10 Web Accessibility Examples for ADA Compliance
- Check your website’s compliance in seconds
- 1. Create Visual Impact With High Contrast
- 2. Take Control With the Keyboard
- 3. Leave a Trail of Breadcrumbs
- 4. Suggest Corrections if Users Get It Wrong
- 5. Let Users Scale Text to Their Needs
- 6. Paint a Clearer Picture With Alt Text
- 7. Let People Pause Scrolling Content
- 8. Set the Tone With a Table of Contents
- 9. Use the Correct HTML Tags To Identify Headings
- 10. Write Compelling (and Accurate) Page Titles
- Understanding ADA Website Compliance and its Requirements
10 Accessible and ADA-Compliant Website Examples
Check out 10 websites that follow the latest WCAG guidelines to deliver engaging, accessible user experiences.
Web accessibility promotes inclusivity and protects you from legal litigation. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require organizations to create a digitally accessible website or risk potential legal consequences.
Here’s the good news: You can definitely create a website that is both ADA-compliant and visually stunning.
Below, we’ll show you 10 examples of web accessibility created by various organizations.
10 Examples of Great ADA-Compliant Websites
1. Scope: Create Visual Impact With High Contrast
Scope proves that businesses don’t need to sacrifice a slick brand identity to meet requirements for color contrast ratios. The site has a high color contrast ratio of 9.66:1 between its logo and page background. According to WCAG Success Criteria 1.4.3: Contrast (minimum), the minimum contrast ratio is 4.5:1. Because Scope’s is much higher, it’s easy for users with visual impairments or color blindness to view the page.
Curious about your brand’s accessibility? Use our free color contrast checker to see if your brand colors meet the latest WCAG requirements.
2. BBC News: Take Control With the Keyboard
WCAG Success Criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard requires all website content to be operable with the use of a keyboard alone. The BBC News website is an excellent example of how to implement this functionality. For example, users can hit the ‘Tab’ button on their keyboard and cycle through every element on the page without needing a mouse.
This is particularly useful for users with limited mobility or difficulty with fine motor control. They can maneuver through the BBC website via a keyboard emulator such as speech input software, sip-and-puff software, on-screen keyboards, and more.
4. Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Suggest Corrections if Users Get It Wrong
In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has created a responsive search experience that makes it easier for users to find information. The search function still provides relevant search results even if information is spelled incorrectly or in the wrong format.
For example, if an address is spelled incorrectly, the search bar can provide suggested addresses beneath the search bar. These recommendations ensure users can find information or get to where they want to go.
5. RNID: Let Users Scale Text to Their Needs
Small text can be a hurdle for low-vision users, which is why RNID (a hearing loss charity) enables users to scale text size up to 300% without disrupting the user experience.
Not only does this ensure low-vision users can still read content, but it also fulfills WCAG SC 1.4.4: Resize text guidelines. This requires text to be resized without assistive technology up to 200 percent without loss of content or functionality.
6. National Federation of the Blind: Paint a Clearer Picture With Alt Text
In the United States, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) highlights some of the best practices around using alternative text (or alt text). Alt text is a written description of an image that screen readers can read out loud or convert to Braille. The NFB’s website includes short, descriptive, and evocative alt text that’s also relevant to the surrounding context of the page.
Essentially, the site’s well-written alt text enables users to understand all the content on a page, making the entire site more accessible and usable to disabled users.
Need help writing better alt text? Check out the Web Accessibility Initiative’s alt text decision tree, which provides best practices on when and how to write alt text.
7. BMW: Let People Pause Scrolling Content
To ensure users with low vision or cognitive disabilities don’t get distracted by content, BMW’s homepage includes a way to pause scrolling content. This functionality fulfills the WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide recommendation and increases users’ concentration.
Additionally, this enables web developers to fit a lot of information on a page without users getting overwhelmed. Take BMW’S carousel for example. Users can pause the scrolling carousel and consume content before moving on to the next slide.
8. Wikipedia: Set the Tone With a Table of Contents
Wikipedia is a prime example of how a table of contents can streamline the browsing experience. The site has over six million English pages, but enables users to navigate through web pages within a set of pages via a clickable table of contents.
This approach also satisfies WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.5: Multiple Ways which recommends providing users more than one way to locate a web page within a set of web pages. Essentially, the idea is to provide users with more than one way to locate content to choose the best way for them.
10. World Wide Web Consortium: Write Compelling (and Accurate) Page Titles
As you’d expect, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) website demonstrates some of the best practices for page titles. Each page title is concise yet descriptive and gives users a clear idea of what the page is about.
This is why paying close attention to getting the content and format right is so important. Doing so will optimize your website’s SEO ranking on search engines and ensure screen readers properly announce what’s on the page.
Understanding ADA Website Compliance and its Requirements
Before we delve into accessible UX design examples, a quick note on what makes a website compliant.
While the ADA doesn’t provide clear guidelines on what a holistic accessibility web design plan should look like, most organizations follow WCAG guidelines. These guidelines help to ensure web content is:
- Perceivable: Content is presented in a perceivable manner or has tools such as audio alternatives and assistive technology that make content perceivable.
- Operable: Ensures your website is easy to operate and navigate and includes accessibility features such as keyboard shortcuts to improve navigation for disabled users.
- Understandable: Content is easily understood, meaning it is readable and predictable.
- Robust: Assistive technology or devices as well as other platforms can interpret your website’s content. This requires content to be compatible with assistive technologies.
Essentially, organizations must ensure content is accessible by and accommodating to users with disabilities. To ensure your website meets accessibility standards, make sure it includes the following:
- Well-written alt-tags for all images, videos, and audio files
- Clear and accurate transcripts for video and audio content
- Up-to-date site language in header code
- Text alternatives when users experience input errors
- Consistent, organized layout that promotes readability
- Follow proper color contrast ratio recommendations
These capabilities enable users with various disabilities to personalize web content to their specific preferences. For example, users with low vision or other visual impairments can increase font size or change color schemes to their preferences. Multiple navigation options, including keyboard navigation, provide users with multiple ways in which to navigate your site. Both practices ensure users have equal access to your content.
However, your website may have additional accessibility barriers preventing users from consuming all your content. A free website accessibility scanner can uncover common accessibility issues and get you closer to creating an ADA-compliant website.
ADA-Compliance Testing: Find Out How Accessible Your Site Is
Here’s the good news: Creating an accessible web design doesn’t require completely overhauling your existing website. Using tools such as a color contrast checker or website accessibility scanner can help you identify major accessibility barriers.
To help you get started in remediating accessibility issues — and getting closer to an ADA-compliant site — there’s AudioEye. From our free color contrast checker to our website accessibility scanner that detects 70% of common accessibility issues, we’ll get you started on the path to sustained ADA compliance.
See where your website currently stands — enter any URL to get a free accessibility scan.
Ready to test your website for accessibility?
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