Website accessibility lawsuits against different businesses are increasingly becoming common, with California ahead of the other states. One in four adults in the US is currently living with some sort of disability. So it is good to be mindful of everyone when setting up your website. For this reason, the Americans with Disabilities Act exists. You may wonder, “What is ADA website compliance?” and “How does it affect you as a website owner?”
The ADA mandates inclusion in everything we do and build. Your website, therefore, has to be ADA and Website Accessibility compliant, to avoid any ADA website compliance lawsuit.
As a business owner, California website ADA compliance is crucial. This article covers the basics but Three29 can conduct a full audit and help you improve your website’s standing.
What is ADA Website Compliance California?
ADA compliance for website accessibility means your website should be in step with the set guidelines by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Is ADA compliance mandatory for websites? Yes. If you are running a website, it should have modalities in place that make it easy for people with different types of disabilities to access the information and services you are hosting on your website.
You also need to be aware of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set in place by the W3C. These standards all work together to help make content accessible across different websites.
The California ADA website compliance has gone a step further to recognize the Unruh Act. The Unruh Act expects all individuals in California to be treated equally. If you’re not ADA compliant, you also violate the Unruh Act.
Requirements for Website Accessibility and ADA Compliance
You may be wondering, “What is ADA website compliance?” If your business operates more than 20 weeks in a year and has 15 full-time employees, you are required, under ADA law, to comply.
On the other hand, the World Wide Web Consortium came up with a three-tier system to help with accessibility benchmarking. The tiers are:
1st – Level A, which means your website will be accessible to some users
2nd – Level AA, implies your web pages are accessible to a majority of users
3rd – Level AAA, the top tier, indicates your website can be accessed by all users
Is My Website ADA Compliant?
To determine whether your site is in line with California website ADA compliance, take a look at five crucial areas. These are:
Text Alternatives
Some visually impaired people may not be able to make out photos; therefore, including accompanying text will give them context as to what’s happening. A hard-of-hearing person may have difficulties understanding videos without captions and transcriptions.
Visual Ease
A high-contrast website makes it easier for people to discern different elements on your website. Bold text and font size adjustments mean people can type, read, and interact with your website.
Keyboard Support
Many take this for granted. But some people can’t use a mouse or some other type of pointing device. Making your web pages easy to use with only a keyboard can be of great help.
ARIA Landmarks
Accessible Rich Internet Applications make your website accessible to people with various kinds of disabilities. They offer assistive technologies such as screen readers to comb through your website with ease.
Accessibility Tools
Using accessibility tools like screen readers can give you insights into areas your website needs improvement, thus ending up with a user-friendly website.
Does your website possess the above features? If not, you may need a professional to go through your website to determine how best to move forward.
How Three29 Conducts a Website Audit
An audit will be done on your site using an ADA compliance website checker. These checks will help determine how your website is performing, the issues affecting it, as well as the opportunities for improvement.
During the process, the ADA compliance website audit will run your website against a baseline of WCAG 2.1 AA standards. From there, the audit will indicate the issues plaguing your site and then present a way forward.
After the audit, the Three29 team will give suggestions and, best of all, be able to implement changes quickly.
A different approach is to get a website audit is to have it done manually with an ADA compliance website checklist. The cost will be determined by the number of pages on your website, their complexity, the current state of accessibility, and more.
Get the ADA Website Compliance Audit You Deserve
With your understanding of what is ADA website compliance from this article, the next step is to have an ADA website compliance audit. Reach out to us, Three29, today.
Why choose Three29? Because we have reliable site audit tools and we will prioritize adjustments based on their impact. Further, we are happy to set up an ADA website compliance audit and offer solutions based on your site’s results.
