What's the deal with ADA Website Compliance?

[djbaxter]

That document says:

1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)
Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.

This should also apply to videos.

So basically, whether or not they are required for still images, it wouldn't hurt to include them.

 

[mikepcservice]

Right, that's for "audio" but I don't think it's for images?

Also that should mean there should be a speech to text in place for videos.

 

[djbaxter]

The question is how far do you want to go and how much effort will it take to become fully compliant with every sub-item?

Bear in mind that the document you linked above is from W3C and includes their suggestions for accessibility standards. That is not the same as the ADA standards.

See

Redirecting…

www.ada.gov

or more specifically for commercial sites

Redirecting…

www.ada.gov

 

[djbaxter]

A couple of things I noticed as I've been testing various accessibility plugins:

1. At least one of the plugins I tested instructed me to add a script to the header of all pages. This of course was not deleted when I uninstalled the plugin. Remember to double check this. Page source is probably the quickest way to check what scripts are loading.

2. All of these plugins have an impact on page load speed, especially on mobile. If you have the time and can make ADA changes manually (e.g., alt text for you images), you can speed your site back up again.

3. Many of the accessibility plugins focus on options like one-click increasing font size and contrast, etc. Since modern operating systems and modern browsers all have their own options for doing this, even on mobile, perhaps the question is do you really need an icon with a menu attached to your site to be in compliance with ADA? I don't know.

 

[mikepcservice]

Well guys, after going back and forth with this I decided to call up the ADA to find out exactly which requirements are needed. The Rep said there are NO requirements for ADA and that they were trying in 2017 to implement some standards but it never materialized.

So she directed me to the 508 Standards of the Federal Government:

Section 508 Standards - United States Access Board

Next week when I have some time I will go through that info to see if I can make sense of this but meantime then this begs the question. Is that Rep at ADA knowledgeable of the "current" situation or are all those articles on the net showing all of the big names who has been sued false info????

 

[hajnasiewicz]

I'm an in-house SEO and an advocate for Accessibility. Accessibility aligns fairly well with standard SEO practices.

Tools:

WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools

wave.webaim.org

IDI Web Accessibility Checker : Web Accessibility Checker

AChecker is a Web accessibility evalution tool designed to help Web content developers and Web application developers ensure their Web content is accessible to everyone regardless to the technology they may be using, or their abilities or disabilities.

achecker.ca

Resources:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations...

www.w3.org

Tutorials

Accessibility resources free online from the international standards organization: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

www.w3.org

W3C launches an Introduction to Web Accessibility free online course in cooperation with UNESCO IITE

W3C launches an Introduction to Web Accessibility free online course in cooperation with UNESCO IITE

www.w3.org

Training:
Digital Accessibility Teaching and Learning Resources (is Canadian perspective but translates well to all, I'm not Canadian nor do our businesses operate out side of the US).

It all looks scarier than it is. Good luck!

 

[hajnasiewicz]

True, there are no REQUIREMENTS today, but that does not prevent a lawsuit. If you search you will find many businesses have been brought to litigation for failure to make their websites accessible and most if not all were required to meet compliance. Dominos Pizza, Target Stores, Hooters Restaurants, Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, and the list goes on.

 

[mikepcservice]

Thank you. I am thinking the accessibility plugins show cover most of the basic needs of a disabled person depending on the exact disability. What I would like like clarity on is if image Captions and speech to text for videos are required and I cannot seem to come up with a definite answer on those two.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

This legal threat is very definitely real, at least for companies located in the USA.

As I understand it, it is Law in Canada and most parts of Europe. Its only a matter of time before it becomes Law in the US. But don't be afraid of it, its a good thing.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Get the ChromeVox extension for Chrome. It acts as a screen reader and helps to identify your website shortcomings. Search chrome extensions for Accessibility tools. I could talk about this all day long lol. Maybe we need an additional category in this forum for Accessibility. In the meantime I'm happy to help answer any questions.

 

[mikepcservice]

Will do as advised soon as I can get to it but meantime any word on my previous questions please which was:

What I would like like clarity on is if image Captions and speech to text for videos are required and I cannot seem to come up with a definite answer on those two.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Will do as advised soon as I can get to it but meantime any word on my previous questions please which was:

What I would like like clarity on is if image Captions and speech to text for videos are required and I cannot seem to come up with a definite answer on those two.

oops sorry about that. Images apply alt text (describe what the image is, don't be spammy) and text transcript for video content (we have not for video yet). I would first run your site through a checker and then prioritize. You could put an accessibility statement on your website something like these examples that indicate that you are aware and are working towards remediation:

Website Accessibility | The Fresh Market | The Fresh Market

www.thefreshmarket.com

Accessibility: Starbucks Coffee Company

www.starbucks.ca

 

[djbaxter]

As I understand it, it is Law in Canada and most parts of Europe. Its only a matter of time before it becomes Law in the US. But don't be afraid of it, its a good thing.

It's not law in Canada yet, as far as I know, but they are working on it here too.

 

[Tim Colling]

As I understand it, it is Law in Canada and most parts of Europe. Its only a matter of time before it becomes Law in the US. But don't be afraid of it, its a good thing.

It's definitely "law" in the USA. Just ask Domino's pizza and the many other companies that have been successfully sued over this.

Accessibility and Privacy concerns are probably the two biggest legal threats faced by most website owners (and, probably, website builders).

 

[mikepcservice]

I would first run your site through a checker and then prioritize. You could put an accessibility statement on your website something like these examples that indicate that you are aware and are working towards remediation:

Website Accessibility | The Fresh Market | The Fresh Market

www.thefreshmarket.com

Accessibility: Starbucks Coffee Company

www.starbucks.ca

I have already installed accessibility plugins so I figure at least I have covered the basic so have some protection.

 

[djbaxter]

There are also some browser extensions that will highlight potentially problematic issues with accessibility on any site. One benefit is that since these are browser extensions they don't impact page load speed at all. I like this one for Firefox, which even simulates a screen reader:

Tota11y: Accessibility toolkit â Get this Extension for ð¦ Firefox (en-US)

Download Tota11y: Accessibility toolkit for Firefox. Inserts the tota11y JS file from Khan Academy into the current tab so that you can visualize how the current page performs with assistive technologies. All the credit goes to Khan Academy for their amazing script.

addons.mozilla.org

I would assume these exist for Chrome and Edge/Chrome as well. I just searched the Firefox site for "accessibility addons".

On my main site, I manually fixed all the image alt tags and checked a couple of other things and then uninstalled all of the WordPress addons because of the hit they were taking on page load speed.

What this browser addon tells me is my site is now reasonably accessible with the exception of some contrast issues.

It also showed problems with buttons on the admin bar at the top of my site but of course that's only visible for logged in admins.

 

[mikepcservice]

Right but those I think are to the benefit of the visitor and since we cannot depend on them using whatever browser then we need to have a universal system in place for all users.

 

[djbaxter]

I think you misunderstood me. These browser addons basically do an accessibility audit of any site, yours or any site you visit that you wish to audit, and then tells you what needs to be fixed to make the site fully accessible.

It has nothing to do with whoever is visiting your site. You use it to ensure your site is accessible.

 

[mikepcservice]

Oh sorry, I see, thanks, I will try one out tomorrow and get back to you.

 

[mikepcservice]

Sorry I must be missing something here with this, I just installed the add-on but I was expecting it to do something but not seeing anything or any instructions on how to use it?