The ADA Checklist: Website Compliance Guidelines for 2019 in Plain English * Rough & Ready Media

The following excerpt is from an article by Kris Rivenburgh appearing on Medium.

Accessibility is not a redesign your website set-it-and-forget it thing. A very big chunk of accessibility is in how you upload media and create content. Yes, coding is a very important part of the process but it’s not the end of the story.

For example, every image, video, or audio file that you upload needs to have an alternative means of access (e.g. alt text, closed captioning, transcript).
Another important note: there is a separate set of legal best practices to web compliance as well: training, having a web page explaining your accessibility policy, appointing an accessibility coordinator, hiring an independent consultant, and inviting feedback.

For smaller businesses, you’ll likely go without the coordinator and consultant formalities above due to budget constraints, but the bigger you are, the more thorough I recommend you become with your approach to web accessibility.

Something else that will save you thousands of dollars: If you want someone to remediate (fix) your website, don’t waste your money paying for scans and audits from companies that don’t actually offer remediation.

A little known fact is MOST website compliance agencies DON’T actually fix your site, they just tell you what’s wrong.

Yes, you read that right. Most compliance companies don’t do compliance. Always ask if they, themselves, do remediation (if not, they’re simply referring you to a developer, you’re paying extra for no reason and they’re earning a commission off you).

Also, look out for automated scans or audits! They only tell about 1/3 of the accessibility story.

At best, automated checks are supplemental guides but what you really need is an accessibility expert to manually review your site — if an audit is what you’re after — and most agencies won’t offer manual audits because it takes hours of time and real effort and (GULP!) potential liability.

I could write an entire article just on how to go about remediation but the main point here is if you are looking for a DFY (Done For You) solution, be careful that you aren’t just getting an audit — and if you do get an audit, get a manual audit.

P.S. There are companies that actually charge thousands of dollars to run an automated scan (remember these only cover about 30% of accessibility) and send you a report.

What to do next

Click here to contiune reading the full Medium article »

 

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