Why Is ADA Compliance Important For Your Website? – accessiBe
ADA compliance is the law, and it applies to all websites regardless of whether they are brick-and-mortar establishments or purely online entities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to protect people with disabilities from discrimination based on their disability status. This act applies to all aspects of life, and it has been approved by the government. If you own a website, you must ensure it is ADA compliant by using tools like accessiBe.
A web developer can help ensure that your site will meet ADA compliance requirements. There are many rules involved when creating such a site, and without struggling through these yourself or hiring someone to do so, you may not be fully aware of what needs to be done. The web designer will work with you to make sure all your needs are fulfilled while staying in full compliance with ADA rules.
What is ADA Compliance?
ADA compliance is important for any site that has links or content that can reach the public, but it’s especially important for sites that deal with the government. ADA compliance means you are creating a website that works for people who have disabilities, including blindness or low vision, deafness or impaired hearing, and physical limitations that make it difficult or impossible to use standard computer equipment.
Your web designer will help you choose the right color schemes, fonts, and formats so they can be easily seen and read by a person with any of these disabilities. This means content needs to be accessible on all pages, not just the home page of your site. A new trend is to focus on mobile-friendly sites because so many people are using mobile devices to access the Internet these days.
What Type of Colors Should You Use?
People who are blind or have low vision may use software tools such as screen readers to help them see your website. However, to make the information accessible, you must avoid using color alone as a means of conveying information. For example, you can’t just use red and green next to each other to indicate something is bad because these colors cannot be distinguished if a person is colorblind.
You also need to make sure the contrast of colors is sufficient for a person with low vision to read your content. You can check this by going to a website such as Kuler and clicking on the CMYK color wheel. Click on any square, and you will see what that specific color looks like at 50, 20, 10, and 5 percent opacity. This will help you ensure your text contrasts enough with any background color you choose for your site.
What About Web Fonts?
Font faces can also be a real obstacle for people who are blind or have low vision because the font’s actual design makes it difficult to discern where one letter starts and another begins. You need to make sure all fonts are easily readable by someone with a disability. A web designer can help you choose the right font styles, sizes, and colors so that your message will be interpreted correctly by these individuals.