5 Steps to Make Your Website ADA Compliant

Nowadays, having an ADA compliant website is a must. The Americans with Disabilities Act has come a long way in making sure that everyone has equal access to information online. Failure to comply with ADA guidelines can lead to legal consequences or exclusion of disabled users from your website. Therefore, it’s important to know how to make website ADA compliant.

In this article, we’ll discuss some tips and tricks that will help you make your website more user-friendly to everyone, including disabled individuals. Making your website ADA compliant involves a few simple steps, like adding alt tags to your images, providing text transcripts for your videos, and using clear and concise language throughout your website. So, let’s dive in and see how we can make our website more inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Section: Tips for Making Your Website ADA Compliant

1. Use Readable Fonts and Colors

Use easy-to-read fonts, such as Arial or Verdana, and ensure there is sufficient contrast between the text and background colors to make it easy for everyone to read the content. Avoid using images with text, as this can be difficult to read for visually impaired visitors.

2. Optimize Images for Accessibility

Ensure that all images on your website have appropriate alt text descriptions so that visually impaired visitors can understand what the image is about. Alt text also helps with your website’s overall SEO ranking.

3. Make Navigation Easy

Create a clear and concise navigation menu that is easy to use for those who rely on keyboards or other assistive devices. Provide a skip-navigation link at the top of each page that helps users move past repetitive content and directly to the main content.

4. Ensure Videos Have Closed Captions

If you have videos on your website, make sure they have closed captions or transcripts so that deaf or hard-of-hearing visitors can understand the content.

5. Ensure Forms Are Accessible

Forms on your website should be easy to fill out for all visitors, including those who use screen readers or assistive devices. Use proper labeling and provide instructions on how to fill out each field.

6. Provide Accessible PDFs

If you upload PDF documents on your website, they should be accessible to all users. Ensure that the PDFs have appropriate reading order, headings, and alt text for images.

7. Add Text Descriptions for Links

When adding external links to your website, provide text descriptions for the links, so visually impaired users can understand where the link leads without having to click it.

8. Avoid Flash and Other Multimedia

Flash and other multimedia can be difficult to access for some users. Try to avoid using such multimedia on your website or provide alternative content for those who are unable to access it.

9. Regularly Test Your Website

Regular testing of your website will ensure that it remains accessible, even as your website content changes over time.

10. Use Accessibility Plugins

There are many accessibility plugins available that can help make your website more ADA compliant. These plugins can highlight accessibility issues and suggest solutions to make your website more accessible.

10 Steps to Make Your Website ADA Compliant

Making your website ADA compliant can seem like a daunting task, but it can be achieved with a little bit of effort. Here are the 10 steps to make your website ADA compliant:

1. Understand the ADA

Before you start making changes to your website, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires. This law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and requires businesses to provide equal accessibility to their services. The ADA has specific guidelines for websites, which include making sure that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and use your website.

2. Conduct an Accessibility Audit

To make your website ADA compliant, you need to know which areas of your site are not accessible. Conducting an accessibility audit will help you identify any barriers that prevent users with disabilities from accessing your website. An accessibility audit can be conducted by an accessibility consultant or by using online tools such as WAVE or Siteimprove.

3. Make Your Website Keyboard Accessible

One of the key requirements for ADA compliance is keyboard accessibility. This means that users with disabilities should be able to navigate and interact with your website using only their keyboard. Make sure that all functionality on your website can be accessed and operated using the keyboard alone.

4. Provide Alternative Text for Images

Alternative text (alt text) is a description of an image that appears when the image cannot be displayed. Alt text is important for users with visual impairments who use screen readers to access your website. Make sure that all images on your website have descriptive alt text.

5. Use Descriptive Headings and Structure

Heading structure is essential for website accessibility. Use descriptive headings that are formatted correctly (i.e., using H1, H2, H3 tags) to create a logical structure and hierarchy for your website. This helps users with disabilities to navigate and understand the content on your website.

6. Ensure Color Contrast

People with visual impairments or color blindness may have difficulty reading text when there is low contrast between the text and background. Make sure that there is enough contrast between the text and background colors on your website to ensure that everyone can read and access your content.

7. Provide Captions for Videos

Videos on your website should have closed captions or transcripts to ensure that users with hearing impairments can access your content. Captioning not only benefits those with hearing disabilities, it also benefits those in noisy environments or who prefer to watch videos with the sound off.

8. Make Forms Accessible

Forms on your website should be designed with accessibility in mind. Make sure that there are clear labels for form fields, and that users can navigate through the form using only their keyboard. Additionally, provide error messages in a clear and concise manner for users who fill out the form incorrectly.

9. Ensure Easy Navigation

Proper navigation is crucial for those with disabilities to access your website. Incorporate easy navigational elements such as skip links, site maps, and breadcrumb trails to help users find what they’re looking for quickly.

10. Continuously Test for Accessibility

Testing your website for accessibility should be an ongoing process. Even if your website is currently compliant, changes to your site or the technology it uses could introduce new accessibility issues. Regularly testing your website will help you identify and fix these issues before they become problematic for users.

Important Steps to Make Your Website ADA Compliant

To make your website ADA compliant, there are several crucial steps that you must follow. In this section, we will discuss these steps and provide you with practical tips on how to achieve them.

Step 1: Conduct an Accessibility Audit of Your Website

To ensure that your website is ADA compliant, the first step is to conduct an accessibility audit. This audit will help you identify areas of your website that are not accessible to people with disabilities. You can use various online tools to conduct this audit, or you can hire an accessibility expert to do it for you. Once you have the audit report, you can start fixing the issues identified.

Step 2: Add Alternative Text to Images and Videos

Alternative text is a textual description that is added to images and videos. This text helps people who are visually impaired understand what the image or video is about. To make your website ADA compliant, you must add alternative text to all the images and videos on your website. You can do this by simply adding a brief description that accurately describes the content in the image or video.

Step 3: Ensure Keyboard Accessibility

Many people with disabilities rely on keyboards to navigate through websites. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your website is keyboard accessible. This means that every function on your website can be accessed using a keyboard alone. You can test this by trying to navigate through your website using only your keyboard. If you can access everything on your website using your keyboard, then your website is keyboard accessible.

Step 4: Use Descriptive Links and Headings

Descriptive links and headings help people with disabilities to understand the content on your website better. When creating links and headings, make sure that they accurately describe the content that they are linking or heading to. Doing this will not only make your website ADA compliant but will also improve your website’s overall user experience.

Step 5: Ensure Consistent Design and Layout

Consistent design and layout are crucial for people with disabilities who use assistive technologies. Ensure that the design and layout of your website are consistent throughout. This will help people with disabilities to navigate through your website with ease. Consistent design and layout also make your website look professional and credible.

In conclusion, making your website ADA compliant is crucial for ensuring that everyone, including people with disabilities, can access your content. By following the above steps, you can make your website ADA compliant and improve its overall user experience. Remember that being ADA compliant is not just about legal compliance, but it is also about creating an inclusive and accessible website for everyone.

Thank You for Helping Make the Web More Accessible!

We hope this guide has helped you understand the importance of making your website ADA compliant and given you some practical tips on how to achieve that goal. Remember to prioritize accessibility for everyone, not just for compliance reasons, but because it’s simply the right thing to do. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading, and we hope you’ll stop by again soon!