Why we're building an accessibility directory

If you want to know whether a restaurant has a step at the front door, you can check Google Maps. If you want to know whether a hotel has step-free access, you can filter for it on booking.com. If you want to know whether a website works with your screen reader, the only way is to try it.

That is the gap. And it is strange that it is still there, given how much of life happens online now.

LumiLens is our attempt to close it. An accessibility directory: one place where you can look up a website, see how accessible it is, read reviews from people who use the same assistive technology as you, and decide whether it is worth your time.

Why a directory and not just a scanner

Plenty of accessibility scanners exist. WAVE, axe DevTools, Lighthouse, and our own Lumi Scanner. They are built for developers and they are good at what they do.

But scanners are point-in-time tools. You enter a URL, you get a report, you close the tab. The next person who scans the same URL gets the same report, generated from scratch, with no memory of anyone else's experience.

A directory works differently. Sites accumulate scans over time. The scores change. People who use the site leave reviews. You can search across the whole catalogue. You can compare. You can find out that the second-largest UK bank scores 41 out of 100 and the third-largest scores 78, then make a choice based on what is actually accessible.

A scanner answers the question "what is wrong with this site?" A directory answers a different question: "which sites work for me?"

We think the second question is the more useful one for the people we built LumiLens for.

Who the directory is for

Three groups, in priority order.

People who use assistive technology. Screen reader users, keyboard navigators, voice control users, magnification users, people with cognitive disabilities. The directory exists for you. Every feature is designed around the question "does this help me know if a site will work before I commit to using it."

Disability advocates. People who help others make these decisions, write about accessibility, run advocacy organisations, or test sites on behalf of communities. The directory is a research tool. Every site has a permanent URL, public reviews, and a history of scans.

Anyone curious. The directory is open. You do not need to use assistive technology to care about whether websites are accessible. Designers, journalists, students, accessibility-curious developers. Browse it.

What we are not building

A few things the directory is not:

A compliance database. We are not certifying sites as legally compliant. WCAG conformance is a specific legal claim that requires manual review and documentation. LumiLens scores are automated estimates. We say that on every page.

A complaint platform. Reviews are not there to shame companies. They are there to inform users. We moderate reviews and we do not allow personal attacks or unsubstantiated claims.

A replacement for trying the site. A site might score 85 and still be unusable for you specifically. Conversely, a site might score 60 and work fine for you. The directory is a starting point, not a verdict.

How the directory grows

Every time someone scans a site through LumiLens, the site joins the directory. Each scan adds to the site's history. Each review from an authenticated user adds to its community rating.

We have seeded the directory with scans of major UK and EU sites: banks, government services, online shops, news sites. As more people use LumiLens, the catalogue grows.

The directory becomes more useful the more it has in it. We expect the first six months to be patchy, with thin coverage in some categories and gaps in others. That is the cold-start problem of any directory product. The way through it is for people to use the thing, scan the sites they care about, and leave reviews.

If you want to help, the best thing you can do is scan three sites you actually use, then leave a review on one of them. Your experience makes the next person's decision easier.

What is coming

The directory is at its earliest stage. The next year's roadmap looks roughly like this:

• -Curated collections ("Best banking sites for screen reader users", "Accessible online shopping in the UK")
• -Discussion threads tagged by assistive technology
• -Site owner verification (so companies can claim their listing and respond to reviews)
• -Public, search-engine-indexed site profiles so accessibility information is findable on Google

It is a long road. But the goal is simple. Make it possible to know, before you visit, whether a website will work for you.

Browse the directory at lumilens.livana.io/dashboard/explore.