Does your company website meet legal accessibility standards? Learn more about accessibility and create a strategic plan of action with the INHOUSE Accessibility 101 Handbook.

1. IS YOUR SITE ACCESSIBLE?
ACCESSIBILITY 101 AND APPLYING IT TO YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE

2. LET’S IMAGINE…
Say a prospective customer decides to go visit your company
website today to purchase an item or learn more about your
services. Sounds great but there is one problem, they have
disability that impairs their ability to see the screen.
Is your site set up to assist this customer through your pages? If not,
your site might not be meeting legal requirements and you could
be at risk for liabilities.

3. ACCESSIBILITY 101
WHAT IS DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY?
“Digital accessibility is the ability for a website,
mobile application or electronic document to be
easily navigated and understood by a wide range of
users, including those users who have visual,
auditory, motor or cognitive disabilities.”1
1. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digital-accessibility

4. ACCESSIBILITY 101
Bringing your website up to accessibility standards will not only
reduce risk to your company but it can also increase your customer
reach to those who have disabilities.
These standards benefit and help all those who cannot see the
screen, have difficulties hearing sound, have trouble using the mouse
or keyboard or have cognitive difficulties.

5. ACCESSIBILITY 101
Through different processes like Braille displays, screen readers,
open/closed captions, transcript files and speech to text software,
these processes will allow more people to access your site and better
understand your product or service.
Accessibly standards can also enhance your website SEO and make
your site more visible to more customers through search engines.
“Currently over 80% of Accessibility improvements will serve a
benefit to your website SEO.”2
2. https://www.slideshare.net/CaitlinCashin/what-is-digital-accessibility

6. LEGISLATION TO ENFORCE
ACCESSIBILITY
There are many reasons to begin the process of implementing accessibility to your website,
but a major factor should be the legal requirements that set accessibility standards.
For example, “The United States Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508,
mandates that all electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained,
or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities.”

7. LEGISLATION TO ENFORCE
ACCESSIBILITY
There are many other laws and regulations around website
accessibility that change depending on the company, so it is
important for your company to research and meet with your
legal department to better understand what requirements your
website or application needs to reach to meet these standards.

8. GET TO PLANNING
WEBSITE AUDIT FOR ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS
DESIGN & LAYOUT CHANGES
CONTENT & FUNCTIONALITY UPDATES

9. WEBSITE AUDIT
A great first step in the planning process is to get a website or
application audit to define the level to which your site currently passes
and does not meet legal standards.
These website audits can provide critical insight into your website
accessibility needs or will allow your team to be able to create a
strategic plan of action to meet the requirements of your
company site.

10. DESIGN & LAYOUT CHANGES
One of the major reasons sites do not meet standards is often due
to design and layout. A great place to start in meeting accessibility
requirements is to make sure the layout and design of your website
are clear, readable and easy to navigate. If accessibility isn’t
considered during the wireframe and design phase, it can be a long
expensive road to fix these changes when a lawsuit comes your way.

11. CONTENT & FUNCTIONALITY
UPDATES
It’s critical during the development phase to make sure that coding standards
are followed for content and functionality so that you are building for accessibly
from the ground up. This will eliminate most of the common accessibility issues,
that block screen readers from accessing the content successfully.
CMS (Content Management Systems) are a great way for you to continuously
update content and keep your website fresh, but can also be the root of many
accessibility issues. Once development is complete and the site is handed off, it’s
important to train your employees on accessibility best practices when updating
content for your website.

12. IN CONCLUSION
Accessibility standards can differ from company to company but it is a critical
conversation for your team to have. Get the conversation started and begin
your research to learn how your company website can better reach more
customers and meet the legal requirements.
If you are interested in a free website or application audit,
please call (603) 766-4962 to reach our accessibility
experts at INHOUSE Worldwide.

13. GET YOUR FREE WEBSITE AUDIT TODAY
(603) 766-4962