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Tips To Find The Right Web Accessibility Company 2022
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Tips To Find The Right Web Accessibility Company 2022

Choosing the right web accessibility company is a must for a brand to stand out. Moreover, it will help you avoid lawsuits regarding ADA compliance. Finding the ideal company, though, might not be as simple as it may appear. There are just way too many alternatives to choose from.

In this article, we’ll discuss some tips to find the right web accessibility company, along with some other information that might be helpful to you. So, stick around till the end!

Why Should You Hire A Professional Website Accessibility Company?

A business must hire a professional web accessibility company to save time and money on making their website ADA compliant. Besides, a professional company has enough skills and expertise to ensure the business site follows the ADA compliance website checklist.

Web accessibility development is not an easy task. And since ADA compliance is necessary to avoid lawsuits, one must ensure their website is accessible to all. There are, however, numerous other works related to business. So, it is not possible to give your entire focus to developing ADA compliant websites only.

Thus, hiring an expert to take care of the job is the most convenient option. It not only saves your time and money but also keeps you stress-free.

The benefit of working with a website accessibility company is that they have several employees who work on the project at once. As a result, they will combine different skills to create a fantastic site for your company.

Additionally, professionals follow the latest laws and trends regarding website accessibility. So, you won’t risk facing any lawsuits regarding an act you had no idea about! Moreover, besides making a user-friendly website, they will also make your website unique and creative.

5 Tips To Find The Right Web Accessibility Company

One must hire the website accessibility company that best fits their requirements. However, finding the best one from so many companies is hard. So, let’s go over a few tips to find the right web accessibility company for your business:

  1. Set A Budget

If you haven’t already, you must start your search for a web accessibility company by deciding how much you’re ready to spend on it.

You must know your budget because there is no industry standard pricing. What quality of web design you desire and where you will obtain it depends on the amount of money you have to spend.

Different companies might help your website be ADA-compliant. Their rates and quality of work might be different. So, first decide on your budget, then start looking for a company whose charges are within your budget.

  1. Do Online Research

To create a shortlist, you must have a variety of possibilities.You must check out several blogs and websites which list and rank the top web accessibility company using a reliable search engine. Once you’ve compiled a list of web design firms, begin screening them to see which one is best for you.

After that, check out the websites of each business on the list to start the shortlisting procedure. A web accessibility company is not ideal for collaborating if its website appears antiquated, uninspiring, and uninteresting. Furthermore, you can also check out the review section of the companies to know their performance.

  1. Check If The Company Provides Any Extra Services

Always check if a company offers extra services before hiring them. While developing your personalized website,you might need different services. For example, you might need search engine optimization (SEO) to advertise your website. Besides, you might need copywriting to produce content for your website.

So, try to find a website accessibility company that provides more services than just web design. Choose a full-service business that offers additional benefits.

  1. Ask For Proper Documentation

Your web accessibility company won’t be capable of providing outcomes if the parameters of the engagement are unclear. Be sure to receive a good proposal and discuss everything before continuing on professional terms.

Always double-check the terms and conditions of employment to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Remember, appropriate documents are essential since you are giving them a sensitive job to handle.

  1. Experience & Expertise

You must pick a business that suits your desired skill set. However, you must thoroughly investigate the company’s qualifications and experience before hiring. A skilled service provider might handle your web development project’s unique requirements. Find a business that matches your necessary technical ability and has outstanding experience.

Conclusion

A suitable web accessibility company can do wonders for your business. So, if you want a company to make your website ADA compliant, consider hiring ADA for Web. For the growth of your company, we design wholly accessible and user-friendly websites.

Thanks for reading through. Good luck!

Why Should You Make Website Accessibility A Priority?
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Why Should You Make Website Accessibility A Priority?

Given that the number of people using the internet is now larger than ever, there is an increasing need for accessible website development. It’s no longer enough for your website or app to be compatible with various browsers; it also should be accessible to users with sensory impairments.

For this reason, web accessibility remediation is quickly rising on the list of priorities for everyone creating content for the modern web. In this article, we’ll discuss the significance of adhering to web accessibility development and why seeking help from a professional web accessibility company should be your priority.

What Does Making Website Accessibility Entail?

To be considered accessible, a website must ensure that its content is readily available to people with varying levels of disability. The World Wide Web Consortium has developed certain web accessibility standards.

The rules cover a lot of ground when it comes to accessibility, but they can’t possibly meet everyone’s specific requirements. The goal is to present content in the following ways:

  • Easy to see.
  • Quick to learn and use.
  • Very easy to grasp.
  • People may interpret it reliably.

Why Website Accessibility Should Be The Top Priority for Your Business

Increasing your website’s accessibility is crucial in encouraging more people to utilize the internet. However, it also directly affects your company’s online success.

Websites that are easy to use for people with disabilities can help businesses expand their online presence and shield them from potential legal liability. Therefore, you should prioritize website accessibility for at least the following five reasons:

  1. Expands Your Potential Customer Base

Millions of potential clients who cannot visit your site because of their disabilities are automatically lost if your website is not currently ADA compliant. A staggering 19% of Americans, or roughly 50 million people, live with a disability.

Many people could be interested in what you offer, but they can’t buy your services or even get in touch with you since your website isn’t designed to be used by people with disabilities. That means they might decide to go on to your rivals instead.

Even though your current consumers won’t notice a difference from the addition of accessibility enhancements, you may experience increased traffic and conversions from new customers. By making your site more user-friendly, you’ll send a message to those potential customers that you appreciate their business and want to keep it.

  1. Improve Your SEO Game

Making a website accessible benefits users and increases the site’s visibility in search engine results (SEO).When a website complies with the website accessibility guidelines, it is more likely to be favored by users.

As a result, your company website’s SEO efforts will receive a significant boost on search engines and screen readers. No doubt, developing your business website with careful consideration of video transcripts, alternative picture text, and meta labeling is a must!

