Making Your Website ADA-Compliant

Thanks to the ADA, important changes such as the availability of handicapped parking spaces, service counter height requirements and wheelchair ramps are now commonplace.

In our society’s ever-increasing dependence on technology, that scope has widened to include website compliance. Now, businesses must ensure that their websites are easily accessible for people with disabilities and that these individuals face no barriers when trying to navigate a website. To help business owners achieve ADA compliance for their websites, they created Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for them to follow.

The guidelines of accessibility standards have been put in place to ensure that websites are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. There are various “success criteria” that you can use to test the usability of your website based on the guidelines in these categories. For a complete list of these guidelines, check out the W3C recommendations. Here is some basic information about each category:

Having a website that is not ADA compliant can easily get you in trouble and possibly sued. Thankfully, there are ways you can ensure that your website is compliant. Here are some tips to get you going in the right direction:

Take a look at your current site to see where you’re compliant and where you need to do some work. That way, you can formulate the best plan of action as you move forward.

Graphics are a key component of an ADA-compliant website. Graphics shouldn’t flash more than three times per second, so they don’t cause seizures. They should also include a caption that can be read aloud to the visually impaired.

Provide alt-text for all images in your code so your images can be described audibly. Always use fonts that are easy to read like Georgia, Open Sans or Quicksand. Also, avoid using a light-colored font on a light background, so the text isn’t hard to read.

For your website to be ADA compliant, it must be understandable to a wide audience. It should be predictable and have helpful labels over blocks of content. The idea is to minimize the potential for user error.

Ensure that your code is readable by an assistive reader. Also, always provide documents in a text-based format.

ADA needs are ongoing and ever-changing. To ensure you are always compliant with ADA standards, make it your business to know what the changes are and that you make any necessary changes as soon as they are needed.

Work with an ad agency that understands ADA compliance. Agencies that have worked in this area before and are well-versed with the law can help you weed through the technical language and make sure you have a site that is easily used by everyone and anyone.

Having an ADA-compliant website is crucial for ensuring that your website is accessible for people regardless of what their special needs may be. Plus, It will help to ensure that you do not get sued down the line.