Website Compliance Guidelines: Is My Site Accessible?

Confused about website accessibility compliance? You’re not alone.

I’ll make this simple: Website compliance to meet accessibility guidelines can be complicated. Though these guidelines are designed to make websites easier to use, for website creators, navigating these guidelines is anything but.

However, it gets easier with experience. Trust us, we’ve built a number of websites to meet these standards. In this article, we’ll share the critical information you need to know.

Why It’s Important Your Website Meets Accessibility Guidelines

First and foremost, meeting accessibility guidelines means that users with disabilities will be able to access your content. However, there’s another reason to meet these standards: Since 2015, an average of more than 10 lawsuits per month have been brought against companies on account of their websites being inaccessible to users with disabilities.

Since 2015, over 240 businesses have been sued for not adhering to accessibility compliance standards.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Bear in mind, the targets of these lawsuits haven’t only been government bodies. Achieving compliant status can also be expected of commercial entities, non-profits and associations.

Compliance Standards: Section 508 and WCAG 2.0

In the case of the aforementioned lawsuits, the companies are being sued for not being accessible. However, this is where things can get a bit foggy: The ADA has yet to release official compliance regulations (and currently has no plans to do so until 2018).

One of the most common accessibility standards, Section 508 (also referred to as “508 compliance”), was released in 2001. Needless to say, there have been countless innovations in web development in the 15+ years since.

To make up for this, the W3C Council – basically the standard-bearers of the internet – have adopted their own accessibility standards, called WCAG 2.0. These standards account for more modern technology and some government agencies in the United States have begun to use them on a voluntary basis.

Does your website meet accessibility guidelines?

Because there is no single accessibility standard, it’s difficult to provide a binary “yes” or “no” answer to this question. However, we can give you an inside look at how we handle this. We provide more information on each of the following guidelines below:

• Website 508 Compliance
• ADA Website Compliance
• WCAG 2.0 Website Compliance

For our clients, we retain documentation that demonstrates the efforts we take on their behalf to ensure that their websites are accessible to all users. In addition to this, we provide information in our training sessions to help them maintain an “accessible” status going forward.

When we build a website for a client who has specific requirements to meet 508 or WCAG 2.0 standards, we test and document the successful fulfillment of each requirement.

Website Compliance-Testing Tools

Below, we’ve included links to a couple online services that will test your site for accessibility compliance. Beware, these tools are fully-automated and only go surface-deep, compared to a thorough evaluation.

• Accessibility Checker
• WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

You can also review a longer list of compliance-auditing compiled by the W3C.

If these tools have indicated potential website compliance concerns, you may want to consider an in-depth accessibility audit. This is a service we offer, and it generally costs between $500 and $2,500. If you’d like to order one, or learn more about what the audit includes, get in touch.

Next Steps

If the tools above suggest your site has compliance issues, you can send us a copy of your accessibility report at questions@yokoco.com. We’ll provide details on what needs to be done to fix the problems and what it would cost if you prefer we do it for you.

*DISCLAIMER: Nothing presented here constitutes legal advice. (Our lawyer told us we had to say this.)