The Accessible Web: ADA Compliance Unveiled

Do you know if your site is ADA Compliant? Let’s figure it out together!  

ADA Compliance is a collection of guidelines that determine if a user with disabilities can use your website. Not only does being ADA Compliant encourage inclusivity and allow more users to explore your site, but it is also legally required!  

Since ADA Compliance is mandatory on the internet, Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) creates and updates guidelines for us eCommerce business owners to follow! With the help of these guidelines, we can make a website that is accessible to users, no matter their disability. Today, I want to go through the top requirements we see here at BCSE that can affect your site’s ADA Compliance. 

Tune in to ensure that your site creates a quality user experience for all users! 

The WCAG requirements fall into four categories: Perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness. When design our sites for ADA Compliance, we need to questions like: 

• Is your site’s text easily readable by a person and a screen reader? Consider the type of font, text size, spacing, and so forth.  
• Are your site’s colors distinguishable? When choosing colors, keep in mind contrast and common colors that users with visual disabilities may not see.  
• Are your images and videos perceivable beyond visuals alone? Create your images and videos with care by including alt text, closed captions, transcripts, clear audio, and so forth.  
• How easy is it to navigate your site without a mouse? When testing your site, check if users can tab through your content in a way that is intuitive and flows naturally. Consider keeping your navigation simple rather than burying too much in a category.  
• Does your site contain any dangerous content, such as flashing lights or blinking text?  
• Are your online forms easy to complete? When designing and testing checkout or contact forms, have clear input blocks, and make sure error validation is working.  

Mentioned Resources: 

For more information, read the current WCAG Guidelines for ADA Compliance:

Tool to Test and Track your ADA Compliance: Userway*

*Contains Affiliate Link