  1. Gaining Favorable PR

Disability rights activists, individuals with disabilities, and those close to them all support web accessibility. Taking a stance on web accessibility is an excellent way to establish credibility for your company.

If customers with disabilities have a good experience with your company, they’ll likely tell their friends and followers about it.So making a public announcement about your website’s accessibility is a great strategy to start gaining favorable press.

  1. Enhance The Site’s Usability

Yes, individuals with disabilities are the primary emphasis of accessible website design. They must be able to access, navigate, and consume media at the same levels as their peers. In addition, you can also enjoy further benefits stemming from developing an accessible website in this fashion. For starters, increasing accessibility usually entails fixing issues and reducing page sizes.

But that’s not the end of it! Accessible websites are user-friendly for everyone. All users benefit from simplified navigation, ALT text for images on pages with sluggish internet connections, and glossaries. As you reconstruct your site to improve its accessibility, you’ll find that its overall usability improves.

  1. Decrease The Risk Of Discrimination Lawsuits

Individuals with impairments are guaranteed the same rights as everyone else in the workplace thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 (ADA). More and more, the rules in that law are starting to apply to a company’s website and social media accounts, not only the physical location.

Over 2,200 web accessibility-related lawsuits were filed in 2018, nearly three times as many as in 2017. As expected, that figure keeps climbing. It has an equal impact on mom-and-pop shops and multinationals like Domino’s. Failing to make your website accessible could potentially destroy your finances someday!

The best part is that you can avoid these lawsuits altogether if you design your website according to the ADA guidelines. Creating a successful website boils down to some basic guidelines.

Conclusion

ADA for websites is now more important than ever! But, if you still don’t understand why accessible website development is such a pressing issue, we will share all the reasons that make web accessibility remediation thetop priority for your company’s website!

We hope you find a reliable web accessibility company to develop your website. Thanks for reading.

Risks of Not Having An ADA Compliant Website
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Risks of Not Having An ADA Compliant Website

ADA-compliant websites are assets to an organization. They can ensure better service, user experience, and overall performance of your websites. Many of us are familiar with the ADA compliance feature for websites. If you are unaware of ADA accessibility for websites, you may be wondering about the risks of not having an ADA-compliant website.

There can be multiple risks to your website and organization without ADA accessibility. It is now more than a way to accessorize your websites. ADA compliance is an obligatory feature for websites to follow. Otherwise, your website and organization can be susceptible to ADA lawsuits, penalties, and many other risk factors.

What Are The Risks Of Not Having An ADA Compliant Website

When a website is not ADA compliant, it fails to target a large pool and diverse customer base. This can be crucial for businesses, especially if your business is in a growing phase. Additionally, there are multiple other risks associated with not having an ADA-compliant website. Some of the major risks that you may face without ADA compliance are given as follows.

ADA Lawsuit

One of the biggest risks of not having an ADA-compliant website is the threat of ADA lawsuits. In simpler words, a disabled person can lodge complaints or sue your website if it is not ADA compliant.

According to the Supreme Court’s decision in 2019, all firms and organizations must have ADA-accessible websites. So, if you are not following the ADA guidelines, you are not complying with the law either. In such cases, a disabled person has the right to file a lawsuit directly to the federal court for violations of the ADA. So, you may face ADA lawsuits without ADA compliance.

Non-Compliance Penalties

Similar to ADA lawsuits, another major risk that you face without ADA accessibility is non-compliance penalties. For violating the ADA compliance guidelines, your business may need to pay penalties.

An ADA inaccessible website can have severe penalties. The penalty fines can go as high as $75000 for the first violation. In case of subsequent violations, the fines can go up to $15000. Not only that, these fines are reviewed annually to match the present inflation. Hence, paying these penalties can be a serious risk for businesses.

Missing Opportunities For Brand Exposure

The opportunity cost of not having ADA compliance for your websites is a non-quantifiable risk. That is, when your websites are not ADA accessible, it drives away potential buyers and customers.

Your organization fails to attract a diverse pool of customers when the website is not ADA compliant. A lion’s share of those people is disabled people. So, you immediately lose all disabled people as your customers. This can have many negative impacts on your organization. So, the opportunity cost is a major risk of not having ADA-compliant websites.

Discrimination Against The Disabled People

According to the reports of the CDC, 1 in 4 adults in the USA lives with a disability. That is nearly 61 million Americans living with one or more than one form of disability. So, when your websites are not ADA compliant, such a large population of disabled users fails to access them.

Screen readers, people with assisting devices, and other restraints can not receive your services and features as easily as other users. This creates discrimination against disabled users. Thus, your organization can cause discrimination against disabled people without ADA accessibility.

How Can You Have ADA Compliant Websites?

ADA-accessible websites are now a necessity for organizations and business firms. You can mitigate the risks of not having an ADA-compliant website by simply following the ADA accessibility guidelines on your website. It is one of the smartest investments that you can make in your website.

To have an ADA-compliant website, make sure that you are aware of the ADA compliance guidelines and checklists. You can follow the checklists and add the recommended features to your website accordingly. Finally, you can check your website’s accessibility with tests and checkers.

Additionally, you can also consult with firms that have expertise in creating ADA-compliant websites for you. You can also test and audit your websites with these firms. Thus, you can easily have an ADA-compliant website and rule out all the risks of not having one.

Conclusion

ADA website accessibility is an obligatory feature for your websites. By knowing about the risks of not having an ADA-compliant website, you can understand its necessity.

So, make sure to keep your websites ADA accessible. Contact us to learn more about ADA accessibility for your websites.

List of Website Accessibility (ADA) Violations
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

List of Website Accessibility (ADA) Violations

It’s no secret that a website is one of the most effective promotional tools at your disposal to promote your company. However, there’s no point in making one if those with disabilities cannot use it. With one in every four adults in the US living with some form of disability, ADA for websites is more crucial than ever.

