Accessibility Statement & Changelog

Accessibility Statement:

General

West of Camden (also known as 'Westofcamden.com' & 'WoC') strives to ensure that its services are accessible to people with disabilities. We have invested a significant amount of time and resources to make our website easier to use and more accessible for people with disabilities, with a strong belief in equal access for everyone. In our commitment to this, West of Camden uses the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1+ as a benchmark for compliance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements. 

Testing

West of Camden uses testing tools such as, but not limited to; WAVE, SiteImprove, and Axe as well as manually driven tools such as the NVDA Speech Viewer to regularly test and implement site wide updates and upgrades.  

Disclaimer

West of Camden continues its efforts to constantly improve the accessibility of its site and services in the belief that it is our collective moral obligation to allow seamless, accessible and unhindered use also for those of us with disabilities. 

Despite our efforts to make all pages and content on West of Camden fully accessible, some content may not have yet been fully adapted to the strictest accessibility standards. This may be a result of not having found or identified the most appropriate technological solution.

Third Party Services

Within our website we make use of a variety of third-party sites, servers and apps such as Shopify, Klaviyo, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook. These sites, servers and apps are not controlled or operated by West of Camden. If you have any questions or concerns about such third parties please contact them directly and refer to their publicly provided accessibility policies.   

Checkout Pages - The secure checkout pages on our website, other than minor design choices such as logo, and color options, are run and maintained by Shopify.

Shopify Accessibility Statement 

Shopify Voluntary Product Accessibility Template VPAT. (Checkout) 

Popups & Signup Forms - The popup marketing pages are hosted by Klaviyo. The setup and design of these popups are run though an ADA testing tool based on WCAG 2.0 AA standers prior to implementation.  Additional code snippet has been added to theme files to better help the JAWS screen reading software detect and read Klaviyo popup and signup forms.

https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/14980194112411

Optimized Experience

Based on guidance from many highly regarded accessibility sites.  We recommend using the following web browser and screen reading combination for an optimized experience:

JAWS and Chrome
JAWS and Firefox
NVDA and Chrome
NVDA and Firefox

Contact Us

If you wish to report an accessibility issue, have any questions or need assistance with any part of our site including ordering, please contact us using one of the following methods:

Email: wofc@westofcamden.com

Call our stores direct (during regular business hours): 
Huntington Beach - 949.274.6739
San Diego - 858.585.1195

You can also contact us on any of our social media platforms 24/7 via direct messaging such as; Facebook and Instagram.

Instagram - @westofcamcen

Facebook - /Westofcamden

Accessibility Changelog:

    October 2024

    • Fixed color variant label.  Label was not always populating correctly when both Size and Color options were present.  
    • (10.31) Updated our Accessibility statement.
      • Added section about popups and signup forms
      • Added Klaviyo for 3rd party services
      • Added link to Klaviyo ADA statement and help pages for reference
    • Added code snippet to theme files to help JAWs software better detect and read sign-up forms and popups.

    September 2024

    • Fixed Search results page and Sidebar product filters.  Thanks to user input, we found and solved a glitch that was reloading the search results page after a new filter was selected from the sidebar.  Users were not informed of the page reload, creating a possible accessibility issue for screen readers. 
    • Updated alt tag term "Image" and replaced it with "Visual Media" on Product Detail Pages (PDP) as the term better describes the files used.

    August 2024

    • Updated privacy settings banner. 

    July 2024

    • Updated alt-text on mobile only pictures in order to reduce the possibility of redundancy for screen readers in cases when both desktop and mobile versions load. 

    May 2024

    • Updated aria:tooltip text on several navigation elements making functionality easier to understand. 

    April 2024

    • Simplified the Contact Us page to only require Name, Email and a brief message. 

    January 2024

    • (1.9) Updated our Accessibility statement.
      • Removed all mentions of UserWay widget based on Decembers 2023 removal of 3rd party UserWay widget from code.
      • Removed all mentions of overlay widgets.
      • Added usernames of our social media accounts under contact section.
    • Fixed a glitch where sometimes the wrong total number of products would appear on a collection page.

    December 2023

    • Updated product thumbnail alt tags to include current and total count. Example, "[Alt tag] - Thumbnail image number 1 of 3".  This helps user better understand page layout while using screen reader software.
    • (12.5) Removed UserWay widget code. We no longer use or support the widget.  

    November 2023

    • (11.14) Updated our Accessibility Statement.
      • Clarified that the overlay UserWay widget is only to be used as an add-on optional feature and not as a primary accessibility tool.
      • Added names of accessibility testing tools we use and made several other minor updates.
      • Updated contact info.
    • Added red "On Sale!" text above price on product pages for all reduced price items. products now have four, on sale indicators and read better for screen reader software. 

