An attractive website with valuable content is a must for every business these days. It helps you reach new customers and market your products and services in the best possible way.
However, one of the most critical things to remember when designing a website is ADA compliance (Americans with Disabilities Act). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 26% of Americans have some sort of disability. Accessing the internet is challenging for people with disabilities due to physical limitations, vision problems, and other factors.
It is the reason the government passed the Americans with Disabilities Act about 32 years ago. It was made to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in public places, the employment sector, etc. However, Internet users weren’t subject to these rules until 2010.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice passed ADA Standards for Accessible Design. This decree states all electronic and information technology, including websites, must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Therefore, the question arises regarding how to make your website ADA compliant. Well, that is going to be our point of discussion today. So let’s get started:
Table of Contents
6 Ways to Make Your Website ADA Compliant
Is your website ADA compliant or not? The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) mention specific guidelines on making a website ADA compliant. You can always check it out to ensure you follow the guidelines.
Here are six WCAG recommendations for making your site ADA-appropriate.
1. Activate Keyboard Navigation
People who cannot use a mouse or prefer not to do so may navigate a computer via the keyboard. The keyboard is also essential for other assistive technologies, such as voice recognition and screen reading.
For this reason, you should have keyboard navigation on your website to help disabled people navigate it and make it ADA-compliant.
The Enter and Esc keys for opening and closing dropdown menus are among the standard keyboard navigation tools. Using the ‘Tab’ key, users can navigate between the elements of the page.
2. Include a Description for Each Image
Images on a website are crucial to conveying information, but blind people can’t see them. You can efficiently resolve this issue by adding ‘alt text’ to all images.
With the alternative text, you can describe the image in detail so that people using screen readers can understand what the image intends to convey. On-page SEO now considers keyword-rich alt text as one of the essential elements for optimizing a website for search engines.
3. Offer an Alternative to Audio
Surfing the web can present different obstacles for people with hearing loss than those who are blind or visually impaired.
It would be helpful if you could write transcripts for the audio, allowing the deaf to read the text while watching a video. YouTube videos now mostly come with subtitles, so you might not need to write the text yourself for your video.
Besides, you can use sign language interpretation for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
4. Avoid Content That Might Trigger Seizures
For those with epilepsy and other medical conditions, flashing elements should not exceed three times per second.
Some web technologies can trigger seizures or other incapacitating physical reactions. These include videos, animations in GIFs, PNGs, and SVGs, Canvas, and CSS or JavaScript animations.
Even though specific visual patterns are not animated, some, like stripes, may cause severe physical reactions. Keep these in mind when designing a website or adding new content.
5. Use ADA compliance plugins on WordPress
If your site is based on WordPress, you can easily become ADA-compliant.
Several ADA compliance plugins are available for WordPress, including Accessibility Suite and WP Accessibility Helper. The plugins can audit your website and provide visitors with tools to assist them in making your site accessible.
Please make sure you are familiar with a plugin’s features, reviews, and costs before installing them.
6. Consider Your Website Font Size, Headers, Labels
Many disabled people need help seeing things clearly and reading small fonts, headers, and labels. Therefore, ensure that your website’s Fonts & Labels are large enough for them to see easily.
Final Thoughts
ADA compliance is a critical issue that websites can’t afford to ignore. You will favor yourself and your customers by making your website accessible to disabled people.
By following the six valuable tips we have just discussed, you can easily make your website ADA compliant and accessible to everyone.