If you are also looking into web accessibility remediation, look no further! However, before contacting a web accessibility company, discover all the possible violations preventing you from accessible website development.

What Does ADA Compliance Exactly Mean?

ADA compliance means meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design standards and guidelines. This law applies to digital resources, such as the Internet and associated websites, and traditional ones, such as libraries and museums.

As per the ADA, businesses must ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to their products and services at places of public accommodation. Simply put, the law implies making adjustments so that those with visual, bodily, or other disabilities can use the same facilities as those without disabilities.

Because the web is a public place, these rules also apply there. The purpose of the law is to give everyone the same rights and opportunities. Additionally, it ensures that people with disabilities have access to equal opportunities in transportation, employment, telecommunications, and other services from the federal and state government.

Therefore, it is crucial to design a website accessible to people with a wide range of impairments. The consequences of not being ADA compliant are grave, ranging from the loss of business to potential legal trouble.

Top Common ADA Compliance Violations for Websites

In the same way that physically accessible buildings are essential, websites that adhere to ADA standards are equally important. Unfortunately, many website administrators don’t consider ADA while developing web pages or defining material. This slight mistake can annoy millions of people with disabilities trying to use your website.

So you might want to avoid these ADA compliance violations to the best of your ability. The most common violations for websites include –

  1. Texts with Poor Color Contrast

A common ADA compliance violation is websites’ poor color contrast. According to WCAG 2.1, the ideal color contrast for standard text should be 4.5:1 and 3:1 for larger text. Certain visitors won’t be able to read the text on your site if you don’t maintain a good color contrast ratio.

If you choose colors that people with color blindness or other impairments cannot perceive, the page may appear blank to them. Likewise, people with limited vision, neurological, or cognitive disorders may have difficulty reading the content.Unfortunately, the vast majority of websites fall short of the required minimum.

  1. Missing Alt Text!

According to WCAG 2.1, you must include a text alternative for non-text content (like photos or charts) that conveys information. When a text alternative accompanies non-text content, assistive technologies (AT) such as screen readers can display it for the user.

For instance, a person with vision impairment can request the AT to read the text equivalent of an image in a synthetic speech. Simply put, images should have alternative text, commonly known as alt text, which provides a brief, descriptive explanation of the picture.

3.Form Elements Without Labels

People who use assistive technologies may have trouble completing an online form if the required fields, such as shipping and payment information, are not clearly indicated. In addition, the user will be confused about why their submission failed if a red asterisk denoting a necessary field doesn’t have a message explaining what it means.

There are many different kinds of fields on forms, including text, radio buttons, drop-down menus, and checkboxes. Fields must have labels so that users know what they are clicking on and what information is needed. Users who need to fill out a form for various purposes can find this an annoyance.

  1. Inconsistent Headings

The incorrect sequence of headings is a common cause of non-compliance with ADA standards. Unfortunately, it’s also one of most website developers’ simplest mistakes. Many people mistakenly believe that by modifying header tags, they may change the size of the headers they want to highlight or deemphasize.

Problems arise when content creators for a website treat heading levels (H1, H2, H3, etc.) more as decorative features than sequence indicators. They frequently pay more attention to the headers’ aesthetics than how they work.

As a result, content creators frequently replace the H1 with the H2 if the latter appears more visually compelling. However, this throws the article itself out of alignment, making it impossible for screen readers to comprehend the content properly.

Conclusion

Ignoring website accessibility requirements or ADA for websites almost guarantees a lawsuit. So if you plan to look up web accessibility remediation, we’ve got you covered! Here we share all about web accessibility development and common ADA violations your website may have.

Discuss them with your web accessibility company to develop an accessible website. Thanks for reading.

Importance Of Web Accessibility For Your Law Firm’s Digital Marketing Strategy
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Importance Of Web Accessibility For Your Law Firm’s Digital Marketing Strategy

As of 2010, one in every five Americans, or approximately 56.7 million, lives with a disability. So it’s not uncommon for people with disabilities to struggle with adapting to and using cutting-edge gadgetry. In addition, as more people look for legal professionals online, it has become more critical than ever to develop accessible websites for law firms.

So as a lawyer, your duties involve making technological resources accessible to people of all abilities and understanding what ADA for websites entails. Before reaching out to an ADA Compliance Company, learning all about it is a wise idea. To help you understand why web accessibility for law firms is critical, we will share everything there is to know about it.

What Exactly Is Web Content Accessibility?

People living with different disabilities process and interpret information differently. When a website is accessible, users with impairments can navigate it the same way as those who utilize keyboard-based or point-and-click methods.

It is vital to provide content that appeals to all the senses to make your website accessible to people with disabilities. All of your site’s features, including consultation requests and invoice payments, must be accessible to all users, with no exception. Web accessibility remediation may include –

  • Use “alt” text on photos or image files to help the visually impaired navigate your site.
  • Use of descriptive anchor text to facilitate site navigation.
  • Captions that appear in time with the audio in a video for the deaf and hard of hearing.

5 Reasons Why Web Content Accessibility Matters For Your Law Firm

When you become an attorney, you are responsible for representing individuals who cannot defend themselves in court. To offer equal service to everyone, you must also assist customers who may have disabilities by providing them with accessible, user-friendly technology.

There are numerous other reasons why the importance of web accessibility for your law firm is immeasurable. These include –

  1. Web Accessibility Helps You Reach More People

Accessible websites increase your potential customer base. For example, the United States is home to 40 million disabled people. In addition, research by Pew Research reveals that twenty-five percent of American adults consider themselves disabled.

All of these people in the United States will need legal assistance at some point in their lives. Whether it’s to create a will, defend themselves against criminal charges, or file a lawsuit due to an injury. Put another way, almost everyone using Google may look for a lawyer someday in their lives. So why not expand your law firm’s reach?

