Table of Contents
Legal Ramifications
SEO Considerations
Ethical and Brand Reputation Considerations
Design and Content Accessibility Tips
Accessibility to Meet the Needs of Different Users
Accessibility Testing and Evaluation Tools
Accessibility Plugins
How to Fix Website Accessibility
Benefits from Making Your Website Accessible
The other day, a client asked us about whether their website was required be accessible. While we are not lawyers nor legal scholars, we responded by saying that it is a good idea to ensure that your website is accessible. Why?
Legal Ramifications
Federal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, both require websites of certain entities, to be accessible to those with disabilities. In particular, The Americans with Disabilities Act states when you are a private business or a local/state government, open to the public, you must make your website readily accessible and usable to persons who have disabilities. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is directed at federal government agencies and private businesses, who are federal contractors, OR receiving federal funding, requiring that their websites (and other digital information) be accessible to persons who have disabilities. Failure to comply with these laws could result in costly lawsuits.
A Real World Example
In June 2016, a case was filed in court against Domino’s Pizza. My understanding is that Dominos faced a lawsuit because their website was alleged to be inaccessible to someone who had a visual disability. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued an opinion in favor of the plaintiff, after which the Supreme Court denied Domino’s petition to overrule the Ninth Circuit Court’s opinion. In the end, Dominos ended up settling the case in June 2022, presumably spending a lot of money during their legal battle.
Thus, the Domino’s case illustrates an important point which is that if you do not make your website accessible to the public, you could be sued because of it. And if a large corporation like Domino’s ends up settling after 6 years, what does that mean for smaller business website owners? Of course, I am not an attorney, nor should anything within this article or website, be construed as legal advice.
So, the bottom line is that website accessibility should be a must for every website. It can also be a way to reach a lot more people, while discouraging potential legal trouble.
SEO Considerations
To ignore accessibility, can be an invitation to a potential loss in customers. Moreover, accessibility, while not a direct Google ranking signal, is one of four factors used by Google to determine PageSpeed scores. Accessibility also affects user experience, crawling and indexing and trust/authority.
Ethical and Brand Reputation Considerations
Making your website accessible means opening up your website to all in our communities, including those with disabilities. This can expand your potential client base while strengthening your brand’s reputation with the public at large. Businesses that make website accessibility a priority, often see increased conversions, happier customers and greater loyalty.
That is because when your business demonstrates a commitment to website accessibility, it shows that you care about ALL of your customers. This can give you a competitive advantage over your competitors.
Design and Content Accessibility Tips
Contrary to popular belief, making your website accessible does not mean you need to completely scrap what you have and build a completely new website. Often times, you can work with what you already have, but implement enhancements that make your existing website, accessible. These might include:
- Use of descriptive image alt text to facilitate use of screen readers by the visually impaired.
- Organization of your pages with clear headings, in a logical order and utilizing easy-to-find labels.
- Use of colors with sufficient contrast such that text should be easy to read against the web page background.
Accessibility to Meet the Needs of Different Users
When making your website accessible to those with disabilities, consider the following types of users:
- Visually impaired
- Hearing impaired
- Mobility-challenged
- Mentally disabled
With these types of users in mind, your website should enable keyboard navigation enabling users to browse without use of a mouse. Moreover, your website should accommodate screen readers via implementation of well-structured content and meaningful labels. Incorporation of captions and transcripts for videos can help users who are deaf. Ensure that all website functionality is accessible, including web forms and navigation/menus.
Accessibility Testing and Evaluation Tools
There are many free tools available that make it easy and convenient to test your website’s accessibility, such as WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. Use of such tools can provide insight to accessibility issues that need to be fixed.
Accessibility Plugins
Popular CMS platforms such as WordPress, give you access to a variety of plugins that can help make your website more accessible to those with disabilities.
How to Fix Website Accessibility
If you are not a web designer or web developer, we recommend you contacting our team at Prominent Web Design, as we are experienced in successfully resolving website accessibility issues. We can demonstrate the before and after results via an online accessibility testing tool.
Benefits from Making Your Website Accessible
Greater Reach
Accessible websites reach more people, increasing your customer base.
SEO Boost
Accessible websites often rank higher in Google SERPs.
Brand Enhancement
Offering an accessible website builds goodwill, improving your brand image.
Legal Compliance
Having an accessible website can help you to avoid potential costly legal issues pertaining to violation of federal laws.
Making your website accessible means better compliance with federal laws, that can lead to fewer legal risks, a stronger reputation and reaching a broader audience.
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