ADA Website Compliance: An Introduction for Business & Law Firms

ADA Website Compliance: An Introduction for Business & Law Firms

In this era of technology, website accessibility is crucial for attracting new consumers, ensuring good service, and retaining customers in the long run. ADA for websites is a tool that makes websites accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.  At the same time, ADA web design will enhance the outlook of your website.

When it comes to business and law firms, websites are a major asset. This is because, with the right website, these firms can take their operational excellence a notch higher. Similarly, if the websites are not adequately accessible, the business will suffer negative consequences. For this reason, businesses and law firms need ADA website compliance.

What Is ADA Website Compliance?

ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design. It is a web accessibility development tool that focuses on making electronic information accessible to people with disabilities. ADA compliance ensures a specific set of tools to provide your websites with these accessible features.

It is a great way to ensure web accessibility remediation for your websites. That means when your websites are ADA accessible, all users, regardless of their disability, can enjoy your services without hassle. Without ADA compliance, you exclude a large majority of disabled people from using the features of your websites.

ADA compliance is not just a tool to make your website look better. It is an obligatory function that must be present on your websites. Following ADA accessibility is a court-mandated order for all federal organizations and firms. So, following ADA website accessibility means that you are following the civil law of the country.

How Can Business And Law Firms Have ADA Accessible Websites?

The best way for business and law firms to have ADA-accessible websites is to follow the ADA compliance checklist. This includes providing some specific tools and features on your website. So, make sure to follow the ADA compliance website checklist to make your website ADA accessible.

The ADA website checklist includes using alt text for pictures. That is, when your website has multiple images and infographics, alt text will help your audience understand them. Similarly, ADA accessibility requires using the correct fonts, themes, and color contrast. Your fonts should not be too difficult to read for screen readers.

ADA-accessible websites will need to use proper headlines and sub-points. This helps readers navigate through extensive content with various information. ADA web design also requires you to use ARIA landmarks like “Skip”, “Jump To”, etc. buttons. Additionally, the website should be keyboard-accessible to benefit people with assistive technologies.

You must conduct a web accessibility audit to get a better understanding of what your website needs. For this, you can get some expert help. Many web accessibility companies can perform these audits. They can also help you with accessible website development for your organization.

Hence, in these ways, you can get ADA-accessible websites for law firms and business organizations.

Why Business And Law Firms Need ADA Website Compliance

If you are new to the idea of ADA website compliance, you might be wondering why you should need it on your websites. There are several advantages to ensuring ADA accessibility on your company’s website. At the same time, without complying with ADA accessibility, your business and law firms may be subjected to different penalties.

When it comes to the advantages of ADA website compliance, there are many. For instance, you can ensure the best services to all your users when you have ADA compliance. This includes the large population of disabled people and users with various physical constraints. Hence, you get to reach a larger audience with ADA compliance.

As a result, you can ensure inclusivity to create a better brand image. Your website will be more likely to satisfy the customers and have better customer retention.

Similarly, with ADA-accessible websites, you get to avoid lawsuits and penalties. According to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, federal agents must have ADA-accessible websites. This includes law firms, accounting firms, CPA firms, etc. Your websites must be ADA accessible. Otherwise, you might face ADA lawsuits and penalties for your inaccessible websites.

Conclusion

ADA website compliance is an obligatory tool that ensures great service and a better user experience for your customers. So, businesses and law firms must abide by the ADA compliance requirements to improve their websites.

Contact us to learn more about ADA website compliance.

3 ADA Web Design Tactics That Will Help You Win In 2022

According to The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all websites must be accessible to people with disabilities. There are some accessible website development standards that almost all websites try to follow. But, adhering to the most recent ADA web design guidelines can help set your website apart,

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set website standards that comply with the ADA. As new versions of the WCAG come in, new tactics are available for site owners to use. In the most recent WCAG update, new standards for support appear. Alternatives to media, visual ease, and language support are three new tactics to follow.

For businesses and website owners, it is important to keep your site up-to-date with ADA web design. So, let’s look at the new updates for 2022 and three ways you can upgrade your site.

ADA Web Design Tactics In 2022
Beyond the standards of ADA web design, new and innovative features are coming to help those with disabilities. Accessible websites are taking notes from the 2021 version of the WCAG. While the guidine has many new features to add to your website, some standout.

In 2022, improvements in perception and comprehension aids were seen as well. Now, your website’s users should be able to get alternative media for videos, slides, and anything with a run-time. Additionally, color contrasts and support for users to understand visual information should improve.

Language accommodations are also an essential point. Those with cognitive disabilities or issues should be able to access things on the site despite any language barrier.

These only scratch the surface of new guidelines from the WCAG, but they are essential tactics to use in your website’s design.

1. Adding Alternatives For Time-Based Media

Time-based media is any form of audio-visual media that runs for a period. For example, a 4-minute video or a 2-minute PowerPoint presentation are both time-based media. Since these items are usually pre-recorded, the WCAG suggests adding pre-recorded alternatives.

Therefore, any pre-recorded time-based media should have alternative text, alt audio, or other ways to use it. Regardless of how able your user is, they should be able to find alternative ways to access the time-based content on your website.

Here are some things to consider when adding media alternatives to your website.

● In audio, video, or mixed content – pre-recorded captions are a must
● In video or visual content, adding extended audio descriptions
● Pre-recorded sign language interpretation along with audio content

2. Adding Customizable Colors and Fonts on Essential Information
One thing that makes a huge difference in accessibility is for people to be able to adjust things for their ease. We are only familiar with high-contrast fonts and sizing changes in fonts for the disabled. But, a feature letting people adjust font contrast, colors, and sizes can make a difference in how accessible your site is.

Minimum contrasts and sizing requirements must be built into the websites for accessibility from the start. Here are some of the updated formatting guidelines from the WCAG. Following these guidelines will give you an upper hand in web accessibility.

● Maintaining a proper contrast ratio of 4:5:1 in most visual media
● Having the option of resizing any text without using any assistive tech up to 200% percent
● The essence of the information should be clearly visible, and the user can customize it according to their needs
● Background sounds can be adjusted in volume, and the user can turn it off

3. Making Language Accommodations
Language accommodation for an accessible website is not just about international languages. In fact, making the language easy to understand and customizable is also essential. There are a handful of things to consider when making language accommodations on your website.
Here are some features that you can add to your website to make it more readable for any user.

● The user can identify what language they are reading without any assistive tech and be able to translate it quickly.
● Abbreviations and unusual words should have descriptions available for those who need them.
● The user can change the reading level of the text in case of any cognitive issue or hard-to-read material.
● The website has features available to help the user identify the pronunciation of words that can mean differently depending on the context.

Conclusion
Accessible website development is getting more and more comprehensive every day. Since following ADA web design rules helps more users access your content, investing in improving its accessibility will work in your favor.