Random Picker Accessibility Checklist

Why accessibility matters for a wheel

A spinning wheel is a visual, animated and often noisy tool. That's what makes it fun, but it can also exclude people. A student with low vision may not read the result. A colleague who uses a screen reader may not know the wheel has stopped. A child with sensory sensitivities may find the fanfare distressing. Someone with a vestibular disorder may feel unwell watching a fast spin. Accessibility isn't only about compliance; it's about making sure the people the wheel is choosing can take part on equal terms. Use this checklist when you set up a wheel for a class, meeting or event.

Keyboard and controls

Can the wheel be used without a mouse? Check that you can Tab to the Spin button and press Enter or Space to spin, and that focus is clearly visible as you move around. The result popup should take focus when it appears, and Escape should close it. The entries box, menus and tabs should all be reachable in a logical order.

Test it yourself: put the mouse aside and run a full round with the keyboard only. If you get stuck anywhere, so will keyboard users. This wheel supports keyboard spinning and closing the popup with Escape, and its menus are standard buttons and disclosure elements.

Screen readers

A screen reader user needs to know three things: what's on the wheel, that a spin has started and what the result is. The entries list is plain text that screen readers can read. The result popup is marked as a dialog with a live announcement, so the winning entry is read out when the spin finishes. Buttons have text or accessible labels, so "Remove winner" or "Close" is announced rather than an unlabelled icon.

Even so, always read the result aloud in a group. It costs nothing and helps everyone, including people who were simply looking away.

Colour and contrast

Slice colours should contrast strongly with the text on them. Light text on pale yellow, or dark text on navy, can be unreadable, especially on a projector in a bright room. Choose a high-contrast palette, and check the wheel from the back of the room. Don't rely on colour alone to carry meaning. If "red means forfeit", also put the word on the slice. Around one in twelve men and one in two hundred women have some form of colour vision deficiency, and red–green confusion is the most common.

Text size and labels

Short labels display larger. Long entries shrink to fit their slice, and on a wheel with many entries they can become tiny. Keep labels to a few words, use fullscreen for presentations, and reduce the number of slices if text becomes hard to read. The result popup shows the winning entry in large text, which helps people who can't read the wheel itself.

For young children or people who don't read the language well, image slices can replace or support text. Pair each image with a short word so it's still clear to screen readers and to people who can't see the image clearly.

Motion

Fast, long spins can cause discomfort for people with vestibular disorders, migraines or motion sensitivity. Use a shorter spin duration in settings for groups where this might matter. The wheel also respects the operating system's "reduce motion" setting by shortening spins automatically. Confetti can be turned off. If someone in your group is sensitive to motion, they can look away during the spin and rely on the spoken or popup result.

Sound

Ticking and fanfare add excitement, but sudden sounds can be distressing for some autistic people, people with hyperacusis or anyone with anxiety. Lower the volume in the Sound Lab, choose a softer tick sound, or mute entirely. The visual result doesn't depend on sound. Conversely, for blind or low-vision participants, sound can be a useful cue that the spin has finished, so think about who's in the room when you decide.

Timing and pace

Give people time to process the result before moving on. Pause after each spin, read the result, and only then spin again. For participants who use assistive technology or need longer to respond, avoid chaining spins rapidly. In classrooms, give thinking time before spinning so that being picked isn't a sudden demand.

Offer alternatives

No single format suits everyone. Let participants respond in different ways, such as speaking, writing on a mini whiteboard, typing in chat or pointing to a card. For students who find surprise selection distressing, agree privately when they'll be picked. If someone can't access the wheel at all, read out the list and the result, or share the history afterwards. The goal is fair participation, and the wheel is just one way to get there.

Device and environment checks

Check how the wheel looks on the device you'll actually use: projector, interactive whiteboard, laptop or phone. Projectors wash out colours, so increase contrast. Small phone screens need fewer, shorter labels. If you're sharing over video, compression can blur text and sound may lag. Test with the same setup before the session.

Inclusive content

Accessibility also covers what's on the wheel. Use people's preferred names and check spellings. Avoid challenges that assume physical abilities, such as "do ten jumping jacks", without offering an alternative like "or ten arm circles". Avoid content that could embarrass someone because of disability, language, culture or background.

Cognitive accessibility

Not every barrier is sensory or physical. Some participants find it hard to follow fast instructions, remember rules or cope with unpredictability. Explain how the wheel works in plain language before the first spin, using the same words each time. Show an example spin with no stakes. Keep the number of options manageable, since a wheel with sixty tiny slices is harder to follow than one with twelve. For learners who benefit from routine, use the wheel at the same point in each lesson so it becomes predictable, even if the result isn't.

Ask the people who use it

The best accessibility check is feedback. Ask participants, or their parents or support staff, what works and what doesn't. Small changes often help a lot: a quieter tick, a larger font, a pause before the result is read out.

The checklist

Can the whole wheel be used by keyboard alone? Is the result announced to screen readers and read aloud? Do text and slice colours have strong contrast? Are labels short and large enough to read from a distance? Is the spin duration comfortable, and is reduced motion respected? Is sound at a suitable level, or muted where needed? Is there a pause between spins? Are alternative ways to respond available? Have you tested on the real device? Is the wheel's content inclusive? Run through these questions once when setting up a new wheel, and your spins will work for everyone in the room. The accessibility statement describes the features built into this site and how to report problems.

Try it now

Put these ideas into practice with the Accessibility Statement, Random Name Picker, Picking Students Respectfully, or open the main spin the wheel tool.