You open a jar of peanut butter and it’s brown. Unless you have red-green color blindness. Then you might see green.
(It’s true – watch this man’s genuine surprise when he sees the real color of peanut butter for the first time.)
How we perceive color is a small but important reminder that everyone experiences everyday life differently depending on their abilities. That includes your website design. It reinforces the importance of checking that it is ADA compliant and accessible to everyone.
What Is ADA Website Compliance?
Seeking to increase equality of opportunity, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Since 1996, the Department of Justice has consistently applied the ADA to web content too.
ADA compliance is an important addition because accessible websites guarantee any user can complete routine tasks like:
- Finding the contact information for a company
- Paying bills
- Applying for jobs
- Accessing goods and services offered by a business
ADA vs. WGAC
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international nonprofit.
Unlike the Americans with Disabilities Act, WCAG is not a legally mandated set of regulations. But adhering to WCAG can keep your website compliant. That’s why when you go to audit your site, you want to check both ADA and WCAG.
Why ADA Compliance Matters in Website Design
Seeing brown as green is a small example of the different ways people experience the world.
Now let’s bring it directly to your website.
What would happen if you followed Ty Littlefield’s guide for testing a website for usability for users who are blind and you:
- Turned off your computer screen so you cannot rely on sight during your review?
- Depended entirely on a screen reader and your keyboard to navigate your site?
Would you be able to understand every element of every page and easily move from one area to the next? Would the assistive technology even work with your site? How quickly would you become frustrated with the process?
Littlefield is a blind technology user and Co-Director of Usability Testing at AccessiBe. His guide is an excellent starting point for understanding why compliance matters, and issues users who are blind frequently encounter when they visit websites that are not fully accessible to them.
How To Make Your Website ADA Compliant
1. Audit your site
Finding places where your website could deliver a better experience for all users is a multilayered task. In his guide, Littlefield goes into great depth for users who are blind. But what if a user is deaf? They will have a completely different experience, and how you test accessibility for them must change accordingly.
A manual-only approach is time consuming. Thankfully, you don’t have to do that. We use AccessiiBe to ensure our clients who are concerned about accessibility are in compliance. AccessiBe’s free audit quickly checks a website for ADA compliance.
Issues audits commonly uncover are:
- Nonresponsive web design
- Low color contrast
- Media – like videos – that play automatically
- PDFs that cannot be accessed by screen readers
- Images without alt text
- Site navigation that requires a mouse rather than providing the option to use only keyboard commands
2. Make your website compatible with assistive technology
Your website is not automatically compatible with essential assistive technologies, like screen readers, automatic speech recognition (ASR), and screen magnifiers.
Check with your web design team that your site is designed and coded to be compatible with these tools.
3. Write in clear, concise language
Audits are excellent for technical, clearcut issues. A site either uses high color contrast, or doesn’t. A user can navigate using only their keyboard, or they cannot.
What an audit won’t provide is feedback on more subjective aspects of your website, like content. In their overview, W3C WAI points out that complicated sentences and unfamiliar words make it difficult for a person with a language impairment to understand your site’s content.
Honestly, wordy sentences filled with adjectives, jargon, or mixed metaphors make it impossible for anyone to grasp the message you want to convey. Have all your writers follow the basic guidance laid out by W3C WAI, because it improves the experience for everyone. And, like other elements of inclusive design, don’t limit this practice to only your website.
Expand Accessibility Beyond Your Website
Whenever you can, you want to bring accessibility best practices into everything you create and publish.
1. Caption all video content
Make this your standard practice for all videos, on all platforms. That way you maximize accessibility to content to all users, on and off your site. Plus, if you go to embed a YouTube video in a blog or on a solution page later, you do not have to worry about adding in captions. You’ll notice that we’ve started adding captions to all our Coffee with Kendra webinar replays and Weekly Sales Tips. Even people without disabilities find they more easily absorb video content with captions.
2. Provide transcripts for audio-based content
Similarly, you want to make transcripts available for your videos and audio-based content. Artificial intelligence (AI) lowered the cost and time barriers to getting transcripts, and the tool you use to publish or edit videos may have transcription built in, but errors may occur. Read through any transcript before you publish it to fix grammar mistakes and misspellings.
3. Add useful alt text
Descriptive alt text on meaningful visual elements and PDFs is essential for users who rely on text readers. This is true on and off your site. For instance, if you send email campaigns or newsletters and include images, you want to add alt text there too. Here’s an example in one of our recent newsletters we published on our blog. Subscribe and see how we use alt text in email and newsletters as a model for your own marketing.
4. Turn off autoplay
Disabling autoplay lets users control how they experience your site. You decrease the potential for sensory overload, and make it easier for users relying on assistive technologies to fully interact with your site. The result is a more inclusive, user-friendly environment for everyone. Notice how on our home page, we disabled the autoplay with our video about unlocking new revenue streams. It’s obviously a video, but it’s up to the user to determine if they want to listen now or later.
5. Have your graphic design team follow accessibility best practices
The designer responsible for your eye-catching graphics, pay-per-click ad images, printed materials, and sales assets should follow the same principles as the team who designs your website.
Ask your graphic designer how they incorporate accessibility best practices into their work. During the conversation, also find out which resources they use to stay on top of the latest developments. Ideally it is from a reputable organization, like WC3 WAI or AccessiBe.
Regularly Re-Evaluate Your Site for Accessibility
Accessibility is not a box you check off during website development and consider it settled forever. You may pass an audit one year and fail the next because there are new accessibility standards you did not know about.
Is your site ADA compliant?
Remember, run your site through AccessiBe’s free tool to check that it is compliant. Here’s the link again: https://accessibe.com/accessscan.
If you have questions about your audit results, or do not want to manage compliance on your own, schedule a call with one of our experts. We’ll guide you through what you need to know and offer advice on which next step is right for your organization, or we’ll manage it for you as part of your website support. You can have a website that’s accessible for everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the legal consequences of not adhering to ADA website compliance?
Answer: Not adhering to ADA website compliance can lead to legal repercussions, including lawsuits and financial penalties. It is crucial for businesses to ensure their websites are accessible to avoid these risks and promote inclusivity.
2. How often should I audit my website for ADA compliance?
Answer: It’s recommended to audit your website for ADA compliance at least annually, or whenever major updates are made. This ensures that any new content or features continue to meet accessibility standards and accommodate all users.
3. Can small businesses afford to implement ADA compliant website designs?
Answer: Yes, there are cost-effective solutions available for small businesses to implement ADA compliant website designs. Many tools and services, like AccessiBe, offer affordable options for auditing and adapting websites to meet compliance standards. Companies like KLA Group incorporate these tools into their website design and support.
4. Are there specific features that make a website ADA compliant?
Answer: Yes, ADA compliant websites typically feature text alternatives for non-text content, appropriate contrast ratios for text and background colors, keyboard-navigable interfaces, and compatibility with assistive technologies like screen readers. Ensuring that all users can access and interact with your site without barriers is key to compliance.
5. What is the first step in making my website ADA compliant?
Answer: The first step is to conduct an accessibility audit to identify any areas where your website may not be compliant. This can be done using automated tools or by consulting with a specialist in web accessibility. Once issues are identified, you can plan to address them systematically.
