Assisting with Website ADA Compliance

In the digital age it is crucial that everyone, regardless of their abilities, is able to access and navigate websites with ease. AccessiBe, a leading website ADA compliance solution, has emerged as a prominent player in this pursuit, aiming to make the internet more inclusive and accessible for all users.

What is AccessiBe?

AccessiBe is a comprehensive website ADA compliance service we use at Riverworks Marketing that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to automate the process of making websites accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Why did Riverworks choose AccessiBe as our website ADA compliance tool?

In an attempt to assist businesses’ accessibility online, as well as to ensure compliance with legal requirements and industry best practices, Riverworks chose to move forward with AccessiBe for a variety of reasons.

AI-Powered Automated Accessibility
AccessiBe’s AI technology scans and analyzes website elements to understand their structure, functionality, and content. It then automatically applies adjustments and enhancements to make the website accessible for users with disabilities. This includes improving keyboard navigation, adding alternative text to images, optimizing color contrast, and more.

User Interface Adjustments
AccessiBe provides a range of user interface adjustments, such as text size and spacing customization, font modifications, etc. These features allow users to personalize the website according to their preferences, ensuring a more comfortable browsing experience.

Screen Reader Compatibility
AccessiBe enhances compatibility with screen readers, tools that are essential for individuals with visual impairments. It achieves this by generating alternative descriptions (alt text) for images and visual elements on the website, enabling screen readers to convey the information accurately.

Keyboard Navigation Optimization
AccessiBe ensures that websites can be easily navigated using only a keyboard, eliminating barriers for individuals who cannot use a mouse or other pointing devices. This feature is especially helpful for people with motor disabilities or those who rely on assistive technologies like switches or head pointers.

Content Summarization and Simplification
AccessiBe’s AI technology can summarize and simplify complex content, making it easier to comprehend for users with cognitive disabilities or learning difficulties. This feature enhances inclusivity by ensuring that all users can access and understand the information provided on the website.

How can AccessiBe benefit Riverworks Marketing clients?

The services above can be lifesavers for your customers with disabilities, but there are also broader benefits to website ADA compliance that businesses like yours can make the most of.

Improved Accessibility Compliance
AccessiBe helps businesses meet and maintain accessibility standards, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and 2.2. By automating accessibility adjustments, AccessiBe simplifies the process of achieving compliance, saving time and effort.

Legal Protection
AccessiBe’s website ADA compliance helps protect businesses from potential legal issues related to accessibility non-compliance. Accessibility lawsuits have become increasingly common, and having a comprehensive solution like AccessiBe in place demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and reduces the risk of legal complications.

Enhanced User Experience

By making websites accessible to a wider range of users, AccessiBe enhances the overall user experience. It enables individuals with disabilities to navigate websites independently, fostering inclusivity and equal access to your information, products, and services.

Positive Brand Image
Investing in website ADA compliance demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. By implementing AccessiBe, businesses can enhance their brand image by promoting equal access and providing a user-friendly experience for all users.

Does AccessiBe make my website fully ADA compliant?

No automated tool, on its own, can promise complete ADA compliance, and you should be wary of any vendor that says otherwise. What AccessiBe does is handle a large share of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) automatically: it adds missing image descriptions, improves keyboard navigation, adjusts color contrast, and gives every visitor controls to tailor the page to how they read and browse. For most small and mid-sized business websites, that closes the majority of the gaps that create real barriers for people with disabilities.

The areas automation cannot fully solve are the ones tied to your specific content and design: a confusing checkout flow, a custom interactive map, a form that does not explain its own errors, or video that needs human-written captions. Those need a person to review and fix them. That is why we treat AccessiBe as the foundation of an accessible site rather than the finish line. We pair it with accessible design choices when we build and periodic manual checks, so your website keeps improving toward WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 AA, the level most organizations are measured against.

What an accessibility overlay can and cannot do

AccessiBe belongs to a category of tools called accessibility overlays: software that sits on top of your existing site and adjusts it for assistive technology and individual user needs. Overlays get a website accessible quickly and affordably, and they let visitors change text size, spacing, contrast, and more without you rebuilding anything.

They do their best work alongside sound accessibility practices, not in place of them. Complex, custom-built features and nuanced content still benefit from manual remediation by someone who tests with real screen readers and keyboard navigation. When we set up AccessiBe for a client, we look at where automation carries the load and where a hands-on pass is worth it, so you get both the speed of the tool and the durability of work done by hand. It also fits how we approach website design and development, where accessibility is built in from the start rather than added later.

ADA website compliance and the law

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires many businesses to make their goods and services accessible, and U.S. courts have increasingly applied that expectation to websites. Over the past several years, web-accessibility demand letters and lawsuits have risen steadily, and they reach well beyond large corporations. Small local businesses receive them too, often over an issue a visitor with a disability ran into on a public page.

Keeping your website accessible lowers that exposure and shows a good-faith effort to serve every customer. It is not a guarantee against a claim, and this page is not legal advice; for your specific obligations, talk with an attorney who handles ADA matters. What we can do is make sure your site is built and maintained with accessibility in mind, so you are addressing the issue rather than hoping it does not find you.

Who needs website ADA compliance?

If your website is how customers learn about you, contact you, book appointments, or buy, accessibility applies to you. Public-facing businesses, including restaurants, retailers, medical and professional practices, nonprofits, and service companies, are the most common subjects of accessibility complaints regardless of size. Accessible websites also reach more people: roughly one in four U.S. adults lives with a disability, and a site that works well for them tends to work better for everyone, including the search engines and AI assistants that increasingly read pages the way assistive technology does.

Get in Touch with Your Account Manager to Add Accessibe

For businesses in Chattanooga and beyond, AccessiBe offers a comprehensive solution for website ADA compliance. The service provides benefits such as compliance with accessibility standards, automation, user-friendly interface adjustments, compatibility with assistive technologies, content simplification, legal protection, improved user experience, and more. Contact your Account Manager to get started on making your website more accessible for everyone!

What Are the WCAG Standards?

Most website accessibility work follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the international standard for making digital content usable by people with disabilities. Website ADA compliance is generally measured against WCAG, so understanding it helps you know what “accessible” really means.

WCAG is built around four principles, often shortened to POUR:

• Perceivable. People can take in the content, with text alternatives for images, captions for video, and enough color contrast to read comfortably.
• Operable. People can navigate and use the site, including by keyboard alone, without time limits or content that could trigger seizures.
• Understandable. Content reads clearly and the site behaves in predictable ways.
• Robust. The site works reliably with assistive technologies like screen readers.

WCAG defines three conformance levels: A (basic), AA (the level most organizations aim for and the common benchmark for ADA compliance), and AAA (the most stringent). AccessiBe helps move your site toward WCAG AA by improving these areas automatically and giving visitors tools to adjust the experience to their needs.

Website ADA Compliance FAQ