with equivalent facilitation.
- Partially Supports: some functionality does not meet the criterion.
- Does Not Support: the majority of functionality does not meet the criterion.
- Not Applicable: the criterion is not relevant to the product.
WCAG 2.x Report
Table 1: Success Criteria, Level A
| Criteria | Conformance Level | Remarks and Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) | Supports | Web: every image has a text alternative, or an empty one when decorative. Texts: plain text only. |
| 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Not Applicable | No audio-only or video-only media. |
| 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Supports | The website's one video, on a blog post, has captions. |
| 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (Level A) | Supports | The video's narration describes what it shows; the post's text also summarizes it. |
| 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) | Supports | Web: headings, lists, navigation and main landmarks, and a labeled search field are marked up. Section headings on the website are all level 1. Texts: structure is carried by line breaks, readable by any screen reader. |
| 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (Level A) | Supports | Reading order matches the visual order at every width. |
| 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A) | Supports | Instructions name words to type ("Reply CANVAS"), never a shape, color, position or sound. |
| 1.4.1 Use of Color (Level A) | Supports | Color never carries meaning alone. Texts have no color. |
| 1.4.2 Audio Control (Level A) | Not Applicable | No audio plays on its own. The video plays only when started. |
| 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A) | Supports | Every link, button, field, carousel control and the video player works by keyboard. Texts are sent in the phone's own messaging app. |
| 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (Level A) | Supports | Focus never gets stuck; the phone menu closes with Escape. |
| 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts (Level A) | Not Applicable | No single-key shortcuts. |
| 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable (Level A) | Supports | A Canvas connection link works for 20 hours, the limit WCAG allows without a way to extend it, and a new one is one text away ("canvas"). No other time limits. |
| 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A) | Supports | A "Pause animations" control in every website page's footer stops the moving ticker, carousels and typing headline, and is remembered across pages. Devices set to reduce motion start paused. |
| 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold (Level A) | Supports | Nothing flashes. |
| 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (Level A) | Supports | Navigation and main landmarks and headings let assistive technology skip the menu. |
| 2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A) | Supports | Every page has a title that says what it is. |
| 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A) | Supports | Tab order follows the reading order on every page. |
| 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) | Supports | Link text, or the text around it, says where each link goes; icon links (social media, arrows) have names. |
| 2.5.1 Pointer Gestures (Level A) | Supports | Carousels can be swiped, and their arrows and dots do the same with a single tap or click. |
| 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation (Level A) | Supports | Native links and buttons act when the tap or click is released. |
| 2.5.3 Label in Name (Level A) | Supports | Each control's name contains its visible words (the logo link is "MyTextMate home"). |
| 2.5.4 Motion Actuation (Level A) | Not Applicable | Nothing responds to shaking or tilting the device. |
| 3.1.1 Language of Page (Level A) | Supports | Every page declares English. |
| 3.2.1 On Focus (Level A) | Supports | Focus never changes the page or opens anything. |
| 3.2.2 On Input (Level A) | Supports | Typing in the school search lists matching schools below it, without moving focus or leaving the page. |
| 3.3.1 Error Identification (Level A) | Supports | Web: the school search says when nothing matches. Texts: a text MyTextMate can't act on gets a reply saying so. |
| 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A) | Supports | The search field has a visible label and an example. Texts: HELP gets how to use it and how to reach support, and asking what MyTextMate can do gets a list of things to text. |
| 4.1.1 Parsing (Level A) | Supports | Per the WCAG 2.1 errata, this criterion is always met for HTML. |
| 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) | Supports | Native HTML controls throughout; the menu button and carousel controls have names, roles and states. |
Table 2: Success Criteria, Level AA
| Criteria | Conformance Level | Remarks and Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA) | Not Applicable | No live media. |
| 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded) (Level AA) | Supports | The video's narration describes what it shows. |
| 1.3.4 Orientation (Level AA) | Supports | Every page works in portrait and landscape. |
| 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (Level AA) | Not Applicable | No field asks for the user's own details; the only field is a school search. |
| 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA) | Supports | Text meets 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text), in light and dark mode on the Canvas pages. |
| 1.4.4 Resize Text (Level AA) | Supports | At 200% zoom, nothing is cut off and there is no sideways scrolling. Texts follow the phone's text size. |
| 1.4.5 Images of Text (Level AA) | Partially Supports | Two website illustrations show words as part of the picture (a sample text message, and a "before and after" image); their text alternatives give the meaning. All other text is real text. |
| 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA) | Supports | Every page reads at 320 pixels wide with no sideways scrolling. |
| 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA) | Partially Supports | Fields, buttons and focus rings meet 3:1. The carousels' small inactive dots are 40% white and may fall below 3:1 on the lighter backgrounds; the arrows next to them do the same job. |
| 1.4.12 Text Spacing (Level AA) | Supports | With WCAG's increased line, letter, word and paragraph spacing, no text is cut off or overlaps. |
| 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus (Level AA) | Not Applicable | Nothing appears on hover or focus. |
| 2.4.5 Multiple Ways (Level AA) | Supports | Website: the menu and footer on every page. The Canvas pages are steps of one process, which the criterion exempts. |
| 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA) | Supports | Headings and the search label say what follows. |
| 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) | Supports | Every control shows a visible change on keyboard focus. |
| 3.1.2 Language of Parts (Level AA) | Supports | All content is in English. |
| 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (Level AA) | Supports | The menu and footer are the same on every website page. |
| 3.2.4 Consistent Identification (Level AA) | Supports | Controls that do the same thing are named the same way. |
| 3.3.3 Error Suggestion (Level AA) | Supports | Web: "No school by that name. Try part of it." Texts: where a fix is known, the reply says what to send instead (for example, when a name can't be used). |
| 3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) (Level AA) | Supports | Every change made by text gets a reply saying exactly what changed, and a deleted item's reply includes its date, so texting "bring it back" restores it. No legal commitments or payments are made on these pages. |
| 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA) | Supports | The school search announces "Searching...", how many schools were found, or that none were, to screen readers without moving focus. |
Table 3: Success Criteria, Level AAA
Not evaluated.
Roadmap
- By November 30, 2026: the checks under Evaluation Methods saved as one script that runs before every change to a web page.
- By December 31, 2026: screen reader testing of the Canvas connection pages and the website with VoiceOver (iPhone and Mac), TalkBack and NVDA.
- By December 31, 2026: the two illustrations that show words as pictures replaced by real text, or their full words given in their text alternatives (1.4.5).
- By December 31, 2026: the carousels' inactive dots at 3:1 contrast or more (1.4.11).
Legal Disclaimer
This report describes MyTextMate as evaluated on the date above. Lazy Texts, LLC updates it when the service changes in a way that affects accessibility, and at least once a year. Questions and reports of accessibility problems go to charlie@mytextmate.com, or by text to MyTextMate; reported problems are fixed within 30 days.
