What Website Accessibility Means For Your eCommerce Business
Your eCommerce platform needs site compliance. This means that you will be following the law and inviting users who would otherwise be unable to access your storefront. But what does website accessibility mean for your business? We go through all of the answers so that you understand accessibility issues and how to resolve them.
ADA Compliance And Online Stores
The American with Disabilities Act, or ADA, is used in businesses and public buildings to increase accessibility for people with disabilities. It asks for ramps to be installed for wheelchair users, braille instructions for those who are visually-impaired, and other important facilities.
When the Internet came along, the same principles started applying to websites that belong to businesses. Several lawsuits have been filed against hotels, universities, and other institutions that are meant to cater to the masses. The Justice Department refuses to provide guidance, so more often than not the judge rules in favor of the plaintiff.
No matter the size of your online store, website compliance is extremely important. Even if a potential plaintiff doesn’t have a case against you, in the sense of settlement money, that won’t stop them from sending a court summons. The legal fees can drain your capital and even cause you to shutter up businesses.
Accessibility goes hand-in-hand with compliance. Compliance provides the conditions that need to be met to avoid lawsuits. Accessibility involves actually meeting those conditions with the right technology.
What Is Website Accessibility?
Many tools help users with disabilities navigate the Internet to conduct business, as either the buyer or the shopper. Website accessibility is your storefront working with those tools so that a user with disabilities can interact with your site, contribute to it. This opens your customer base, so that you aren’t limiting yourself.
Assistive technologies include screen readers, communications programs, and keyboards. If someone is visually impaired, they’ll have a screen reader analyze alt text and read it aloud for them. That’s why all of your images need alt text describing what they are exactly.
When a user has website accessibility, they can do more than receive the information provided. They can also change it, and react using the Internet.
There are three tiers for web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG). Tier I is the simplest and insufficient for providing accessibility, while Tier III is the most complicated. You want to aim for Tier II which is in-between because it will protect you from lawsuits when you comply with them.
Heighten Your Accessibility Standards With Site Compliance
At Site Compliance, we’ll help you make your website accessible to millions of potential users. Our team can guide you through the ACAG web testing tool on your site, and make suggestions for improvement.
Reach out to us today to get started with our experts. Let us help you get started with meeting all of the web content accessibility guidelines, so that you can reach out to a larger number of people. We’ll improve the user experience, with the right set of tools.