Ambitious organizations aim to deliver an engaging and speedy customer experience. However, many times website accessibility is not considered. Such a common omission, while usually not done with ill-intent, does create an issue from an ethical perspective. You can’t ignore the fact that one in five Americans have a disability – nor would you want to as many of these disabled people can be your future customers! And beyond the ethical considerations, it is also the law. That is why websites and apps should be designed to follow the website accessibility ADA guidelines.
What is The Website Accessibility Checklist?
An ADA compliance website checklist includes a list of rules or guidelines of dos or don’ts to improve the accessibility of your website or mobile app. You can utilize the assistance of website accessibility tools to make your web content more accessible.
What Is Website Accessibility?
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) states that the internet is a global platform that is fundamentally designed to function for people. It should be accessible to people who have certain types of disabilities like hearing, mobility, or other congenital disabilities. When your website is not designed to meet the needs of all types of people, it can stop them from using the internet. Therefore, it is a fundamental duty of every business to design their website according to the W3C web accessibility guidelines.
Website Accessibility: Fundamental Principles.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) introduced a code of conduct to support people with certain disabilities or impairments. After a short period of time, they again created a set of principles, known as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This series of principles support the improved accessibility of web products and services for people with disabilities.
Section 508:
According to Section 508, federal electronic content must be accessible to disabled people. Additionally, the websites should maintain the standards of 508 compliance so that whether you are a normal user or affected by recognized disabilities, you can access the online information.
Americans With Disabilities Act (1990):
The ADA Act provides support to individuals with physical or mental disabilities to offer them equal opportunity in public accommodations, state and local government services and telecommunications, transportation, and many more.
These acts were introduced to offer justice to people with disabilities, therefore organizations should also pay attention to the W3 guidelines when it comes to website accessibility.
Website Compliance Checklist:
Every organization should follow W3C’s website guidelines, given below;
- Screen-Reader Compatibility:
Webpages must be screen-reader friendly so that visitors with vision disabilities can read the content using electronic screen readers.
- Alt-tags For Images:
The alt tag offers information about the image. It offers great help to visually impaired users to recognize the images through the text or a screen reader.
- Alt-tags To The Tables:
If your website includes table contents on any web pages, they must have alt-tags to explain each column data via text. The users’ screen reader can read that text aloud explaining the contents of the table.
- Automation Scripts:
The beauty of Automatic Script is that it automates the process of writing alternatives with image mapping.
- Using Style Sheets:
Your web pages should contain readable style sheets for the users accessing websites through the screen readers.
- Accessible Forms:
Your website should contain accessible forms so that they are easily accessible to all people including those with disabilities. Web forms must be accessible without a mouse meaning each field should contain labels.
- Links To Text Fragments:
All plugins in your websites should work adequately. The link should be presented in text form.
- Inclusive Designs With Color Accessibility:
Each color of your website should be visually contrasted to the other colors otherwise it may cause confusion to individuals with color blindness.
- Keyboard Compatibility:
Your website should be keyboard-friendly, making it easy for the users to navigate who are unable to use the mouse.
Website accessibility ADA checklists help determine the accessibility of websites in various capacities. Most importantly, consider the users with disabilities, like how they will interact with the website using a screen reader. You can also take the assistance of professional organizations who make sure that your website should meet the accessibility guidelines to protect you from website lawsuits. Moreover, a website accessibility checker can help the website owners to test their websites whether they are designed according to the W3C guidelines or not.