  1. Reduced Risk Of legal action

Legal action is something no company wants to deal with, and no company wants to chance to have to pay for legal bills. One accessibility complaint investigation can cost up to $10,000, while a lawsuit defense and settlement can cost up to $350,000. Additionally, The number of lawsuits involving disabilities has climbed by almost 1,100% since 2016.

This number should continue to rise in the future as well. Therefore, if you fail to comply with accessibility regulations, it could significantly harm your company.

  1. Improve Your Brand’s Strength

Making your web content accessible to people with disabilities can only help your brand. A website may be the best way to demonstrate how much your company values and respects all of its clients. Making your web content accessible to people with disabilities also suggests you’ve done some research into industry standards.

Companies with solid ethical cultures tend to attract more loyal customers and reliable business allies. However, your company’s image may suffer if your website is challenging to use for people with disabilities.

  1. Boost Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Websites that are easy for people to use will also improve your site’s visibility in search engine results. Why? Because accessibility is directly related to SEO (SEO).

Both search engine optimization and user-friendliness are interrelated. For example, websites that are easy to use and understand by individuals of all abilities have lower bounce rates.

  1. Boost Usability

The goal of web content accessibility is to ensure that people with physical or mental impairments can fully take advantage of available resources. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider accessibility directly linked with usability, as it contributes to a positive user experience.

People who have issues using a mouse or keyboard will significantly benefit from this standard, but everyone will enjoy its advantages. By organizing your site’s navigational elements per this standard, visitors will have a simpler time finding the information they need.

Conclusion

Web accessibility remediation is a hot issue for law firms nowadays. If you don’t have a clear idea about what ADA for websites entails, web accessibility development for your law firm can become difficult. So we share the topic of accessible website development in this article.

We hope you understand how critical web accessibility for law firms is. Thanks for reading till now.

Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

How Does Web Accessibility Save Your Firm From Litigation?

In this era of technology, everyone should be able to access the internet, regardless of their disabilities. ADA for websites and web accessibility redemption vouches to make your website inclusive to everyone worldwide. Besides the obvious ethical obligations, an accessible website has various other benefits too!

For instance, web accessibility development for your website can actually save your law firm from litigation. How? Keep reading to find out!

What Are The Requirements For A Website To be Accessible?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 is a comprehensive set of standards for making websites accessible for people with disabilities. It consists of 13 guidelines that can fall under four concepts:

  • Perceivability: The website should present information and parts of the user interface to users in a way they can understand.
  • The navigation and user interface components must be operational.
  • Understandability: The content and navigation of the user interface must be straightforward.
  • Robustness: The content has to be solid enough to be reliably interpreted by a wide range of user interfaces, including those using assistive technologies.

Legal Requirements Of Web Accessibility

Surprisingly, no new laws have passed in recent years regarding website accessibility. The increase in litigation is not the result of a shift in the legal landscape. However, the number of ADA lawsuits filed and won against major corporations in 2016 increased from a handful before 2017 to between one thousand and two thousand in 2018.

Corporations that were the targets of the investigation include big names like Fox News, Harvard, Nike, Burger King, and Domino’s Pizza, among others. The WCAG specifies two distinct kinds of case causes:

  • Federal legislation (Section 508 article): This law requires all government-run websites to meet WCAG 2.0 AA standards. This is not a concern for your company.
  • Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act: This is federal legislation that requires all government agencies to take measures to eliminate disability-based discrimination.Given that the ADA is not specifically about the internet or how things should look online, there is no legally defined WCAG level within the ADA.

Since the “Section 508 article” referenced WCAG 2.0 AA, lawyers have begun using it in cases   as the only criterion for determining whether or not a website is accessible to people with disabilities.

Possible Legal Consequences For Not Adhering To Web Accessibility

The risk of a lawsuit or demand letter increases if your website contains features restricting users with disabilities from utilizing them. Unfortunately, plaintiffs cannot seek monetary damages in federal cases brought under the ADA. Therefore, a plaintiff’s only options are to have their legal bills covered and make the inaccessible area accessible again.

So, what legal consequences can you face for not adhering to the web accessibility laws? Let’s take a look:

Lawsuits Regarding Web Accessibility Is On the Rise!

UsableNet has released its 2021 results report on virtual ADA cases in the US, and the trends it reveals are undoubtedly worth noting. First, in 2021, there were 15% more lawsuits than in the previous year.

About 10 cases were filed daily, for a total of a staggering 4,055 cases! The tally includes all federal and state cases that mention an ADA violation. Remember that the figures presented here account for lawsuits, not demand letters.

Notices Of Demand

UsableNet’s study does not include demand letters threatening legal action and asking for a quick settlement for defendant firms. However, it’s common knowledge that demand letters often exceed federal and state cases.

Although this strategy has been linked to “ambulance-chasing” by some, it is grounded in the law because all websites must be freely accessible to all users. In most cases, small and medium-sized enterprises receive demand letters with settlement amounts in the $5,000–$20,000 range. Of course, this cost does not include the cost of remediation.

Multiple Legal Actions

You can still be the target of another lawsuit or demand letter even if you have already been sued or received one. ADA lawsuits are common for many businesses. It’s not a rare sight for a company to face legal action from various parties concerning its website and mobile application.

Unfortunately, no matter how often you settle a lawsuit or demand letter, if your online properties remain inaccessible, you still risk receiving more. Moreover, settling exposes you more because you practically admit that your website is inaccessible. This is why we need to take steps to make all digital assets more accessible.

Conclusion

Web accessibility remediation opens opportunities for your firm’s growth and protects it from litigation fines. In this article, we clarify your confusion about web accessibility development for those confused about ADA for websites.

