An ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant website will make the online experience accessible to people with disabilities. This means, the website must be accessible by visually impaired users, website content must be appropriate for screen-readers, links in the website must be descriptive and the site must be easily accessible through a keyboard.

If you already have a website, you might think that making the website ADA compliant must be difficult. It’s not! You have to work with a web design and development company that has a strong understanding of the rules and the ability to apply it in the coding and design process.

In this blog, we will explore all the factors that will make a website ADA compliant. This will be helpful for marketers, website owners and everyone who has a stake in the digital world.

What is ADA?

The law has a wide scope and applies to many areas such as state and local government, public and private spaces, employment, building codes, transportation and telecommunication.

ADA is the reason why there are lots of things like disabled parking requirements, wheelchair ramps and more.

Title III of the ADA rules states that “private entities that are considered places of public accommodation” to make “reasonable modifications” to the usual ways they do things so that disabled people will also get better access to the goods or services a business provides.

When ADA was initially enacted, access barriers were translated to literal barriers like a disabled person not being able to enter a physical store because of stairs.

In 2010, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a new notice to Title III which stated that ADA will apply to website accessibility too.

The DOJ’s intention was to,

Why Should Your Website Be ADA Compliant?

Here are some of the major benefits of making your website ADA compliant.

• Increase the size of your target audience (The US alone has 40 million people with some sort of disability)
• Improve your SEO efforts
• Get positive press for your website
• Disabled Access Credit can be claimed by small businesses to balance the cost incurred to make the site ADA compliant
• Gives an opportunity to write better content, cleaner code and include a better user interface
• Avoid legal troubles

How To Develop or Make Your Website ADA Compliant?

In August 2016, a lawsuit was filed against the University of California Berkeley because they did not include proper captions in their YouTube channel’s videos for hearing impaired patients. Finally, the DOJ found out that this was violating ADA Title II rules (similar to Title III, but applicable to government organizations) laws as deaf users too had equal access to online content.

The DOJ asked UC Berkeley to follow The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

“Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of providing a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.”

WCAG is classified into 4 basic principles. From the quick reference link of W3C, we have compiled the information for your easy understanding. To get detailed information about the guidelines under each principle, click here.

Also Read

Web Design Blogs Every Designer Must Follow

Principle 1: Perceivable

Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

Here are the guidelines of Principle 1.

Guidelines	Description
Text Alternatives	Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
Time-based Media	Provide alternatives for time-based media.
Adaptable	Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
Distinguishable	Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background

Principle 2: Operable

User interface components and navigation must be operable.

Here are the guidelines of Principle 2.

Guidelines	Description
Keyboard Accessible	Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
Enough Time	Provide users enough time to read and use content.
Seizures and Physical Reactions	Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures or physical reactions.
Navigable	Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
Input Modalities	Make it easier for users to operate functionality through various inputs beyond keyboard.

Principle 3: Understandable

Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable

Here are the guidelines of Principle 3.

Guidelines	Description
Readable	Make text content readable and understandable.
Predictable	Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
Input Assistance	Help users avoid and correct mistakes

Principle 4: Robust

Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Here are the guidelines of Principle 4.

Guidelines	Description
Compatible	Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

