The internet plays a vital role in every aspect of life, from government and financial services to retail and entertainment. So it’s essential that websites are designed in a way that allows everyone to use them. This includes people with physical, auditory and cognitive disabilities as well as those with speech or neurological impairments.
Web accessibility means optimizing your website or application so that people with disabilities can access its full range of functionality. It ensures that everyone is able to benefit from the content, services and communities available online.
You can use a text overlay tool, an accessibility widget or compliance solutions that can attempt to solve these issues.
In fact, making sure that it is now a mandatory requirement that your site is accessible for website owners. You must ensure that your site complies with the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Website Compliance Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Failing to meet these standards could leave you open to legal action as well as limit the number of people who are able to access your site.
The easiest way to ensure that your site achieves accessibility compliance is to use one of the web accessibility solutions and tools on the market. There are several options, so it’s important to take the time to select the right solution for your requirements. You should consider your budget, level of technical expertise, and the amount of time you can dedicate to ongoing maintenance of your site’s accessibility. So to help you choose, here are some of the top web accessibility solutions that are currently available:
accessiBe
accessiBe is the market leader when it comes to web accessibility solutions. One of the major advantages of accessiBe is its ease of use. The JS code only takes a few minutes to install, and then within 48 hours the system’s cutting edge AI technology automatically takes care of website accessibility compliance. This includes all of the main accessibility modifications that your website may need, such as screen reader compliance and keyboard navigation modifications.
accessiBe also scans your website on a daily basis, helping to ensure that it will meet many major web accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.1, ADA, Section 508 and more. And its affordable pricing structure puts website accessibility within the reach of even the smallest businesses.
A11Y Compliance Platform
A11Y is a web-based suite of tools, services and reports which tests your site for web accessibility.
The system automatically runs a series of checks on single web pages or groups of pages and is able to assess restricted or password-protected pages. It provides a range of evaluation reports as well as step by step instructions on how to make improvements.
A11Y assesses your site for ADA, Section 508 and WCAG compliance amongst others.
DYNO Mapper
DYNO Mapper is a website organization and planning tool that can also be used to test application or website accessibility. Features include daily keyword tracking, content inventory and content audit, as well as scheduled scanning.
The scanning process will automatically scan your site or individual web pages. They are then assessed for compliance with web accessibility standards including WCAG, Section 508 and other international standards. The results are provided in the form of visual sitemaps to assist with planning any necessary amendments.
Digital Quality Management
Digital Quality Management from Crownpeak is an automated website monitoring tool. It assesses your site for compliance with web accessibility guidelines including Section 508, WCAG, ADA and more. The system can be set to crawl your site on a daily or weekly basis and checks all aspects of your website including URLs, links, images, PDFs and more.
Issues that are picked up in the scan can be viewed on the actual web page, so you can see where changes are necessary. And the system will track the progress you make towards website accessibility.
DubBot
DubBot checks your site for accessibility compliance against the three tiers of WCAG 2.0 and a detailed description is provided for each issue that is identified. The system helps to troubleshoot solutions and assesses the impact of each issue, so you can prioritize the items that need to be addressed most urgently.
Max Access
Max Access is a web accessibility solution that uses AI to scan and update your website to meet ADA and WCAG accessibility guidelines. You can then set the system to repeat the scan every 24 hours, ensuring that any new or updated content also meets web accessibility standards.
Features include alt-tag management, ARIA label management, color contrast customization and color blindness reports. And the system’s comprehensive ‘before and after’ reports show you exactly what is being changed on your site.
Silktide
Silktide is an automated website accessibility testing system that assesses your website against WCAG 2.1, Section 508, AODA, and ADA standards. Each issue identified by the system is clearly explained and then broken down into smaller tasks. This helps you to prioritize the issues you need to tackle first, making web accessibility more manageable.
Support is available through phone, chat or webinar, and the Chrome toolbar allows you to experience your website as a viewer with a range of disabilities would.
LevelAccess
Level Access offers a range of software solutions and services that help you achieve accessibility on your website. These include custom accessibility audit tools, analytics to help you prioritize your work, user training and support. The items combine to provide a solution that is tailored to the needs of the individual business.
Accessible360
Accessible360 helps you to achieve web accessibility compliance by assessing your website and providing an accessibility roadmap. It uses a combination of innovative technology and lives user testing to create a pathway towards an accessible website. Ongoing monitoring, training and senior-level support help to ensure that your site maintains compliance with WCAG 2.0 and ADA accessibility standards.
Deque Systems
Deque Systems is a web accessibility plugin that is available for both Chrome and Internet Explorer. It tests your site for web accessibility and carries out a WCAG compliance audit on web content, even if it’s behind a firewall or authentication.
Step-by-step website accessibility testing makes it easy to identify issues and a series of dashboards allow you to assess and monitor your site’s progress.
How to Make Your Site ADA and WCAG Compliant
No matter tools or solutions you use from the recommended list above, it’s important to make sure your audience is getting the best experience possible on your site. And for this to happen for all site visitors an accessibility adjustment tool is necessary.
Our pick is accessiBe, but please be sure to consider each of the solutions and platforms listed above, as each of them will vary in pricing, features and on-site functionality.
