Heads Up!

Your Site May Be Illegal
You are probably thinking that there is no way your site could be illegal…unless great content is against the law. 😉 Ok, sorry, I had to fit that in there. Anyway, when you create a site, you are probably thinking about user accessibility. How will the user navigate my pages? Is this text easy to read? Will this be mobile-friendly?

But how often do you think about those who have a disability accessing your page? To be truthful, I didn’t think about this issue until I came across the new guidelines for the American Disability Act Compliance. The American Disability Act came into effect in 1990 and protects those with disabilities from being discriminated against when it comes to public access. This includes “blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movements, speech disabilities, photo-sensitivity, etc.”

With the rise of web usage (the word rise being used as an understatement), ADA Compliance is becoming more and more applicable – not only to physical locations, but the web as well. In fact, if any business that is considered to be for the “general public” is not ADA compliant, they can be subject to legal action. Just ask the Winn Dixie grocery store, who was recently served with a lawsuit because their site violated the act.

In order to make your site is ADA compliant, you need to make sure that those viewing your site can use assistive technologies if they need to. For example, those with vision issues may use a screen reader (that reads site content aloud to them) to navigate around a site. This means all links and graphics must be explained in alternative text (but we will get more into that in a later post).

As scary and complicated as it may sound, there are some great tools out there to help you make your site accessible to all. That blog post will come later, but for now, let’s breeze over the basic guidelines of the ADA Compliance. If you visit the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), it can be a little dense. But as long as you remember these four points, you will be way ahead of the accessibility game.

Perceivable

The “perceivable” guideline requires that information on your site must be presentable in ways users can perceive. This may sound arbitrary, but it really just means that all users should be able to understand and interpret your content. For instance, if someone is using a screen reader to read the site content aloud to them, pictures without captions can hinder their navigation – if the pictures are integral to the site. Here are some ways to ensure your site is perceivable:

  • Text alternatives for non-text content
  • So it can be changed into other forms that people may need (large print, braille, speech, symbols, or simpler language)
  • Explaining media – graphics, sensory details, “action needed items”
  • Decoration only items can be ignored by assistive technology

Operable

The “operable” guideline requires that user interface components and navigation must be operable. This means users should be able to navigate through your site effortlessly and without confusion. In some cases, this means allowing adjustable settings on your site so users can make necesscary accomodations. A few of things accomodations include:

  • Allow keyboard accessibility
  • Allow user to turn off, adjust, extend time-limited content OR allow enough time for reading
  • Navigable – provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are
    • page titles describing where they are
    • link text can be determined from text alone
    • headings and labels

Understandable

The “understandable” guideline is essentially just what it sounds like: information and site content must be understandable for every user. In order for content to be understood by all users, here are some recommendations for your site:

  • Allow settings to change language of text
  • Most language except for proper nouns, words/phrases that have become vernacular
  • Explaining jargon, abbreviations, unusual words
  • Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways
  • Input assistance
    • Help users avoid and correct mistakes
    • Labels and instructions
    • Error suggestion and prevention for data fields

Robust

The “robust” guideline is simple: content must be compatible with different browsers and tools, including assistive technologies. In layman’s terms, don’t put content on your site that relies on a specific piece of software or technology. For example, if you link to a Pages document on your site, it will only be compatible with Apple products. Your viewers that use PC’s will not have the same access to your Apple-specific content.  There are no specific tips for this guideline except to be mindful of your content and ensure that it is accessible to all users. 

 

Conclusion

I know this is a lot of information, but the major takeaway from this post is that we should all make an effort to make our sites ADA Compliant. Now that we are mindful of other users, we can make our sites accessible to all. Not only is it illegal in a public space, but it is the right thing to do. If have any questions about how to make your site ADA compliant, please let us know in the comment box below.