What is Web Accessibility?
Per Wandke Consulting, accessibility is “The design of products, devices, services, or environments to be usable by diverse audiences.” All disabilities are a spectrum– some are binary, others dynamic; some temporary and other permanent. Even more, Inclusivity Maker has found that 80% of individuals who have disabilities have ones that are unseen, in other words, disabilities that go unnoticed and therefore are often unaccommodated. With this in mind, it’s essential to make sure whatever’s being sold on the open market is accessible to people with a range of access needs.
Disability is a reality of life, but it doesn't have to be a barrier.
Web Accessibility
Universal Design for the Online Landscape
Universal Design offers individuals of all abilities and ages ease of access to the world, with little to no accommodations. Likewise, this design strategy can and should be applied to the online landscape. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) recognizes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA as the standard for all website accessibility compliance. This blog by Accessibilty Works breaks down the the four principles of web accessibility according to the WCAG 2.1: websites must be:
- perceivable—presented in a way that’s visible
- operable—any user can interact with all elements in the interface
- understandable—the content and navigation on the site is intuitive
- robust—providing enough information for all users to comprehend
Most importantly, qualifying for these principles means that your website must be capable of being accessed using Assistive Technologies (AT), not limited to screen readers, on-screen keyboards, and speech recognition softwares. There’s a way to make sure a website is fully accessible according to the WCAG, ADA, and genuine user experiences, which is where this service comes into play.
According to the WebAIM 2022 web accessibility report, 98.1% of the top 1 million web pages on the internet have Web Content Accessibility Guideline failures.
About the Audit
Wandke’s website accessibility audit tests all the elements on your website against the WCAG 2.1 AA standards for compliance. When you sign on for this service, we’ll place the order with our partners at Wandke to get started on accessibility testing.
Here’s what the process looks like:
Wandke conducts a detailed accessibility test of four (4) web pages.
Intellitonic will share the audit findings with your team, including a detailed issue tracker (the computed results from the technical testing) and an executive summary (including an analysis of the results and recommendations).
To allow for time to correct the technical issues found in the audit, there will be a site remediation period of 90 days.
After the 90 day remediation period, Wandke will conduct a regression test and you will receive a final report with the regression test results.
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
Frequently Asked Questions
- We are all human and should support communication and everyday ease of life.
- There are 1 billion people with disabilities.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights legislation and websites fall within that domain, per Title III.
- You can be fined for not having an ADA-compliant website.
- Aspects of an ADA-compliant website can support SEO.
- Description of accessibility issue
- Severity
- Any relevant code e.g. HTML, CSS
- The impact it has on a user
- How to remedy the error
- Color contrast inhibiting the ability to read text on the website
- Lack of audio descriptions
- Links lacking context
- Confusing structure of the content
- Layout issues in content across devices and orientations.
- Form fields lacking context or accessibility
- Lack of descriptive image alt text
- Lack of closed captions
- Impairing content.
- Note: If you’re interested in learning more about these issues and the top 10 best practices for web accessibility, ask us! We have resources to share.
- All websites and businesses looking to interact with the entire population.
- WCAG 2.1 compliance is especially important for eCommerce businesses, and functional testing is recommended to evaluate user experience.
From start to finish, this careful process can take approximately 6-8 months. Here’s a breakdown of the timeline:
Once you sign on for this service, Wandke will conduct a detailed accessibility test of four (4) web pages; specifically your most viewed pages, or any four pages of your choice.
They’ll provide the following deliverables to your Intellitonic Account Manager within eight (8) weeks:
A Detailed Issue Tracker, the computed results from the technical test.
An executive summary, including an analysis of the results and recommendations. Note: the abstract will highlight any specific UX issues requiring a functional testing review if there is any indication in the initial test it would be necessary for your website.
Then, your Intellitonic Account Manager will reach out to schedule a meeting to report the findings to your team.
After reporting, there will be a site remediation period to correct the technical issues found in the report.
Remediation is either implemented by you or can be done by our Intellitonic web development team. Note: Implementation by our team will come at an additional cost.
The remediation window is 90 days.
After the remediation period, Wandke will conduct a regression test on the four (4) web pages initially tested for website accessibility.
- The regression test will be completed within eight (8) weeks.
Upon receipt of the deliverable regression test results from Wandke, the Intellitonic Account Manager will schedule a meeting to provide a final report to your team.
- This allows us to focus on the most important, actionable content on your website. It also helps us get a good idea of how the other pages might confirm that small sample.
- We can turn the report around more quickly.
- Note: Wandke has the range to audit the entire website for accessibility; if you’re interested in a full website audit, let us know!
- Simply put, we believe effective digital marketing, done with intention, makes the world a better place. Our work is premised on the principle that everyone deserves to be seen.
- That belief informs everything we do, from our continuing work with nonprofits to our B Corp status. As a certified B Corp, we envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good.
- We’re proud to be in collaboration with another Bellingham-based business.
- Web accessibility intrinsically supports a strong SEO strategy. It’s a win-win.
