Be ready to make updates to your website to maintain ADA compliance

New Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 updates are due to be released early to mid 2021. That may seem far away, but 2021 is right around the corner.

Make sure your website meets and maintains the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement that a website is accessible to those with disabilities. Anything less could be considered discriminatory. Maintaining WCAG level AA compliance is the standard for most organizations and entities.

What are the web accessibility updates you may need to make to maintain ADA compliance?

There will be 8 new success criteria added in 2.2, to be released in Summer of 2021. These new success criteria will address the needs of users with cognitive and learning disabilities, as well as users of mobile devices and e-books. 

• Focus Appearance – Do your sites indicators stand out from the background?

• Fixed Reference points - Make sure your page numbers match in printed and online publications and always use page numbers.

• Dragging – Give users the option of tapping or clicking if a dragging movement is required.

• Pointer Target Spacing – Your targets such as linked icons will need to be at least 44x44 CSS pixels, this can include any white space around the target.

• Findable Help - Make sure your help option is in the same location across your site.  This will make a positive impact on overall user experience as well.

• Hidden Controls - controls should remain visible and not be hidden until you mouseover it.

• Accessible Authentication - if you have a Captcha that requires a cognitive test to “prove you are human” there needs to be an alternative authentication that does not have a cognitive test- a 2-factor authentication can accomplish this.

• Redundant Entry - Autofill or selection should be available for form filling if the information has been entered previously. An exception would be confirming passwords for abandoned forms.
  

You can find more detailed information on these criteria on the WCAG website.

How to make sure your website will be ADA compliant in 2021?

There are several tools available that can determine your level of ADA compliance. Scans made by these tools typically require quite a bit of interpretation and manual review of any issues and/or flags found. Also, there are typically several ways to resolve or update content or code to regain compliance. If you aren't sure if your site will pass new WCAG 2.2 criteria or if you'd like help identifying and making web updates, we are happy to help.

On-going quarterly ADA audits and updates

Our experts are available to review your Website for accessibility compliance to make recommendations on user experience improvements. Contact us to request a one-time ADA Website Audit or schedule Quarterly Audits.  Be ready for WCAG 2.2 before it's right on top of us.