Consult an expert web accessibility company to protect your website against litigation and maintain your finances. Thanks for reading!

Can Your Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

Can Your Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?

ADA website accessibility compliance is more than just a tool for your website. It is a requirement that you need to adhere to in order to keep your website accessible to all users. This leads many people to wonder can your websites be sued for ADA compliance? It is a common question by business owners and managers who are just becoming aware of the issue.

The goal of ADA compliance is to ensure equal access to services and a user-friendly experience for disabled people. So, by making your website ADA compliant, you do not discriminate against differently abled people. However, there is more to ADA compliance than we know. It is an obligatory requirement for websites to follow according to the Supreme Court decision.

Can Websites Be Sued For ADA Compliance?

The short answer is, yes, your websites can be sued for ADA compliance. Making your website ADA accessible is now a part of complying with the law. If you do not develop your websites to be ADA accessible, then you are not obeying the law. In that case, your website or organization could face an ADA lawsuit.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1989. This act deals with several provisions and different types of accessibility issues to support disabled people. According to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act,all websites of federal agencies have to be ADA accessible. This includes a large majority of firms and organizations being ADA compliant.

Additionally, the 2019 Supreme Court decision states that ADA compliance is mandatory for a firm’s websites. So, if a company, firm, or organization does not have an ADA accessible website, they are defying the Supreme Court. This can result in penalties or even lawsuits. In summary, yes, your websites can be sued for ADA compliance.

A prominent example of this event is the case of Robles vs. Domino’s Pizza. The fast-food chain did not have an ADA-accessible website. So, a screen reader couldn’t place an order on the website. Hence, Domino’s Pizza was sued by a blind plaintiff. They were ordered by the court to pay $4,000 as well as all legal fees incurred by the plaintiff.

So, this case shows us that without ADA compliance, your websitecan become a threat to your company. Whereas, websites are an asset to the organization that can help bring in new customers and increase profitability. Without being ADA compliant, your organization will fail to fulfill this. Instead, you will be under the threat of an ADA lawsuit.

What Can You Do To Prevent ADA Lawsuit?

The first step to preventing ADA lawsuits from happening is to make sure that your website is ADA accessible. Ensuring web ADA accessibility will mitigate your risks of getting an ADA lawsuit. Additionally, it will also improve your website’s user experience and generate better profitability.

There are multiple steps that you can follow to make your website ADA compliant. Make sure to go through the ADA accessibility checklist to ensure that you are following all of them. You need to get the necessary awareness and education first. In that way, you can understand the requirements, advantages, and obligations of ADA compliance.

ADA compliance for your website can be done in multiple ways. Using alt text is a part of making your website ADA compliant. Alt text, or alternative text, conveys the message of an image to the screen reader. It is especially important for users who are using assistive devices to use the website.

Providing video transcripts can be a great addition. Similar to alt texts, it helps screen readers go through the contents of an audio or a video. Not only that, but all users can navigate through it and understand it better with video transcripts. Correct use of fonts, headlines, sub-points, color contrasts, ARIA landmarks, etc. is an important part of ADA accessibility.

So, make sure to follow the ADA accessibility guidelines and checklists to make your website ADA compliant. Similarly, you can also get the expertise of different firms that provide auditing, testing, and ensure ADA accessibility on your websites.

Conclusion

ADA accessibility is a necessity for your websites. You can ensure a better service and user experience on your websites by following the ADA compliance guidelines. Thus, you will be able to provide the best services to all customers.

Contact us to learn more about ADA website accessibility.

ADA Compliance Website For Lawyers: A Complete Guide
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

ADA Compliance Website For Lawyers: A Complete Guide

ADA compliance is an obligatory feature for websites. When it comes to legal advocates like lawyers, ADA compliance becomes much more important. It refers to the use of an ADA compliance website checklist to ensure website accessibility. It focuses on ensuring equal service and usage for everyone. It prevents the possibility of discrimination.

Web accessibility for law firms is crucial. With ADA web design, you can ensure web accessibility remediation. On the other hand, without accessible websites for law firms, lawyers may face several penalties. Hence, ADA for websites is an important tool for lawyers and website owners.

Why Do Lawyers Need ADA Compliance Websites?

If you are new to the concept of web accessibility for law firms and lawyers, ADA web accessibility can be confusing for you. Naturally, you might wonder why lawyers need ADA compliance websites. In simple words, having an ADA-compliant website gives you numerous advantages. But without ADA compliance, lawyers may face many negative consequences.

Lawyers need ADA compliance websites for multiple reasons. For starters, when lawyers use ADA-accessible websites, they can reach a larger audience. This can be crucial for their legal requirements, serving a larger demographic, and spreading awareness to the general masses. This helps them to create a better and more inclusive brand image.

At the same time, the public can have better access when lawyers use ADA websites. A large majority of these general people suffer from one or many forms of disability. So, these disabled people with physical constraints can get the best legal assistance with ADA-accessible websites. Whereas, without ADA-accessible features, this could not be possible.

Focusing on digital accessibility is vital for public service providers like lawyers. Instead of focusing on personal preference or aesthetic design, the priority should be ADA accessibility.

Because, at the end of the day, lawyers cannot provide the best service and usability to all of their users unless their websites are ADA-compliant and prevent discriminating against a large share of the general population.

Risks For Lawyers For Not Having ADA Accessibility

As we know by now, having an ADA-accessible website can help you achieve numerous benefits. Similarly, without ADA compliance, lawyers may face several negative consequences too. These consequences can be detrimental to lawyers and their law firms.

Accessible website development is an essential requirement for lawyers. One of the negative consequences of ADA non-compliance companies is that their legal fees might be higher. Failing to defend the plaintiff can result in legal lawsuits. In such cases, ADA compliance companies or law firms will get the upper hand.

