ADA + UX
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance
ADA laws view websites as places of public accommodation. Websites with inaccessible components can be seen as discriminatory against persons with disabilities. To accommodate for persons with disabilities, Wings needs to provide a usable and accessible site for everyone to use.
Some general ADA compliance guidelines:
Alt text is needed for images, video, and audio
Closed captioning is required for all video with sound
Proper markup techniques for website structure in HTML
Use of color – do not rely on color alone to convey information
Color contrast of text color and background color
Images of text are not allowed
All content and functions must be accessible by keyboard only
Links should be clear for what purpose it serves (click here is not clear)
Descriptive headings and labels
Focus indicators
The ADA Checklist: Website Compliance Guidelines for 2019 in Plain English
Plan
My work is in the discovery phase of tools to use to help make the websites and applications compliant.
Research tools and services
Choose tool or services
Accessibility Audit
Audit results
Generate plan to update websites and applications
Implement updates
Tools
WAVE Browser Plug In
Google Chrome provides a free plug in tool called WAVE to review websites for accessibility errors and alerts. This tool provides specific cases of inaccessibility, what the issue is, and how to fix it.
WAVE Chrome, Firefox, and Edge Extensions
WECO
WECO is a local group in Minneapolis that does accessibility audits for businesses. They provide free accessibility reviews, determine what is working and where risks lie, provide feedback from usability testers who live with disabilities, and provide an accessibility report that includes next step ideas.
Digital Experts with Disabilities: the window to accessibility
WCAG
WCAG is a technical guide that provides success criteria for meeting ADA compliance. WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.
WebAIM
WebAIM is a free website that allows contrast checking between text color and background color.
WebAIM: Web Accessibility for Designers
Documentation
Google Dev: What is accessibility?