Resource: Optimizing Websites for ADA Compliance

Publish your ClearGov budgets while adhering to ADA Compliance recommendations. There are several things to consider when it comes to ADA Compliance. Select the link below to navigate directly to that section of the resource.

• Why is ADA Compliance Important?
• What does ADA Optimization mean?
• Top 7 ADA Compliance Issues
• Other Common ADA Compliance Issues

Why is ADA Compliance Important? 

• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
   
• Generally focused on employment, physical access to public building and transportation, enjoyment of public accommodations, such as hotels and commercial facilities, and telecommunications.
   
• Title II extends a prohibition on discrimination to the activities of state and local governments regardless of whether such entities receive federal financial assistance.
   
• The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has created recognized international guidelines for website accessibility called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that detail how to make websites accessible to all individuals with disabilities.
   
• The DOJ uses WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the accepted standard in which to judge a website’s accessibility.
   
• Applying WCAG 2.1 and ADA guidelines will get your government site compliant under Section 508.

To learn more about the WCAG and ADA guidelines see our ClearGov article: ClearGov WCAG Criteria Checklist.  

What does ADA Optimization mean? 

• It provides an engaging online experience that's accessible to everyone, including people who rely on assistive technology to access the Internet. 
• In the same way your building is accessible to people in wheelchairs, your website should be accessible to residents who use screen readers and voice recognition software.

To learn more see the ADA article: Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities.

Top 7 ADA Compliance Issues

1. Alt Text - Imagine if you were blind, and the screen reader said “Picture of a student.” Would you understand that it refers to a chemical engineering student using a microscope to analyze a specimen?
2. Accessible Forms - Let's say you were filling out a form and forgot to put in your name. The box in the form is highlighted in red but gives no context to the error you made. Even if you don’t have any impairment if this form were longer, how would you know what needs to be fixed? Now, say you were color blind. You’d have no idea what the issue was.
3. Properly Nested HTML - If you were blind, you’d hear the website read through a screen reader. What if the screen reader read out “Dogs are great” “Cats” and “Click here.” Would that make sense?
4. Descriptive Links - Context is difficult when listening to a screen reader. Imagine you had to memorize each sentence and then, in your head, try to figure out what a link such as “click here” means. 
5. Color Contrast - Imagine not being able to see blues well. Can you read the blue text in the bottom right-hand corner?
6. Keyboard Access - What if you were using a screen reader that told you to navigate to a new tab but had no way to open or select the new tab? 
7. Adaptability - What if tables or spreadsheets were displayed correctly in the digital format but broke apart into two separate pages in the printed format? Would the viewability be consistent between the two? 

These 7 ADA compliance were mostly A requirements and occasionally AA requirements. However, there are many other changes required to bring your site up to compliance. 

Other Common ADA Compliance Issues

• Motion actuation - Motion by the user to trigger things/interact with the website. 
• Text Spacing - The amount of space between each character.
• Status Message - Status messages that appear for errors, etc. 
• Animations - Animations that are explained with text. 
• Key shortcuts - Ability to use keyboard shortcuts for certain actions. 
• Target sizes - The size of clickable elements on the page.
• Hover - Text that shows when the user hovers over objects on the page.
• Focus - Where the cursor selects when a user hits enter. 

This is still not a comprehensive list, there are many more ADA compliance regulations and key talking points. To learn more about Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, see the informational PDF:  Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.