Accessibility Health Check
https://sandiegocounty.gov
Excellent
https://daylight.sonde.life/usgov/sandiegocounty-gov/
Excellent
Executive Summary
Top Findings
highImage has no accessible name in the accessibility tree. Screen readers will skip or announce it generically.WCAG 1.1.1
<!-- a11y: role="image" -->
Add alt text to the image. If decorative, mark with role="presentation" or alt="". WCAG 1.1.1 requires text alternatives for non-text content.
highInsufficient color contrast: 2.38:1 (required: 4.5:1 for normal text). Foreground: rgb(143, 143, 143), background: rgb(221, 221, 221). Text: "The webpage at https://sandiegocounty.gov/ might be temporar"WCAG 1.4.3
<div id="sub-frame-error-details">The webpage at <strong>https://sandiegocounty.gov/</strong> might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.</div>
Current ratio: 2.38:1 (need 4.5:1). Change foreground from #8f8f8f to #626161 (ratio: 4.5:1).
highInsufficient color contrast: 2.38:1 (required: 4.5:1 for normal text). Foreground: rgb(143, 143, 143), background: rgb(221, 221, 221). Text: "https://sandiegocounty.gov/"WCAG 1.4.3
<strong>https://sandiegocounty.gov/</strong>
Current ratio: 2.38:1 (need 4.5:1). Change foreground from #8f8f8f to #626161 (ratio: 4.5:1).
highPage has no detectable navigation mechanisms (no <nav>, search, sitemap link, breadcrumbs, or table of contents). Users need multiple ways to locate content.WCAG 2.4.5
Add at least two of: site navigation (<nav>), search functionality (input[type="search"] or role="search"), a sitemap link, breadcrumb navigation, or a table of contents.
highMissing Strict-Transport-Security header (HSTS)
Add Strict-Transport-Security header with max-age of at least 31536000 Add X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff Add X-Frame-Options: DENY or SAMEORIGIN Add a Content-Security-Policy header with appropriate directives Add Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin or no-referrer
mediumDocument should have one main landmark: Fix all of the following: Document does not have a main landmark
<html dir="ltr" lang="en">
Ensure the document has a main landmark. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
mediumZooming and scaling must not be disabled: Fix any of the following: user-scalable=no on <meta> tag disables zooming on mobile devicesWCAG 1.4.4
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0,
maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">Ensure <meta name="viewport"> does not disable text scaling and zooming. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/resize-text
mediumAll page content should be contained by landmarks: Fix any of the following: Some page content is not contained by landmarks
<div id="main-content">
Ensure all page content is contained by landmarks. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
Best Page Fix Opportunities
chromewebdata8findings
highImage has no accessible name in the accessibility tree. Screen readers will skip or announce it generically.WCAG 1.1.1
<!-- a11y: role="image" -->
Add alt text to the image. If decorative, mark with role="presentation" or alt="". WCAG 1.1.1 requires text alternatives for non-text content.
highInsufficient color contrast: 2.38:1 (required: 4.5:1 for normal text). Foreground: rgb(143, 143, 143), background: rgb(221, 221, 221). Text: "The webpage at https://sandiegocounty.gov/ might be temporar"WCAG 1.4.3
<div id="sub-frame-error-details">The webpage at <strong>https://sandiegocounty.gov/</strong> might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.</div>
Current ratio: 2.38:1 (need 4.5:1). Change foreground from #8f8f8f to #626161 (ratio: 4.5:1).
highInsufficient color contrast: 2.38:1 (required: 4.5:1 for normal text). Foreground: rgb(143, 143, 143), background: rgb(221, 221, 221). Text: "https://sandiegocounty.gov/"WCAG 1.4.3
<strong>https://sandiegocounty.gov/</strong>
Current ratio: 2.38:1 (need 4.5:1). Change foreground from #8f8f8f to #626161 (ratio: 4.5:1).
highPage has no detectable navigation mechanisms (no <nav>, search, sitemap link, breadcrumbs, or table of contents). Users need multiple ways to locate content.WCAG 2.4.5
Add at least two of: site navigation (<nav>), search functionality (input[type="search"] or role="search"), a sitemap link, breadcrumb navigation, or a table of contents.
highMissing Strict-Transport-Security header (HSTS)
Add Strict-Transport-Security header with max-age of at least 31536000 Add X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff Add X-Frame-Options: DENY or SAMEORIGIN Add a Content-Security-Policy header with appropriate directives Add Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin or no-referrer
mediumDocument should have one main landmark: Fix all of the following: Document does not have a main landmark
<html dir="ltr" lang="en">
Ensure the document has a main landmark. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
mediumZooming and scaling must not be disabled: Fix any of the following: user-scalable=no on <meta> tag disables zooming on mobile devicesWCAG 1.4.4
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0,
maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">Ensure <meta name="viewport"> does not disable text scaling and zooming. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/resize-text
mediumAll page content should be contained by landmarks: Fix any of the following: Some page content is not contained by landmarks
<div id="main-content">
Ensure all page content is contained by landmarks. See: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/quickref/
Methodology
The Sonde Score is a universal 0–1000 compliance index — think of it like a credit score for accessibility. Each finding is weighted by its impact on human access: a keyboard trap (critical) counts far more than a best-practice suggestion (low). The raw penalty is normalized per page so scores are comparable across sites of any size. A harmonic curve ensures every site gets a meaningful score — no zeros, no false perfection.
where S = sensitivity (750), P = Σ(weight × count), N = pages scanned
| Tier | Weight | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 10 | Keyboard traps, missing page language |
| High | 3 | Missing alt text, insufficient contrast |
| Medium | 1 | Heading hierarchy, unclear link purpose |
| Low | 0.25 | Best-practice suggestions |
The Sonde Score is a living standard (v0.1). We’re building it in the open because accessibility is too important for closed-door decisions. Your expertise makes it better.
Enter Mission Control
Review raw findings data, track changes between scans, and contribute to Sonde’s open methodology.
Nominate a Site for the Daylight Index
Know a public website that should be on the accessibility leaderboard? Nominate it — we’ll scan it and publish the results.