Accessibility & motion.
Reading comes first. The moving sea is an optional decorative effect.
Control the moving sea
Use the small circular pause icon at the lower-right of the homepage artwork to stop the animation. It changes to a play icon when paused. The visible circle is 36 pixels wide, inside a 44-pixel touch area. A short explanation appears on hover or keyboard focus; press Escape to dismiss it. Screen readers announce “Pause sea motion” or “Play sea motion”, as appropriate. There is no sound.
If your device requests reduced motion, or a supported browser indicates that data saving is enabled, the artwork starts still. You can explicitly choose to play it. An explicit pause is remembered for the current tab where session storage is available. The animation also pauses when the artwork is off screen, the tab is hidden or the page is suspended. A new reduced-motion or data-saving request stops automatic playback; a previous pause is not undone when that preference is switched off.
The book trailer
The two-minute trailer is separate from the decorative sea animation. It does not play automatically. Choose the labelled play button, then use the native video controls for pause, volume, seeking and full screen. Playback pauses when you leave the page or scroll the player fully out of view, except when the video is in full screen or picture-in-picture. It does not automatically resume when you return. The sea animation pauses temporarily during trailer playback without changing your saved motion preference.
The supplied trailer has no separate closed-caption track. Its book summary is not a transcript, and this page does not claim full video accessibility. Without JavaScript, “Open video directly” opens the file in the browser’s own player.
Keyboard navigation
The navigation, book links, motion control and reader questions can be used with a keyboard. A “Skip to content” link appears when focused near the start of the page. Focused controls have a visible outline.
The Captain’s Log
The ship diagram has matching large, labelled location buttons. Cipher controls work by clicking or using the keyboard, not by dragging. A direct solution is available. The chart has a text equivalent within the selected reading limit. Chapter warnings are optional spoiler controls, not password protection.
Choose your reading level before exploring later Book One locations. Lowering the level hides later folio content again. Unpublished manuscript text is not distributed in this version of the site.
Without JavaScript
The book descriptions, covers, reading order and retailer links are ordinary HTML. They remain available without JavaScript. The artwork remains still and the small-screen navigation stays visible. Logbook articles and ship-space descriptions remain readable. Spoiler-sensitive folios can be opened through explicit disclosure headings. Comparison marks, the interactive chart, local read marks and the letter-strip controls require JavaScript; the puzzle’s written solution remains available.
Responsive layout
Text and book cards reflow for narrow screens. Cover images retain their full artwork rather than cropping away titles or author names. Headings and buttons are live text, not part of a screenshot.
Limits
These are design features, not a claim that every browser, assistive technology or device combination has been independently certified.