This is because ADA non-compliance companies will have to pay a larger fine in the lawsuit. Additionally, following the ADA for websites is civil law. You can face ADA lawsuits and penalties if you do not follow them. A disabled person can file a lawsuit against a lawyer or a law firm for discrimination. Penalties for such cases can reach an astounding amount.

Not only that, ADA web accessibility development ensures equal service and benefits. Without it, you are cutting off a large portion of users with disabilities from using your website. So, as a lawyer, you are setting a negative image when you do not follow ADA accessible websites. It also creates a negative brand image for your law firm.

Ways To Get ADA Compliant Website For Law Firms

Getting the best ADA-accessible website for lawyers and law firms is vital. To ensure that, you can contact experts. Many companies provide web accessibility audits to provide you with a better understanding.

With these companies, you can get the best website features like WordPress ADA compliance. Make sure that you are prioritizing ADA accessibility guidelines and checklists during the onset of the website design.

Finally, make sure to check your website and perform audits to understand its features. With the right awareness and guidelines, lawyers can easily get ADA-compliant websites for their law firms.

Conclusion

ADA-accessible websites are an asset to lawyers. That is why lawyers and law firms must have ADA-compliant websites. In this way, they can guarantee the best service and inclusion for all their users. To learn more about ADA accessibility for websites, make sure to contact us.

Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories Articles

10 Ways To Improve Web Accessibility

Websites are now an integral part of every business. Whether it is a big firm or a new one, digital presence plays a big role in drawing in more customers. Web accessibility directly contributes to a business’s profitability. Keep reading to learn 10 ways to improve web accessibility to ensure better performance and profitability in your organization.

Web accessibility is now more than just a tool to accessorize your websites. With the progression of digital platforms and growing consumer demands, web accessibility has become mandatory. In this article, we will help you navigate through the ways to improve your web accessibility.

10 Important Ways To Improve Web Accessibility

Web accessibility enables the features on your website to assist users of all ranges and demographics. It is a crucial necessity to help people with disabilities and physical restraints to have a user-friendly experience with the website. 10 of the best ways to improve your web accessibility are given below

Using Proper Alt Text For Images

Alt texts provide an easy explanation of the message of an image. It is a vital feature for screen readers. Using alt texts can significantly improve the web accessibility of your website.

Especially with multiple images and infographics, alt texts are an essential tool. It ensures all users, including disabled users, easily understand the message of an image. So, ensure proper alt text for photos to improve web accessibility.

Making Dynamic Content Accessible

Dynamic contents are the contents of a page that can update or revise without refreshing. A website with dynamic content goes through continuous shifts and updates. Web accessibility improves when these contents are easily accessible.

Adding multiple assertive tools to the website allows the dynamic content to be more accessible. So, users of the website will not struggle to find updated or revised information. Thus, your web accessibility will improve.

Accessible Content Management System

An accessible content management system can drastically improve the user experience and overall web accessibility of your websites. Content management systems or CMS are tools that help developers and users to create, manage, edit or collaborate on the content of a website.

Ensure that the CMS of your website checks out the web accessibility criteria. That is, the page layouts, widgets, plugins, themes, and other related aspects must be compatible with web accessibility standards. Hence, your user experience and accessibility will positively improve.

Structured Headers And Sub Points

Correct use of headers and subpoints in a website can significantly improve the website. This helps not only the website’s outlook but also its usability.

Make sure that the important content on your website has the appropriate headers. It should also follow necessary points and sub-points in an organized way. Otherwise, the website becomes too clustered with information to follow through. Hence, structured headers and sub-points are important to improve your web accessibility.

ADA Compliance

ADA compliance is a very important tool to improve your website’s performance. An ADA-compliant website is user-friendly for disabled people and users with other physical restraints.

By making your website ADA compliant, you can ensure disabled people have full access to the services of your website. So, while designing and developing your website, make sure to follow all the ADA compliance checklists. This will boost your website’s accessibility.

Keyboard Friendly

Keeping your website keyboard-friendly is an important feature. Users with motor disabilities rely on the use of a keyboard. So, keyboard accessibility helps these users enjoy the website’s facilities without hassle.

So, make sure that content covering long pages is broken down with “skip” or “jump” options. The functions of tab or arrow keys should also be available on the website. That is, keyboard actions and shortcuts should be present on your website. Thus, it will become more accessible for everyone.

Provide Video Transcript

Video transcripts are an important tool to help different users with disabilities. Additionally, if your website has a collection of various videos and multimedia, a video transcript becomes a necessity.

With the availability of video transcripts, navigating through the contents becomes easier. At the same time, users can go over the content quickly rather than sit through the video. Transcripts for both video and audio can help deaf or blind users too. So, provide video transcripts on your website to improve its accessibility.

Use ARIA Landmarks

Accessible Rich Internet Applications or ARIA landmarks are an important tool for web accessibility. In simple words, these are powerful technical specifications that allow for making semantically defined sections of a page.

With ARIA landmarks, the webpage becomes easier to access by users of assistive technologies. This means that to support the disabled and users with restraints ARIA landmarks are vital. They make the information or content of a website more accessible for all users. Therefore, use ARIA landmarks on your website for better web accessibility.

Provide Sufficient Color Contrast

An underrated tool for web accessibility is the right color contrast. Many people design their websites to their individual preferences. However, the users’ experience and comfort should be a priority while developing the website.

The foreground and background of the website must have adequate color contrast. In addition, the fonts must have a distinct contrast against their background. Otherwise, reading the content becomes tiresome. The color contrast must be soothing and easy on the eyes. This will improve your website’s accessibility.

Avoid Using Tiny Or Difficult Fonts

Similar to color contrast, the correct use of fonts is an important element. Using difficult fonts makes the content inaccessible to the users. Similarly, tiny fonts are also difficult to read or navigate through by the users of the website.