International Web Accessibility Laws

Here are some of the international web accessibility laws

Country	Law name	Enacted Year	More Information	WCAG Standard Used	Must Be Followed By
Argentina	Law 26,653 on accessibility of information on web pages	2010	Click here	WCAG 1.0	Public sector websites must meet WCAG 1.0.
Australia	Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)	1992	Click here	WCAG 2.0	Government websites should comply with WCAG 2.0 AA
Canada	Canadian Human Rights Act	1985	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Government websites should comply with WCAG 2.0 AA
China	Voluntary Web Accessibility Standard	2008	Click here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Agencies, ministries and other governmental entities must comply with a WCAG 2.0 derivative
Denmark	Agreement on the use of open standards for software in the public sector	2007	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Public sector
European Union	Web and Mobile Accessibility Directive	2016	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for all EU commission websites
Finland	Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector	2003	Click Here	-	Required for government websites
France	Law N° 2005-102 Article 47	2005	Click Here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Required for all EU commission websites
Germany	Federal Ordinance on Barrier-Free Information Technology	2011	Click Here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Government websites should comply with WCAG 2.0
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China	Guidelines on Dissemination of Information through Government Websites	1999	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Government websites should comply with WCAG 2.0
India	Guidelines for Indian Government Websites	2009	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Government websites should comply with WCAG 2.0
Ireland	Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2004	2004	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for government websites
Israel	Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, as amended	1998	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Agencies, ministries and other governmental entities must comply with a WCAG 2.0 derivative
Italy	Law 9 January 2004, n. 4 "Provisions to support the access of disabled people to IT tools" (Stanca Law)	2004	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for government websites
Netherlands	Policy in the Netherlands	2016	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for government websites
New Zealand	Online Practice Guidelines	2013	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for government websites
Norway	Regulations on universal design of ICT	2013	Click Here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Required for government websites
Republic of Korea	Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities	2008	Click Here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Public and private sector use a WCAG 2.0 derivative
Switzerland	Federal Law on the Elimination of Inequalities for Persons with Disabilities, as amended	2002	-	WCAG 2.0	Public sector and private sector
Taiwan	Web Accessibility Guidelines 2.0	2017	Click Here	WCAG 2.0 derivative	Public sector
United Kingdom	Equality Act	2010	Click Here	WCAG 2.0	Required for government websites. Other websites have to comply with the Equality Act but, technical standards are not providers

Top Web Accessibility Testing Tools

Here are some of the top accessibility tools on the web. Click here to get a list of testing tools that are recommended by W3.org.

Tool	About	Link
DYNO Mapper	Test the accessibility of public or private websites	Click here
Bureau of Internet Accessibility	Contains tools, reports and services to help companies and organizations to maintain site’s accessibility and integrity	Click here
Automated Accessibility Testing Tool	A PayPal product provides that offers accessibility API as well as other custom web applications for HTML CodeSniffer	Click here
Accessibility Checker	Helps to inspect the accessibility level of content	Click here
Accessibility Checklist	Provides an easy way to review the most recent and relevant web accessibility guidelines	Click here
Accessibility Viewer	A Windows' inspection tool that displays accessibility API information	Click here
AChecker	Checks single HTML pages for conformance with accessibility standards	Click here
Axe Chrome Extension	Evaluate web accessibility within the Chrome browser	Click here
WAVE Chrome Extension	Evaluate web accessibility within the Chrome browser	Click here
Bookmarklets	Uses JavaScript to highlight roles, states, and properties of accessibility elements on the page	Click here
CKSource	Inspect the accessibility of created content and resolve any issues at once	Click here
Cynthia Says	Identify the web accessibility compliance errors in your site	Click here
FireEyes	Helps to build accessibility into your development process	Click here
HiSoftware Compliance Sherrif Web	Helps to enforce web accessibility guidelines on public web sites, portals and intranets	Click here
HTML CodeSniffer	Detects violations of a defined coding standard and checks HTML documents	Click here
Monsido Web Governance Platform	Finds and helps to fix website accessibility issues	Click here
Pa11y	Has open source tools to help designers and developers make their web pages more accessible	Click here
PowerMapper	One-click web site testing tool used by many reputed agencies to test accessibility	Click here
Tenon	Tools, testing and training materials related to website accessibility	Click here
Total Validator	Checks if the site has used proper HTML and CSS, has no broken links, and is free from spelling mistakes	Click here
WorldSpace	Retrieve and evaluate the entire website for accessibility	Click here

ADA Compliance and Accessibility Checklist

The best way to make your website ADA compliant is to adhere to both A and AA conformance levels. If you want your website to be available to a vast majority of users, then it must abide by the AAA level criteria. Keep in mind that a full AAA conformance is impossible for some website content.

