The primary objective of ADA is to ensure easy and equal accessibility to people with disabilities too to all public entities. ADA is a US law, and accessibility compliance is mandated as per different Titles of this law. During the time of the initiation of the law, it was aimed at brick-and-mortar establishments. However, things are happening more online now, so websites and other online platforms also come under the coverage age of the ADA law. In the web world, the accessibility regulations are applicable to the websites too.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was passed to protect the civil right of people with disabilities. There were discriminated against for a long time until then due to their disability status. Public access was limited to them, which affected their learning, employment, health and wellbeing, mental health status, and everything related to living a normal life. The ADA act enacted their access to all public spaces, including the webspace.
Accessibly compliance for websites – AccessiBe
AccessiBe is now the leading provider of accessibility compliance services to all types of websites and online platforms. The provider puts forth many tools and strategies to ensure that the web space is made completed accessible with equal opportunities for all. There are many rules and W3C specifications to take care of in order to ensure the complete accessibility of websites. A good web developer or designer can now ensure that the websites are made ADA compliant before releasing the same.
About ADA compliance
As we have seen above, ADA compliance is now a necessity for any website to take its content to the public. Previously, people were more focused on the aesthetics and layout of the website only to make it attractive to people. But later, with the accessibility requirements came into the picture, it is not just all about having flashy elements and intelligent navigation, but it is more about making the page as simple and accessible as possible for everyone who visits it.
Accessibility is now a mandate for all websites which deal with government content. Compliance with ADA means that you are building a website that is easy to access for people with disabilities, including those who are blind, have compromised vision, hearing impairment, and various other types of physical and cognitive disabilities.
Usage of colors and fonts for accessibility
Accessibility has various aspects of being cared for. For example, blind people or those who have low vision may use some screen readers or other software to interpret the website content. So, to make the content accessible to them, the designers must avoid using color or images alone to convey information. For example, you cannot use simply red and green to indicate whether something is bad or good as the screen readers cannot interpret with logic.
To ensure accessibility, AccessiBe suggests you also need to take care of the text fonts and size. Some font designs may make it an obstacle for people with limited vision to understand the content. You need to use easily readable fonts and the right size and style of font to ensure accessibility.