NetGalley’s goal is compliance with the European Accessibility Act (EAA), and an WCAG 2.1 Level AA rating. Here is a helpful overview of the EAA for reference.
From 2023-2025, the NetGalley platform’s frontend framework was upgraded from Bootstrap 3 to Bootstrap 5, so that NetGalley would benefit from the substantial accessibility improvements between Bootstrap 3 and Bootstrap 5. Each page of the member-facing NetGalley site was significantly refactored as part of this Bootstrap migration. Bootstrap 5 includes a major overhaul in accessibility, making it much friendlier for screen readers, keyboard navigation, and users with visual impairments. Bootstrap 5 aligns with WCAG 2.1 standards, ensuring a better user experience for all. The Bootstrap 5 migration was completed for anonymous and member-facing pages on August 25, 2023.
In January 2024, NetGalley introduced Dark Mode for members, the first high contrast mode for the NetGalley site and a critical step towards WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance.
The Bootstrap 5 migration was completed for publisher-facing pages on August 6, 2025. Following that migration, NetGalley’s default color was updated (Light Mode) to an WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliant higher contrast color mode. At the same time, substantial additional work was done to restructure headings, add alt text, labels and aria tags throughout the site where they were missing. Touch targets for links and buttons were enlarged to make them easier to click or tap.
Note: NetGalley clients (publishers and authors) are responsible for providing files that are compliant with the ADA and WCAG 2.1 Level AA. At this time, NetGalley does not have a way to check these files and verify compliance.
Some website features may pass the WCAG 2.1 Level AA rating, but still present difficulties for certain users. NetGalley users should report accessibility barriers via NetGalley support: https://netgalley.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
On June 23, 2025, NetGalley launched a standalone consumer platform Booktrovert.com. At the time of Booktrovert’s launch, analyses of the full site with the AXE Dev tool and WAVE plugin revealed no failures or warnings. An automated re-evaluation of each page is in-progress. A manual evaluation of each page is planned for 2027. Booktrovert users should report accessibility barriers via Booktrovert support: https://booktrovert.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new