Additionally, there is a confusion prevailing on whether to follow WCAG 2.1 or WCAG 2.0. W3C says, “WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 are both existing standards. WCAG 2.1 does not deprecate or supersede WCAG 2.0. We encourage you to use the most recent version of WCAG when developing or updating content or accessibility policies.”

We have organized the WCAG 2.1 (latest version) checklist based on 3 conformance levels. If you follow them, you can easily make your website accessible to everyone.

• Level 1 Conformance – For A, web pages must satisfy all the success criteria to reach Level A
• Level 2 Conformance – For AA, web pages must satisfy all the success criteria in Level A and Level AA
• Level 3 Conformance – For AAA, web pages must satisfy all the success criteria in Level A, Level AA and Level AAA

1. WCAG 2.1 Checklist for Conformance Level A

Guideline	Additional Information
Non-text Content	Click here
Audio-only and Video-only (prerecorded)	Click here
Captions (prerecorded)	Click here
Audio Description or Media Alternative (prerecorded)	Click here
Info and Relationships	Click here
Meaningful Sequence	Click here
Sensory Characteristics	Click here
Use of Color	Click here
Audio Control	Click here
Keyboard	Click here
No Keyboard Trap	Click here
Character Key Shortcuts	Click here
Timing Adjustable	Click here
Pause, Stop, Hide	Click here
Three flashes or below threshold	Click here
Bypass Blocks	Click here
Page Titled	Click here
Focus Order	Click here
Link Purpose (In Context)	Click here
Pointer Gestures	Click here
Pointer Cancellation	Click here
Label in Name	Click here
Motion Actuation	Click here
Language of Page	Click here
On Focus	Click here
On Input	Click here
Error Identification	Click here
Labels or Instructions	Click here
Parsing	Click here
Name, Role, Value	Click here

Also Read

Outsourcing Website Development Services to One Vendor vs Multiple Vendors

2. WCAG 2.1 Checklist for Conformance Level AA

Guideline	Additional Information
Captions (Live)	Click here
Audio Description (Prerecorded)	Click here
Orientation	Click here
Identify Input Purpose	Click here
Contrast (Minimum)	Click here
Resize text	Click here
Images of Text	Click here
Reflow	Click here
Non-text Contrast	Click here
Text Spacing	Click here
Content on Hover or Focus	Click here
Multiple Ways	Click here
Headings and Labels	Click here
Focus Visible	Click here
Language of Parts	Click here
Consistent Navigation	Click here
Consistent Identification	Click here
Error Suggestion	Click here
Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data)	Click here
Status Messages	Click here

3. WCAG 2.1 Checklist for Conformance Level AAA

Guideline	Additional Information
Sign Language (Prerecorded)	Click here
Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded)	Click here
Media Alternative (Prerecorded)	Click here
Audio-only (Live)	Click here
Identify Purpose	Click here
Contrast (Enhanced)	Click here
Low or No Background Audio	Click here
Visual PresentationVisual Presentation	Click here
Images of Text (No Exception)	Click here
Keyboard (No Exception)	Click here
No Timing	Click here
Interruptions	Click here
Re-authenticating	Click here
Timeouts	Click here
Three Flashes	Click here
Animation from Interactions	Click here
Location	Click here
Link Purpose (Link Only)	Click here
Section Headings	Click here
Target Size	Click here
Concurrent Input Mechanisms	Click here
Unusual Words	Click here
Abbreviations	Click here
Reading Level	Click here
Pronunciation	Click here
Change on Request	Click here
Help	Click here
Error Prevention (All)	Click here

Checklist and Tips for Everyone Involved in Creating Web Experience

Roles	Additional information
Designers	Click here
Developers	Click here
Content Writers	Click here
Evaluators, Testers	Click here
Managers	Click here
Policy Makers	Click here
Trainers, Educators	Click here
Web Accessibility tutorials for developers, designers, web trainers, content authors and project managers	Click here

Additional Information

Here is some additional information to keep in mind.

