ADA Compliance refers to adherence to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law enacted in 1990 to prevent discrimination against individuals with disabilities in various aspects of public life, including websites. In recent years, there has been a surge in lawsuits against companies with websites that are not accessible, and this trend is likely to continue. Therefore, it is essential for all website owners, including those using WordPress, to ensure their websites meet ADA standards.
How to Ensure Your Website Adheres to ADA Compliance
When engaging a web design company to create a website, it’s crucial to confirm that the site will be ADA compliant. The internet hosts numerous websites that do not meet these standards. To prevent your website from being inaccessible to people with disabilities, you should take the following steps:
Ensure Readable Content:
ADA compliance hinges on maintaining proper spacing between lines and columns, preventing text from becoming overly crowded and difficult to read. High-contrast text against the background color is also imperative.
Add ALT Text to Images:
During the website design phase, diligently include alt tags for every image uploaded. This not only enhances accessibility for visually impaired users but also improves your site’s search engine optimization by boosting its ranking in search results. Many WordPress plugins simplify this process by automatically adding alt text to images or allowing you to label images as “decorative” when they serve no functional purpose on the page. By adding alt tags to all your images on pages and posts, you can save yourself future complications and optimize the effectiveness of your site’s images.
WordPress Plugins for ADA Compliance
Fortunately, there are several WordPress plugins designed to assist in achieving ADA compliance. In this article, we’ll introduce three of the most effective plugins for creating an ADA-compliant WordPress website:
WP Accessibility Helper:
This popular WordPress compliance plugin offers various features to enhance your website’s accessibility. These features include the addition of ARIA landmark roles, keyboard navigation for drop-down menus, and the correct stylesheet enqueueing when required.
Color Contrast Checker:
Ensuring that the colors used on your website have sufficient contrast is essential. For instance, white text on a black background may be challenging for some users to read, and light gray text on a white background could pose similar difficulties. This plugin assists you in checking your site’s color contrast to meet WCAG 2.0 guidelines. After installation, access the tool by clicking on “Tools” > “Check Contrast” in your WordPress dashboard.
Accessible Poetry:
This plugin focuses on improving your website’s accessibility for individuals with low vision or blindness. It accomplishes this by adding alternative text to images and videos and providing text transcripts for audio content. These features facilitate easy navigation for users employing screen readers.
ADA Compliance: In Conclusion
Ensuring that your WordPress website aligns with ADA compliance standards is essential not only to prevent potential legal action but also to make your site accessible and enjoyable for all users. The cost of updating your website for compliance is far more affordable than potential legal expenses. Fortunately, several excellent plugins are available to help you enhance your site’s accessibility. In this article, we have discussed three top plugins for creating an ADA-compliant website. Do you have any preferred plugins for improving the accessibility of WordPress sites?
Is this conversa