Web and internet application accessibility is a hot topic now. Even though it was necessary to make the websites and mobile applications compliant with the unique needs of people with disabilities, it was never followed diligently. However, many consumers have filed many cases against non-compliance of accessibility by many providers lately. All the court rulings favored the complainants that accessibility is a legally mandated need.
The Federal law regulating accessibility is the Americans with Disabilities Act 1970. So, if you own a website or planning to build one, it is essential to ensure accessibility compliance. The standard for accessibility compliance, as referred to by the courts, is the WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
- Accessibility check – AccessiBe
AccessiBe is a well-known name in accessibility compliance, which serves many clients in terms of doing the accessibility audit and taking appropriate measures to ensure compliance for their clients. There should be an audit to ensure compliance, and regular checks should be performed on the websites. This can be done in different ways as manually or with automated tools.
Monitoring and maintaining accessibility is quite an effort, which may require the assistance of an expert provider if you keep many websites and online assets. For example, you can manually check the site’s navigation and its structure. You can also use the HTML testing tools to find the code vulnerabilities that may tamper with the objective of accessibility.
- Manual audit of accessibility
In this approach, experts check for the accessibility violations of the websites. This is done by navigating through web pages manually using the keyboard and identifying the content or tabs that cannot be engaged through the keyboard. Use screen readers to determine if the website content can be appropriately interpreted and the controls accessed. Checking media to see if the alt text and closed captions are done well. Visually inspect the media files to see if there is no flashy content that may cause epilepsy. It is also essential to run the website on different devices and browsers to see if appropriate resizing happens and if seamless performance is ensured.
- Automated audit of accessibility
It is suggested that manual testing is always better than automated testing to ensure accessibility compliance. However, there is also a chance for some human errors when there is a need for huge-volume testing. Web content with constant additions and updates may make errors in terms of digital accessibility. There are many testing automation tools to check the code and scope of the web pages to ensure compliance.
AccessiBe offers both automation and manual auditing for accessibility compliance. The experts will make a comprehensive plan for audit and correction of accessibility discrepancies and assure that the website is made fully accessible as per the WCAG standards. The websites that are not compliant with ADA will lose their position in search engines and have a chance to be penalized in the future, so it is high time that the website owners ensure accessibility compliance of your website and, if not compliant, take necessary actions.