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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.

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.

ADA Website Compliance: An Introduction for Business & Law Firms
Posted on By Author ADA Support Categories FAQ

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.

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.

Here’s A Quick Way To Solve Web Accessibility Remediation
Posted on By Author content@adaforweb.com Categories Articles

Here’s A Quick Way To Solve Web Accessibility Remediation

Website accessibility remediation is a term that can appear to be complicated and intimidating. You’ve probably encountered some video game professionals or expert Google employees who use it in their conversations but have no idea what it means.

Simply put, it defines a simple idea: the procedure for ensuring that everyone, regardless of any impairment, can visit your site without any issues. In other words, remediating difficulties with online accessibility also entails ensuring compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, among others.

These laws mandate organizations to accommodate disabled individuals in a fair manner. If you wish to know more about this topic before consulting an ADA accessibility company, keep reading!

Why Does Web Accessibility Remediation Matter?

Eliminating obstacles to accessibility for those with disabilities is referred to as website accessibility remediation. If your website satisfies all WCAG requirements, you are successful in remedying it in the digital world. There are four key reasons why web accessibility remediation is so necessary. They are 0

1. Promotes Equality
One widespread misconception most have is that website accessibility guidelines are only for visually or hard of hearing people. However, around 1 billion people worldwide have some form of disability, and there are many different ways for them to access the internet.
By concentrating on four key principles, accessible websites provide a better user experience for all users: content should be operable, understandable, perceivable, and reliable. Your website or mobile app can have a much wider audience and promote if you take an accessible stance. You wouldn’t need to make any technological adjustments for every way people access your content.

2. Promotes User-Friendly Experience
We can improve usability and frequently produce a more enhanced user experience when we take accessibility into account when designing our online content. Online content that complies with accessibility standards is more user-friendly overall. Accessible design can also benefit people without disabilities, especially if they find themselves in constrained circumstances like:
● When watching a noisy or quiet video, read the captions.
● In a bright or dark room, adjusting the screen’s brightness
● Reading a presentation’s transcript to reaffirm the lessons learned
● When the mouse is not functioning, navigating the site using a keyboard

3. Legal And Moral Obligation
Laws and regulations in numerous nations mandate website accessibility. It would still be valuable even if those laws didn’t exist, but many companies have started prioritizing users with disabilities to stay out of trouble. Some prominent laws requiring digital accessibility include –
● The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of the United States and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (AODA).
● Web Accessibility Directive and European Accessibility Act of the European Union (EAA).

How To Design Your Website To Follow Website Accessibility Remediation?

It is critical to design your website to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. If you want to make your website accessible to everyone regardless of their abilities, follow the simple guidelines below –

1. Check Whether Your Website Supports Keyboard Navigation.
Keyboard navigation is one of the main pillars of developing an accessible website. Users should have the option to navigate your website without using a mouse for the site to be considered accessible.
Many assistive technologies rely on keyboard-only navigation. So you must ensure that users can browse and navigate your website with a keyboard, including going to pages, clicking links, and others.

2. Incorporate High-contrast Colors

Many users have visual impairments and may have difficulty reading texts if the color contrast is low. As a result, it’s best to use highly-contrasting colors like black and red or black and white.
The color contrast on your site should ensure that everything on your website is distinguishable. For example, the text should be prominent rather than disappear into the background.

3. Provide Alt Text
If you use an image, video, or audio content on your website, you should include alternative or alt text to describe the content. Alt text can help any visiting user understand your website’s content even if they cannot see it properly using assistive technologies.
Another advantage of using alt text is that it can help your website rank higher in search engines. Additionally, it helps those who are browsing your website with a slow website.

4. Structure and Organize Content Using Heading Hierarchies.
It is possible to make your content easier to read by dividing it into smaller sections. Using lists and headlines to organize all the info on your pages can help improve web accessibility.
Clear headings can assist screen readers in comprehending and interpreting your pages. Headlines also aid in-page navigation and allow users who use assistive technologies to browse your page’s content.