So, while choosing fonts, make sure that they follow the website accessibility checklist. That is, they must be easy to understand and read by different users. This will be vital for improving your website’s accessibility.

 

Conclusion

Web accessibility is an important tool to improve its performance and productivity. By following these criteria, you can attract a large and diverse pool of customers to grow your business. Contact us if you have any queries or to learn more about website accessibility.

Why You Need an ADA Accessible Law Firm Website
Posted on By Author content@adaforweb.com Categories Articles

Why You Need an ADA Accessible Law Firm Website

Web accessibility for law firms is a commonly overlooked aspect for many law firms across the world. Accessible websites for law firms are an important tool as well as an asset to serve the common people. It is essential for law firms to ensure that their websites and the contents thereof are easily accessible by people who are disabled or impaired.

ADA-accessible websites are websites that follow the ADA guidelines and checklists. ADA compliance refers to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law put into motion in 1990. This law is intended to ensure that disabled and impaired people have equal access to the same services and facilities available on websites as the general public.

The Necessity Of ADA Accessible Law Firm Website

The need for an ADA-accessible law firm website acts from both the firm’s and the clients’ perspectives. That is, an ADA accessible website is equally necessary for the law firm as it is for the clients of the firm. Following these accessibility guidelines ensures a two-way solution for both the firm and its clientele. There are many needs for an ADA-accessible law firm website.

Accessing A Larger Audience

With the rapid growth of digitalization and digital services by many firms around the world, websites are now an important asset for any firm. In the same way, law firms need an ADA-accessible website to ensure targeting and accessing a large audience.

By ensuring ADA accessibility, law firms can significantly increase their target audience and clients. This is because the law firm uses an ADA-compliant website to target not only the general public but also the disabled and impaired. In this way, disabled people can access the website easily. So, the firm can access a larger audience.

Ensuring A Disability Friendly Brand Presence

ADA-accessible websites ensure overall inclusiveness and equal service for everyone. When the website is not ADA accessible, it hinders the visually impaired, and disabled people from enjoying its content and features. As a result, it limits equality and inclusivity in the law firm.

Similarly, when law firms implement the feature of ADA accessibility on their websites, they allow every user to enjoy the same service. Regardless of their disability or physical constraints, they can access the services and contents of the website. So, it creates a notion of inclusion and a disability-friendly presence for the law firm. It is an essential element for every law firm.

Enhancing Overall Usability

ADA accessibility can increase the overall usability of your law firm’s websites. It is common for many people to think ADA accessibility is specially designed for disabled people. However, that is not entirely accurate. ADA accessibility can enhance the overall user experience of the website. It is crucial for law firm websites to follow.
Simply put, ADA accessibility allows your audience and clients to understand, perceive, and interact with the website easily. It allows a better performance by the website to meet the demands of its audience. At the same time, ADA accessibility attains all the features that are necessary to improve and refine the website. Thus, you can enhance the overall usability.

Avoiding Penalties

Following the ADA accessibility guidelines is more than just a feature of making the website more accessible. It also ensures that you are complying with the civil law of the country. According to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, all websites operated by federal agencies must be ADA accessible.
Law firms can face lawsuits against their websites if they are not ADA accessible. So, to ensure ADA accessibility is more than just a tool. It is a court-mandated order that is obligatory for all companies, organizations, and firms, including law firms. Hence, it is necessary for law firm websites to be ADA accessible. In this way, they can avoid penalties against their website.

How Can You Ensure An ADA Accessible Law Firm Website?

You can ensure ADA accessibility for your law firm’s websites by following multiple steps. You need to ensure that your website design complies with the ADA accessibility checklist. It includes using appropriate titles, headings, and subheadings for the contents of your website, havingalt text, using fonts and texts to benefit the general users, and many more.

Many companies provide services to make your websites ADA accessible. With their help, you can ensure that your law firm’s websites comply with all the necessary criteria to be ADA accessible. You can also run web accessibility audits to see how accessible it is by the audience. Thus, you can ensure a user-friendly and ADA-accessible website for your law firm.

Conclusion

Web accessibility is vital when it comes to designing a firm’s websites. Law firm websites must make ADA compliance for their websites a priority. It is important for addressing clients’ needs. Simultaneously, ADA accessibility is an obligatory practice for law firm websites.

So, ADA-accessible websites are immensely necessary for law firms.

What Law Firms Need To Know About ADA Compliance Online
Posted on By Author content@adaforweb.com Categories Articles

What Law Firms Need To Know About ADA Compliance Online

ADA Compliance stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design. It entails the accessibility of all digital information and technology to people with disabilities. No business or company is exempt from adhering to the ADA and should be familiar with its requirements as stated. More specifically, web accessibility for law firms is crucial!

Most expect law firms to be among the most knowledgeable groups of people who deal with legal requirements. As this industry deals directly with the law, lawyers are typically the last people who would want to get involved in legal issues.

However, is the matter so severe that you need to hire an ADA compliance company to review your website? So to answer all your questions and for law firms to become experts on this topic, this article will cover all you need to know about web accessibility for law firms.

What Does ADA Compliance For Websites Entail?

Numerous laws in the US give disabled people civil rights. These laws include the 1990-enacted Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 2008-enacted Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA). These laws forbid discrimination against individuals with disabilities and call for institutions to provide them with reasonable accommodations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – Title III states that no individual shall be subject to discrimination based on their disabilities. They have the right to experience the equal and complete enjoyment of services, goods, facilities, advantages, and privileges of any public accommodation by the person who owns, leases, or operates it.
The law covers both physical and online businesses, including service providers and retailers on the internet. In other words, your website content must be available to all users if your company has an online presence. Adjusting your website to make it more user-friendly and accessible for people with disabilities is a vital part of this.

Why Should Law Firms Ensure Their Website Is ADA Compliant?

