We’ve recently received some questions from our retailers about what exactly we’ve done, or are doing, to help you be in compliance with legislation regarding website accessibility. Over the last several years, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes to ensure your websites are accessible and usable for a wide variety of shoppers.
Here are 8 key improvements we’ve implemented to improve your website’s accessibility:
- Implemented keyboard (or screen reader) control to access website links, including header navigation and pop-ups.
- Performed an extensive audit to ensure a disabled user can navigate the website, and made changes on both the platform and individual site level to improve the experience.
- Added an Accessibility Statement page to all websites to address commitment to website accessibility, and a way for users to contact you if they encounter an accessibility barrier.
- Required alt attributes (descriptions) for images uploaded through admin tools like the slideshow builder and event scheduler.
- Changed all font color contrast ratios to follow accessible guidelines.
- Recoded our html structure to make it easier to navigate pages with a screen reader.
- Recoded all lead forms so html structure is updated for accessibility.
- Added text fields to browse page filter sliders.
This is not an all-inclusive list, accessibility compliance has become a core step in ongoing maintenance to our platform as we improve and maintain accessibility guidelines for existing, new, and future features. Legislation like the American Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t set exact standards, but we do know that all government agencies (basically any website that ends in “.gov”) are required to use the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, so this is what we conform to as well.
If you have a question or concern about your website being compliant, or a specific request you’ve received, please contact us!