What is ADA compliance and how to make your eCommerce website accessible & ADA compliant?

ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act was signed in the year 1990. Today, it ensures that all the online businesses provide reasonable access to all disabled individuals in the US. On the other hand, ADA compliance makes products available to more people and increases profitability for your company. Therefore, it is important to stay up to date on ADA regulations, regardless of whether you run an online or brick-and-mortar business. Here is a list of suggestions that will make your eCommerce website look polished and professional. Go through it one-by-one:

For the blind

The software allows the visually impaired individual to navigate an eCommerce website and its content; the software scans the text and transforms it into audio for the visitor to listen. Here is a list of things that are needed to make it work:

• Include codes that are understood by the screen reader.
• Use proper headers in the case of images.
• Make sure that the alternative text precisely defines the image.
• The labels on the forms should be identifiable.
• Your site needs to support the latest browser versions.
• Use high-contrast color schemes on the website.

For the deaf

People who are hearing impaired since birth will not be able to comprehend written words. To help them understand the critical points on your website:

• Use sign language to help understand the webpage content.
• Use sign-language videos wherever it is required.
• Use captions or subtitles with videos for people who can read.

Readability

In the case of eCommerce websites, the attraction takes a back seat to the utility. It is ideal to go with the design principle “less is more” and follow ADA compliance guidelines to make the business website readable to everyone. Here are a few thumb rules to remember:

Avoid using Flash or large images. A lot of disabled netizens in the U.S. have outdated browsers and may not use broadband.

Use high-contrast color schemes with large, simple, dark fonts on a plain, light background.

Many Internet users find embedded animated pictures or music that automatically play annoying. They are unprofessional, so never embed them on your website.

Design down

According to traditional eCommerce web design, online users tend to expect the menus on the left with the information on the right and downward scrolling. Lists on the top of the page can be misleading for the disabled users. Therefore, sticking on to the usual design style is more logical and approachable.

Contact information on every page

Make use of the top right corner of every page to display both physical and mailing addresses since the menu is on the left. Tech-savvy individuals will verify the copyright date to make sure the information provided on the eCommerce website is current.

ADA Compliance – when do you get started?

ADA compliance involves considerable design alterations, and the best time to get started is now. Therefore, if you are preparing to migrate to Magento 2, Shopify, or any other platform, we recommend putting ADA compliance at the top of your migration checklist.

For more information on how to go about accomplishing it visit our official page or talk to one of our ADA compliance experts!