Undoubtedly, ADA compliance for websites can be a headache with many rules and regulations. Some law firms disregard the law entirely when developing their websites. But if Kylie Jenner and Winn-Dixie can get sued for their websites not being accessible to everyone, you may face severe consequences as well. Some possible consequences you may face include –

1. Legal Fees
Attorney fees can be pretty high if a company defends itself in court. Also, keep in mind that if the company loses the case, it will likely be responsible for paying the plaintiff’s legal fees and other costs.
Target eventually settled a class-action civil lawsuit in 2008 and paid more than $6 million for damages. They also had to pay an extra $4 million for the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees in addition to this charge.The cost of ADA non-compliance to the company, including personal legal fees, was probably over $15 million.

2. Civil Penalty
Your company might also be required to pay a fine to the government if your website is inaccessible to specific people. Other than court costs, you may also need to pay fines to the government.
A company that violates the ADA’s accessibility regulations may need to pay between $55,000 and $75,000 in fines. Continuous violations can incur even more considerable penalties of $150,000 or more.

3. Staff Training
Let’s say you forgot to make your website accessible. Your actual storefront may fully meet the ADA requirements. However, the court might insist that you and your staff undergo ADA training.
Consider how a 2012 update rendered the website inaccessible to screen readers, leading to a lawsuit against Seattle Public Schools. The school had to settle and spent about $750,000 on an accessibility coordinator, ADA staff training, lawyers’ fees, website upgrades, and website maintenance.

How Can Law Firms Make Their Website ADA Compliant?

It’s best if you kept some factors in mind to make your law firm’s website ADA compliant. They are –

1. Optimized media: For videos, images, and audio files on your website, you must include alt tags or text descriptions incorporated into the website’s source code. Screen reader websites can read and describe the content of your website, which people with visual impairments frequently use.

2. Simple, User-friendly Website: An essential practice for law firm websites is to have a simple, user-friendly design accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. The elements of your website, such as the menus, links, and everything else in between, should be simple to understand and use.

3. HTML standard tags: This is an essential requirement for ADA compliance. For people with disabilities to easily read or hear the contents of your webpage, everything should be available in plain-text format.

4. Navigability with a Keyboard: Many disregard the ability to navigate a website using only the keyboard. But many people with disabilities won’t be able to use the website without this feature.

Conclusion

Nowadays, website accessibility for law firms is a pressing issue, but many often tend to disregard it as they are not knowledgeable enough about it. So here we shared everything you need to know about web accessibility for law firms.

Hope this article has informed you about the importance of hiring an ADA compliance company ASAP! Thanks for reading up till now.

Posted on By Author content@adaforweb.com Categories Articles

Web Accessibility Guidelines For People With Disabilities

If you happen to be an owner of a website then chances are you are losing customers who are disabled because your website might not be accessible for them. So you need to make sure that your website is as inclusive as possible. To help you make your website accessible to all, this article will talk about how you can ADA for websites.

Using appropriate text size, color, a simple interface, and alt tags can make the web accessible for people with disabilities. It is not just a law but also a great marketing strategy.

Your websites are visited by a lot of people with different disabilities daily. Without proper accessibility, you might lose potential customers and even fail to provide service equally to all. Let us have a look at some web accessibility guidelines for disabled people.

Guidelines To Make Website Accessible For Disabled People

The ADA for websites makes it easier to ensure equality and accessibility for all people. Your website should follow the ADA guidelines to make yours an ADA accessibility company. Here are some ways to make your website accessible to disabled people.

Color Contrast And Text Size

Old people or people with visual impairments might find it difficult to access your website if it has fancy color contrast and text size. If your background is dark, you should consider having your content written in a light color so that it’s easier to read for users.

In the case of text size, if your content is written in a small size like 8, 10, it’s very difficult for users with disabilities to read it. A minimum of 14 for text size is recommended by the experts to make the content accessible to all.

Alt tags

Alternative tags are some letters inside the code when you design a website. It helps people with visual problems or disabilities to hear what the image is by using a machine. So make sure to include alt tags on your website to provide a better service to your visitors with disabilities.

Subtitles

Now, videos are just pictures, but what good does it do if you can’t hear what it is saying? Using subtitles or captions in videos makes it easier for people with hearing imparities to know about the video.
It also helps people who have visual imparities to hear what the video is about. The screen reader reads it out for them, offering them a better understanding.

Simple Interface

A fancy or complex interface design makes it hard for people with disabilities to access the website. A simple and easy-to-use interface provides a better experience for all users who visit the website.

You can enlarge any clickable assets on your website to make it easier for people with physical disabilities to navigate. It is hard for them to navigate to smaller assets that need good accuracy using the mouse.

Optimization

Optimization is the process of making websites, mobile apps, and online games compatible
with screen readers for all users. Screen readers are software programs that assist people with disabilities in interacting with technology. For example, a screen reader will read all text on your website and even show Web pages as they were designed to appear to the user.

Screen readers can also work with mobile apps that have cameras, GPS functionality, and other features that may not be accessible to blind users.

Formatting

Formatting is the process of making websites compatible with alternative keyboards and alternative mice to accommodate people with disabilities. Alternative keyboards are used by individuals who have a hard time typing on a regular keyboard.

Different types of alternative keyboards include ones that work on touchscreens or those that use head-motion technology. Alternative mice provide the user a way to control the cursor on the computer screen or mobile device.

Tools

There are different tools available to check if your website offers access to people with disabilities. Different tools provide different services and are best for certain purposes. Make sure you choose the right one and check your website accessibility for people with disabilities. We also have an ADA website compliance checklist to help you figure out if your website is ada compliant.

Conclusion

Making your website accessible for handicapped people is a must, not only for the sake of the law but also for your responsibility. It makes sure every person, despite their disabilities, can access your website and meet their needs.

Now that you are done reading this article, you should know about ADA for websites. Thanks for stopping by!

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