Last updated: 18 August 2026
Puzzle Me This is used in classrooms, so it has to work for every student in the room. This page sets out what we aim for, what is in place today, where we fall short, and how to tell us about a barrier.
We want every teacher and every student to be able to make, solve and print a puzzle regardless of how they use a computer — with a mouse, a keyboard, a switch, a screen reader, a magnifier, or a finger on a touchscreen.
Accessibility is treated as part of building the site rather than a later addition. When we add a feature we check it with the keyboard and with the browser zoomed in before it goes live.
We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA as our reference. WCAG is the international standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium and is the basis for accessibility law in Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and elsewhere.
Puzzle Me This is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Partially conformant means most of the site meets the standard, but some parts do not yet. The gaps we know about are listed under known limitations, along with what we are doing about them.
We have not commissioned an independent audit. The site is small, free and run by one person, so testing is done by us using the tools described under how we assess the site.
Every control on the site can be reached and operated from the keyboard, in a logical order.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tab / Shift+Tab | Move forwards and backwards through the theme field, difficulty and grade choices, buttons, and the word list. |
| Enter or Space | Activate the button or link that has focus. |
| Enter in the theme field | Build the puzzle without reaching for the Make puzzle button. |
| Arrow keys | Move through the list of suggested themes, and through the grade dropdown. |
| Esc | Close a dialog — Use my words, the completion card, or the theme suggestions. |
| Ctrl+P · Cmd+P | Print, if the PDF button is not convenient. |
Dialogs keep focus inside themselves while open and return focus to the button that opened them when closed, so you do not lose your place.
Light and dark mode. A single button in the top bar swaps the whole site, and the choice is remembered. Students choose their own when they join a class game. Some students read more comfortably on a dark background and some on a light one.
Colour is never the only signal. Found words are crossed out in the word list as well as coloured. On the answer sheet each word is outlined as well as filled, so the solution reads correctly in black and white and for anyone who cannot distinguish the colours.
Zoom and magnification. The puzzle grid is measured against the space available, so letters grow with the window rather than shrinking into a corner. Fewer words on an Easy puzzle means larger letters, which is worth knowing if a student is using a magnifier.
Definitions. Turning definitions on puts a plain-language meaning beside every word, which helps students who are still building vocabulary and those learning English as an additional language.
Grade levels. Lower grades hide words across and down only, never diagonally or backwards. Choosing a lower grade is a legitimate way to reduce visual search load for a student who needs it, whatever year they are in.
Fewer words. Easy gives 10 words in a smaller grid. A shorter list on a less crowded grid is often the single most useful adjustment.
Your own words. Use my words lets you build a puzzle from exactly the vocabulary a particular student is working on.
Plain language. Buttons say what they do. Messages are short sentences without jargon.
Printed puzzles use a clear monospaced grid with generous letter spacing. The sheet prints black on white regardless of whether you are using light or dark mode, so there is no wasted ink and no grey-on-grey text.
Need larger print? Choose a lower difficulty for fewer words in a smaller grid, or use your browser's print scaling to enlarge the sheet — the layout holds together at larger sizes.
We would rather tell you where the site falls short than let you discover it in front of a class.
A word search is a visual puzzle: it asks you to spot letter patterns in a two-dimensional grid. Read aloud one cell at a time, that task is not meaningfully available. Screen reader users can reach the grid, and each letter is announced with its position, but we do not claim the puzzle itself is a good experience with a screen reader alone.
What we suggest instead: the word list with definitions works well as a vocabulary exercise on its own, and it is fully accessible. In a class game, pairing students so one describes and one searches keeps everyone involved.
Words are selected by clicking or tapping the first and last letter. Keyboard-only selection within the grid is on our list to improve, and is the change we consider most overdue.
Ads are supplied by Google and their content is outside our control, including their contrast and any motion within them. We size the spaces so ads cannot cover or push around the puzzle.
Some definitions come from an external dictionary service. Their wording is not always as simple as we would like for younger students. Turning definitions off, or supplying your own words, avoids this.
We check the site using:
Reports from teachers carry the most weight of all, because they describe real classrooms.
If something on Puzzle Me This is difficult or impossible for you or a student to use, please tell us. It is the fastest way for the site to get better.
Helpful things to include, if you can:
We aim to reply within five working days. Where a fix is straightforward we make it promptly; where it is larger we will tell you honestly what the timeline looks like.
If a student needs a puzzle in a form the site does not currently produce — larger print, a particular font, a plain-text word and definition list, or a specific layout — email us and we will make it and send it to you. There is no charge.