    October 2023

    • Removed redundant descriptive sizing text below variable options on product pages and changed the main "Size" text to the descriptive sizing text.  Reduces total text and size of page, conveys the same overall message in a more concise format.
    • Removed dynamic pay buttons on product only pages due to lack of usage. Still available on cart and checkout pages. 

    September 2023

    • Added single page Checkout.  Creates a faster, easier to use process for everyone. 

    July 2023

    • Minor updates to global settings. Improvements to predictive search behavior.

    May 2023

    • Added predictive search to search bar within header.
    • Updated Account section. Making it easier to find past orders and make reorders. 

    April 2023

    • Updated menu system from hover to click based. Better performance for screen reading software.

    February 2023

    • Fixed minor bugs
    • Updated product page layout
    • Updated header navigation 

    September 2022

    • Updated inventory label colors.
    • Added easier to read labels to form input sections

    June 2022

    • Updated accessibility statement to include optimized experiences and recommend browser and screen reader combinations.

    May 2022

    • Added sticky header menu
    • Added additional accessibility features to pop-ups.
    • Removed size chart from variant picker and added as its own standalone block. 
    • Updated collection page sorting section

    November 2021

    • Added CCPA Opt-Out link to the global footer for easier access.
    • Removed live chat software due to conflicts with page loading.

      October 2021

      • Theme update for iOS15

      September 2021

      • Aria-Live on sliders disabled for better accessibility
      • Social link 'noopener' attribute for accessibility added.
      • Empty cart button label updated.
      • Grey background removed from search page due to color issues.

      May 2021

      • Updated theme with general improvements for A11y Standards.
      • Updated Placeholder images.
      • Fixed minor bugs on the cart and in-store pickup sections.

      December 2020

      • Added additional notifications that work with screen reader software to alert user that item has been added to cart.
      • Added 'Store Availability' section on each product page to better help all users, find in-store items.
      • Added phone number links to 'Store Availability', making easier for mobile users to contact store locations.

      July 2020

      • Updated popup window code. Now works better with screen reading software.
      • Updated contrast colors of backgrounds from titles (h1 - h4 tags) that sit upon pictures.  Helps vision impaired read titles better. 

      June 2020

      • Updated header menu system to allow a bigger view of the entire store sub-menu. Making it easier to use for people are vision impaired and easier to navigate using keyboard controls. 
      • Made several improvements to invoices, making it easier to print.
      • Updated colors for keyboard control highlighted sections. Making it easier to understand which links are highlighted. 

      Feb 2020

      • Updated alt text for placeholder product sections. Making it easier to understand for screen readers if product picture is not available.   

      Jan 2020

      • Added live chat.
        • Fully functional chat that works with keyboard tab functions
      • Fixed in-store pickup buttons within cart page to work better with keyboard shortcuts.
      • Updated small logos to SVG format to remove blur while using zoom functions on devices.  

      Dec 2019:

      • Updated product pages to a cleaner layout. Easier for screen readers to understand.
      • Added stock notifications and made color scheme easier to view.
      • Updated main navigation menu with clickable top-level menu items. Makes it easier to understand for screen readers.
      • Updated store location pages with easier to use layout.  

      Sept 2019:

      • Updated HTML version of sitemap and added to footer section for easier access.
      • Updated 'Skip Navigation' tab link to work better with current layout. 

      Aug 2019:

      • Removed drop down product option menus and replaced with fully visible option buttons.  

      June 2019:

      • Updated footer header tags  
      • Fixed minor spelling issue in catalog filter drop down section. 
      • Updated search and product buttons to work better with forms
      • Updated redundant mobile/desktop responsive cart link. 
      • Updated contrast colors on notifications, alerts and error messages.
      • Updated mobile menu functions to better work across all OS
      • Updated job board (jobs.westofcamden.com) & sub-pages to include 'Userway Website Accessibility Widget'.
      • Updated breadcrumbs to reflect better wording for back links.  Helps screen readers understand links better.
      • Slight design change to catalog pages in order to make contrast colors easier to read.

      May 2019:

      • Added additional aria code to (+) and (-) buttons on product pages to better help screen readers understand button functions.
      • Updated brand names on product category pages to link to brand pages.
      • Expanded Alt tags on product category pages to include color of item in picture, if color is available.
      • Updated contrast colors of Accessibility Widget.

      April 2019:

      • Added 'Userway Website Accessibility Widget'.
      • Updated menu system to show hidden menu sections while using tab (keyboard users)
      • Updated contrast colors for Focus elements.
      • Fixed minor spelling issues