What is ADA Website Compliance?

If you’re a business with a website, you might be wondering what ADA website compliance is, or if your website is ADA compliant. You might even be wondering if your website needs to be ADA compliant, who governs compliance, or what is involved in making your website ADA compliant.

That’s why we’re here to help. To tell you what’s involved in website compliance with ADA, who regulates it, and how you can protect your business from ADA website compliance lawsuits.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

To start off, being compliant with ADA means that your website provides full and equal access to all users. This means that websites must provide meaningful access and effective communication for people with disabilities.

Courts have largely interpreted websites as being “places of public accommodation” under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Essentially, what this means is that businesses that fail to provide accessible websites are discriminating against Americans with disabilities.

At present, there is no formal legal prescription for what constitutes website accessibility for private companies in the US. Both the Justice Department and plaintiff’s lawyers use the WCAG 2.0 AA and WCAG 2.1 AA as the referenced technical standards for ADA website compliance.

Both WCAG 2.0 AA and WCAG 2.1 AA are ADA website compliance checklists. The difference between WCAG 2.0 AA and WCAG 2.1 AA is the number of success criteria. While WCAG 2.0 AA contains 38 success criteria, WCAG 2.1 AA contains an additional 12 criteria. This means that WCAG 2.1 AA contains 50 criteria in total. It is considered a more complete and comprehensive set of ADA website compliance guidelines than WCAG 2.0 AA.

However, compliance is more complicated that simply checking off all the ADA website compliance requirements. Your website might not fully be compliant with a WCAG success criterion but still not be in violation of the ADA.

Who Does ADA Website Compliance Apply To?

ADA compliance applies to your website if it serves a commercial purpose. So, basically, if it handles money. That means that if you have an eCommerce website where people can buy products, or a subscription site where people pay to subscribe, your website is probably subject to ADA website compliance requirements.

How to Check ADA Website Compliance

Making your website ADA compliant involves meeting certain technical, design, and usability criteria. Online, you may find ADA compliance website checkers or widgets that promise to make your website compliant by adding a widget or a few lines of code. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are no quick gimmicks that will magically grant ADA compliance.

You may need to hire ADA website compliance consultants or perform a full ADA website compliance audit.

Examples of some ADA compliance guidelines include:

• Using proper markup techniques to structure website content
• Having text that can be resized up to 200% without negatively impacting readability or website functionality
• Including alt text for images and other non-text content
• All website content must be accessible to people who cannot use a mouse
• Users must be able to pause, stop, or hide any content that blinks, scrolls, or moves
• If any element on your website has a time limit, users must be able to adjust it, including pausing or extending it
• There should be a color contrast ratio of at least 4:5:1 between the background and all text
• No web element should flash more than three times per second

Avoid ADA Website Compliance Lawsuits

The bottom line is that ADA website compliance matters. Being compliant can provide a better website experience for all users, not just those with disabilities. It can also provide your business with access to new markets and customers.

More than that, some people looking to make a quick buck have formed a cottage industry around digital accessibility litigation. Since ADA is a strict liability law, claims like ignorance or stating that a developer is working on changes aren’t a defense for ADA violations.

Even false ADA website compliance claims can cost your business time and money. That’s why it’s a good idea to be proactive about website compliance. Fortunately, this isn’t something that your business or IT department has to handle on its own. ADA website compliance consultants can help protect your business and provide a better experience for your customers.

About Us

CertiPro is your full-service technology partner. We specialize in end-to-end Sage Magento integrations and Sage ERP implementations. We are experts in ADA compliance website design. Schedule a demo or contact us and see how we can help your business.