Website Compliance: Does Your Website Follow ADA Guidelines?
In 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted to prevent discrimination towards citizens with disabilities. The law made it illegal to discriminate against a disabled person in terms of employment opportunities, access to transportation, public accommodations, communications, and government activities. The act focused largely on physical barriers for the disabled that made it difficult for them to have normal day to day lives.
30 years ago, when the ADA was enacted, all things digital and web-based, was in its infancy, leaving little to zero regulations for websites. However, in 2010, the U.S Department of justice implemented an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, intending to include the world wide web fall under ADA compliance. As the digital world is something that’s relatively new and constantly changing, it’s hard to keep up with new standards. However, as technology is rapidly taking over the business world, it is crucial to make your websites accessible to all clientele, including the disabled.
Is ADA compliance mandatory for my website?
Over the past years, there has been a soar in lawsuits against businesses who fail to meet ADA standards, resulting in a lengthy, expensive process. Even though ADA compliance is not technically mandatory for websites due to the unclear regulations in place, it is highly recommended to abide by general regulations that make your website accessible to all.
However, without a clear set of accessibility regulations to comply with, how can you tell if your website is compliant? The best way to measure your accuracy in accordance with ADA compliance is by using the WCAG 2.0 (Website Content Accessibility Guidelines). This is a set of recommended regulations rather than enforced legislation. The WCAG includes several online accessibility laws around the world and offers a strong model for any organization seeking to provide equal access to all its users. In order to avoid potential lawsuits and maintain an inviting, welcoming website that is accessible to all, consider implementing these changes to your site. Below are some of the most important recommended regulations for your website.
High Contrast. When including text on your page, make sure there is a high contrast between the text and the background, to easily distinguish letterforms.
Tags. When including images on your site, make sure to include ALT tags. ALT tags refer to the description of images which are read aloud by a screen reader, to assist blind users. This feature also helps largely with SEO results. This allows creators of websites to provide images, while still providing an alternative way to interpret them.
ARIA-LABELS. Similar to ALT tags, ARIA-Labels are implemented to provide an accessible name for situations when there is no visible label due to a chosen design approach. These labels also provide an accessible name when the native HTML labeling element is not supported by the control. ARIA-Labels are specifically designed to be decoded by screen readers.
Font. When configuring size and scale of text on your site, stay away from pixels. Pixels make accessibility for the end user difficult because the text is not scalable nor adjustable. EMs, on the other hand, are scalable, and versatile when it comes to text. It is user-friendly, allowing the customer to adjust the size to their preference.
Bold and Italics. When implementing features such as bold and italics, remember to implement the appropriate coding that is readable for all users. For bold use code “<strong>†and for italics use “<em>â€.
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Research Article by Isabella Isaacson