What Is the Best Way To Solve Web Accessibility Remediation?
Occasionally, there are multiple ways to deal with an accessibility issue. Every possible solution might be WCAG compliant. But one might offer a better user experience for people with disabilities or lower development costs by keeping your code simple.
The simplest solution might be the best option, but you must always consider actual users’ experiences. You can assess each problem and develop the best solution with the aid of an accessibility partner with experience. Hiring an expert for this job would be your best bet to find the easiest and most reliable solution to web accessibility remediation.

Conclusion
Everything can seem too complex if you’ve been searching for a web accessibility remediation solution for your website but don’t know where to start. So we provided a simple guide for you to get started before you decide to seek help from a professional ADA accessibility company.
We hope the article gives you a clear idea about where to start. Thanks for reading till now.

Advantages To Hiring The Best Web Accessibility Company
Posted on By Author content@adaforweb.com Categories Articles

Advantages To Hiring The Best Web Accessibility Company

Since the internet is now our primary source of support and there are increasing concerns about accessibility, online accessibility is one of the fundamental elements. So, if your website is not geared up yet, web accessibility remediation is critical. And for that, you may need the help of the best web accessibility company.

A good web accessibility company can ensure your website remains fool-proof in terms of being universally accessible. Making refinements and educated decisions, transparency in opinions, and updated knowledge make them essential to your site’s development. Using any subpar company’s help may make the site fall short and cause your loss.

So, to ensure you get the best service possible, the best company is worth the shot. Let’s explore web accessibility and why you should only go for the best service.

The Importance Of Web Accessibility
Web accessibility is the set of features that make the user experience of a website more accessible. In other words, your website becomes universally accessible due to web accessibility. Consequently, more people can use your website, helping you and the users by driving new audiences to it.

While ensuring accessibility may seem like a task to finish efficiently, it requires experience and attention. An accessible website should let any user use it without running into a problem. Whether the user is non-disabled or disabled, it should not matter since the accessible web page will provide the tools they need to utilize the website.

When the channels are open for every user to use your website effortlessly, it is easy to say the site’s appeal will increase. Current search engine system algorithms prioritize an accessible website over a less accessible one. So, suppose your website is not catering to a new demographic already. In that case, Google and other search engines will ensure it pops up more often.

Why Should You Hire the Best Web Accessibility Company?

Companies that work specifically on web accessibility and accessibility remediation have the resources to optimize your site as well as possible. Now, there can be degrees to how much they can do for your website. It depends on experience and the available resources. Since you want your website to be 100% accessible, only the best web accessibility company should work on it.

Here are some advantages of consulting with a web accessibility service with the best profile.

Experience
Experience is the most crucial concern in any service – especially in ensuring accessibility. Any well-experienced web accessibility company will ensure IAAP certification, familiarity with niche user experience tools, and reliable work.

The best web accessibility service will have technically trained professionals down to a T and take their job to heart. However, you will not have to wonder whether they are prepared enough to handle your website. They will know where to fix and refine it without your extensive guidance.

Testing Tools And Resources
Every accessibility service needs equipment to test and prove that the accessibility remediation has worked. With better services, you can rely on them to have top-notch accessibility tools and a dedication to meeting their standards.

Aside from automated testing tools, they also work on functional testing. Functional testing is the first-hand experience of a disabled person using your website. Since functional testing is hard to arrange and manage, only dedicated and trustworthy web accessibility services invest their time.

Expert Opinions
When you are working on making the user’s experience better, it is critical to consider all opinions. Not only are your opinions important, but so are the consultants’ views—and most significantly, those of the disabled users.
The best web accessibility services consider all opinions and work on accessibility, layout, and a neat experience for every user. Therefore, your website does not have to be flat or generic to only make room for accessibility — it will also give a pleasant experience.

Updated Features And Packages
The best web accessibility services offer comprehensive packages that ensure you do not have to worry about any part of the project going amiss. You can choose packages with more updated features in terms of accessibility tools and extra bits according to your budget.

While subpar services may compromise on up-to-date features, the better ones will not. They understand the need for the highest accessibility possible for a website and will make it so.

Conclusion
Web accessibility remediation services offer clients some of the most critical web development services. Hence, research and choose the best web accessibility company for optimizing your website.

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