At Lamplight, accessibility isn’t an afterthought—it’s built into the way we design and develop our charity CRM system. We know that charities work with diverse teams and communities, and everyone deserves software that’s easy to use, no matter their needs. This blog takes a closer look at the specific accessibility features in Lamplight, beyond what’s covered in our formal statement. 

Lamplight CRM aims to meet WCAG 2.2 at AAA level and you can read our full accessibility statement on the login page. To simplify understanding, we’d like to give you a great insight into the actual features in Lamplight and their use. 

Keyboard Navigation

If you prefer using a keyboard to navigate Lamplight, the Tab key moves you between areas of the page, for example groups of menu controls, or areas of a table. Within that section, the arrow keys (⇧ ⇩ ⇦ ⇨ ) help you navigate. For example, tabbing into the main menu will focus on ‘Home’. You can then use the arrow keys to move to other menu items. 

We’ve followed the ARIA Authoring Practices design guidelines wherever possible. For some things there aren’t guidelines – the diary, for example. There we’ve tried to maintain a consistent approach, so tab moves you through the sections, and arrows within that. 

We’ve also paid attention to how it sounds as you navigate, so that screen readers give you enough information without getting boring or repetitive. 

Colour Schemes and Dark Mode

System administrators can assign access keys using Operator Templates and change the colour scheme if needed. Several colour scheme options are available, including one that follows the British Dyslexia Association guidelines. Lamplight will automatically switch to dark mode if your browser is set to dark mode. All built-in colour schemes have high contrast ratios. 

Adjusting Size and Spacing

If Lamplight appears too large or small, use your browser’s zoom feature. Hold down the Ctrl key and press the + or – keys to zoom in or out, or hold Ctrl and use your mouse wheel. You can also reduce spacing between things using the ‘compact view’ button in the footer. Lamplight supports zoom out to 66% and in to 400%. 

Font Options

Lamplight allows you to change the font from a menu in the footer, including the ‘Open Dyslexia’ font, which some people find easier to read. 

Screen Reader Compatibility

We test Lamplight using NVDA (and support NV Access financially, who make NVDA) and expect it to work with other screen readers.  

Speech to Text

Lamplight supports speech to text. We test with browser-based speech recognition, which is available in most browsers but will need to be enabled by your system administrator. If you have a microphone, you can use it to enter text in most text fields. We also have customers using Dragon and other software successfully with Lamplight. 

Learning and Improving

We know there’s always room for improvement and we’ll continue to update Lamplight to address any accessibility issues. We’re also going to be looking at the rest of what we do to improve accessibility where we can. 

And some thanks

Firstly, to our customers that gave feedback through the redesign process. We worked with a group with staff from different organisations who have various accessibility requirements. We got amazing feedback that we were able to incorporate.  

Secondly to Yacoob Woozeer at Hassell Inclusion who worked with us on a live audit of Lamplight to help us understand what’s done well and where else we could improve. 

Finally, to the great guidance and insights from places like the WAI and people like Adrian Roselli.