Additional Information	Learn more
WCAG2ICT - For ICT managers, ICT developers, policymakers, and others wanting to understand how WCAG 2.0 can be applied to non-web documents and software	Click here
Conformance Logos - How to use logos?	Click here
Mobile Accessibility Standards - Applied to mobile web content, mobile web apps, native apps, and hybrid apps using web components inside native apps etc	Click here
Accessibility for people with cognitive and learning disabilities	Click here
WAI-ARIA - Helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies	Click here
Authoring tool accessibility guidelines	Click here
Developing organizational policies on web accessibility	Click here
A guide that outlines activities to help you integrate accessibility throughout the web production process	Click here

SEO Best Practices for ADA

SEO professionals must learn more about web accessibility because there are many areas in which web accessibility and SEO align.

For example, SEO best practices and WCAG guidelines both state that images should use descriptive alt texts.

So, SEO professionals must not only think about website optimization. They must also consider accessibility optimization.

Below, we have compiled some of the main best practices that every SEO professional must follow.

SEO Best Practice	Explanation
Image alt tags and captions	Images on the entire website must have an appropriate description of what the image depicts
Video transcription and tags	A readable transcript for audio-only media and video-only media is required. Additionally, add title, description, and keywords to the videos
PDFs	PDFs on your website must be fully accessible. Click here if you like to learn more about this.
Title tags	Title tags must be easily identifiable
Heading tags	Screen readers can easily access the structure of a page if there are proper heading tags
Link anchor text	Link anchor texts on your website must be descriptive. For example, in the ‘cliclick hereck here’ CTA, you must tell users to what you are linking to
On-site sitemaps, table of contents and breadcrumbs	A simple, outlined sitemap can help users to understand the content of the pages
Content ordering	Use semantic markup to give meaning to the web page
Size and color contrast of text	Try to maximize the contrast and readability of text

Which Industry Websites Must be Compliant With ADA?

We will tell you the industries that must be compliant with ADA. But, before that, let’s find out about the companies that violated the ADA compliance website rules and got into trouble.

Company	Industry	More Information
Amazon website failed to be accessible for screen readers	E-commerce	Click here
Netflix’s lack of closed captioning discriminated against deaf people	Entertainment	Click here
30 retail websites of Nike was sued because they did not follow ADA compliance protocols	Footwear	Click here
Domino’s website and mobile app was not accessible for people with disabilities	Food	Click here
50 colleges were sent ADA lawsuits over the accessibility of their websites.	Education	Click here
Beyonce Knowles' was sent an ADA lawsuit because her website was not accessible by visually impaired users	Entertainment	Click here
Travelocity settled with National Federation of the Blind to make their website fully accessible to people with disabilities	Travel	Click here
Hilton violated the ADA rules because it did not equal opportunity to reserve rooms online and over the telephone	Travel	Click here
Governor Cuomo’s agreement to provide accessible website banking	Bank	Click here
WellPoint, currently known as Anthem was sued because people with visual disabilities were not able to use the website	Healthcare	Click here

Click here to view the web accessibility-related lawsuits and settlements in the United States.

From the above list, it is evident that most of the major industries have faced ADA compliance issues.

According to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, “Nineteen percent of the U.S. population has a disability of some form, and many of them experience serious challenges when trying to research information, communicate with friends and family, and make purchases online.”

As a business, you have to provide easy access to consumers on what you offer. The ultimate goal of ADA is to provide an equal online experience to people with disabilities.

So, no matter the industry you are in, you have to provide a struggle-free online experience for all users.

Looking for Web Development Services?

Seize and experience the transformative impact of Web Development Services & Solutions with ColorWhistle.

Web Development Services

Digital Marketing Services

Winding-up

The first step in making your website ADA compliant is to choose the level of conformance you would like to achieve. Next, look into the criteria and see if your website matches those accessibility standards.

If you are looking for techniques to match the success criteria, you can keep our blog as a reference. On the other hand, if you rather outsource the work of making your website accessible, feel free to send a request to our ColorWhistle team anytime.

Disclaimer – This blog is not legal advice. For any legal advice related to ADA, you must contact a practicing lawyer. We have written this blog soley to educate the online community about the importance of website accessibility.