Accessibility
SolarBench is a free educational resource, and it should work for every child. This is an honest account of where it stands, updated with each release. We aim at WCAG 2.2 AA and get most of the way; the gaps are named below rather than hidden.
Getting around without a mouse
- Every control is a real, focusable button with a visible focus outline. Tab reaches them all.
- Press Tab to move through the worlds and Enter to open one; the Sun, planets and Moon each have a keyboard target that appears on screen when focused.
- Arrow keys orbit the view and + / − zoom, so you can look around without dragging.
- Escape closes any panel; open dialogs keep keyboard focus inside them and return it to where you were when they close.
- A game controller works too: the left stick orbits, and in flight it steers, with A to fire and B to boost.
Screen readers
Everything the 3D scene conveys is also available as text. Each world opens a plain-text card with its facts; the TONIGHT panel, the guided tour and the references are all readable text at high contrast. A polite live region announces what changed — a toggle switching on, a world opening — without stealing focus. The moving 3D view itself is described to screen readers in summary only; the detail lives in those text panels.
Motion and flashing
If your device is set to reduce motion, SolarBench honours it: transitions calm down, the level-up flashes soften, and the Sun's solar flares become rare and gentle. The stress test speeds the whole scene up and is the one place with bright, fast motion; its briefing warns you before it starts, and reduced motion tames it there too. If you are sensitive to flashing, switch that setting on before running the stress test.
Contrast, colour and text
- The interface is light text on deep space blue, chosen for contrast. On Windows High Contrast mode (forced colours) the app switches to your system palette.
- State is never shown by colour alone: an active toggle also carries a filled dot, so it reads in greyscale and high contrast.
- ABOUT & HELP has a READABLE FONT switch (a plain humanist sans in place of the display face) and text size controls that enlarge the panels. Browser zoom works throughout, and text reflows rather than clipping.
Known limits
- The 3D scene is visual by nature; screen-reader users get the text panels, not a described render.
- The flight game and the asteroid-blasting need a pointer, touch or controller and quick reactions; there is no keyboard-only version of the shooting.
- On very small phones a few panels are long and need scrolling.
Tell us
If something blocks you or your class, email dpo@upleashed.com and it goes to the top of the list.
Last reviewed 2026-09-11 · SolarBench v4.0