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The Ultimate Guide on How to Make Your WordPress ADA Compliant

Updated   |  7 min read
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Key Takeaways
  • Making a website ADA-compliant involves ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities, such as visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments.
  • It entails implementing features like descriptive alt text for images, proper heading structure, keyboard navigation support, color contrast enhancements, and more.
  • It is crucial to make a website ADA-compliant because it promotes inclusivity, allowing all users to access and navigate the content with ease.
  • By catering to a broader audience, it improves the user experience and avoids potential legal issues related to accessibility violations, fostering a more equitable and welcoming online environment.

What Is WordPress ADA Compliance?

If you are thinking to move your website to WordPress or creating a new website on the platform. This is the right time to make your WordPress ADA compliance website. ADA compliance ensures that your website complies with the legal requirements. You don't have to worry about ADA compliance with WordPress as it offers many plug-ins to make your website compliant with laws and user-friendly.

These WordPress accessibility plug-ins can optimize web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) by providing you with themes and plug-ins to improve the quality of content to meet standards of ADA compliance. We have covered many WordPress tools information and hacks to increase your web accessibility so your WordPress website can be ADA compliant.

Screen readers can help with with ADA compliance.

ADA compliance means making your website friendly enough so people with disabilities and special needs can use it without any obstruction. ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is a US Federal law that protects people with disabilities. You must make your WordPress ADA-compliant so that people with disabilities can also take advantage of your services or website content.

If you fail to meet the set standards then it can lead to serious legal challenges. To make your WordPress ADA compliant, you don't have to worry much as WordPress accessibility plug-ins will make your WordPress content WCAG optimized.

How to Make Your WordPress ADA Compliant

There are some basic ADA compliance checkers that you need to have to make your WordPress ADA-compliant. You can use it in two ways. You can scan your whole WordPress website to find any ADA compliance issues.

In another method, you can run the ADA compliance checker whenever you post new content on the website. With the WordPress accessibility plugin, any issue with your content will be highlighted, and also provide solutions for non-ADA compliance issues. Below are some hacks to make your website ADA compliance.

No Readability Issue in Content

Most of the issues WordPress owners face is that the content of the website is not readable enough for people with disabilities. There are some ways you can make accessible websites by making the content readable for people.

  • Make sure that your content has only 8-10 lines per paragraph.
  • Make sure you adjust the text for mobile users according to media queries, so people don't have difficulty reading your content.
  • Use firm hexadecimal number codes for the background colors of your website to make your WordPress ADA-compliant.
  • Make sure to check the contrast of the text so that doesn't cause difficulty in reading. You can check it with the WordPress accessibility plugin that has a contrast tester.

ALT Text to Image

You must add ALT text to the image. Alt-text is also known as “alt tags” or “alt descriptions”. It is the written description of the text which appears on the screen when the image fails to load on the website. This is important in accordance with WP ADA compliance rules. In this way, the alt text can help your website images in search engine optimization. WP accessibility guidelines ensure your website meets the standards of all different groups.

Use Clear Call to Actions for Screen Readers

It is best to change the call to action link text to different, user-friendly text. This can also reduce the ADA compliance issues and your screen readers can have fewer problems reading on your website. WP ADA compliance guidelines are fulfilled by taking these important actions and you won't be flagged for non-ADA compliance. Screen reader users will also become more loyal customers.

Accessible Poetry Plug-in

This WordPress Accessibility Plug-in comes with a toolbar that has buttons to disable animation, change font size, or adjust contrast. Skip links also make it easy for people with special needs to use the keyboard and navigate their way on the website. This toolbar provides many other features such as link underlining and also supports CSS/JS code. You can easily access this toolbar easily on WordPress by clicking on the floating button.

WA11Y Web Accessibility Toolbox

Compliance for every business is very important. Many people spend time and resources building their websites, designing the theme, and selecting the layout. All of this takes a lot of time. Website owners tend to forget that there are a variety of different groups of people who would visit their websites at the end of the day. This is the main reason to make your WordPress ADA-compliant and achieve ADA compliance.

Web Accessibility Increases

Web Accessibility increases the ratio of traffic on your website as it serves the best user experience. Many websites are not well accessible to everyone and fail to be ADA compliant. Many groups of people have vision, hearing, cognitive, and learning disabilities. When the website fixes the non-compliant issues, it becomes easier for people to acknowledge the website's services. This also increases the chances of web traffic.

Higher Conversion Rate

If your website is non-compliant then people with disabilities cannot buy your product easily, it is hard for them to interact with you just because your website is not ADA-compliant. If you use WordPress Accessibility plug-ins to identify the lacks in your website and make it ADA-compliant then you have higher chances to get more conversion.

Improves SEO Strategy

You can save your business from penalties and legal fees because of non-compliance with ADA. You can avoid these lawsuits by making your WordPress ADA compliance and making it accessible for every type of group.

No Penalties or ADA Lawsuits

You can save your business from penalties and legal fees because of non-compliance with ADA. You can avoid these lawsuits by making your WordPress ADA compliance and making it accessible for every type of group.

Are You Looking for WordPress Experts?

Whether you're dealing with ADA guidelines or something even more demanding—WordPress HIPAA compliance, for example—Clarity Ventures be your ultimate WP accessibility helper with the right solutions based on the current market trend, business area, business industry, and your potential client's interest. We encourage small businesses to achieve BIG and make a difference! Let's have a successful digital journey together.

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FAQ

 

Yes, there are WordPress accessibility plugins available to enhance the accessibility of your website. These plugins offer various features to address common accessibility issues, such as adding alt text to images, improving color contrast, enabling keyboard navigation, managing ARIA attributes, and more. Some WordPress plugins also provide accessibility widgets, which can assist users with disabilities in customizing their browsing experience.

While a free accessibility plugin can be helpful in making your WordPress site more accessible, it's important to remember that it might not guarantee full compliance. Manual efforts and following best practices in conjunction with these plugins are essential for achieving a truly inclusive website.

 

WP accessibility compliance for a WordPress website refers to conforming to the accessibility standards outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It entails ensuring that people with disabilities, including visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments, can access and interact with the website's content without facing barriers.

This involves implementing various features and practices, such as providing descriptive alt text for images, using proper heading structure, offering keyboard navigation support, ensuring color contrast meets accessibility guidelines, and offering alternatives for multimedia content. By achieving compliance, a WP website becomes more inclusive, allowing all users to engage with its content effectively, regardless of their abilities, fostering a more equitable and user-friendly online environment.

 

ADA compliance is crucial for your WordPress website as it ensures inclusivity and equal access for all users, including those with disabilities. By making your site accessible, you create a better user experience and cater to a broader audience. ADA compliance helps people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments navigate and interact with your content effectively. It also fosters a positive image for your brand, showing commitment to social responsibility and inclusivity.

Adhering to accessibility guidelines helps you avoid potential legal issues and ensures your website meets ethical standards, making it a more welcoming and user-friendly platform for everyone.

 

To test if your WP accessibility is ADA-compliant, use accessibility evaluation tools like WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, WebAIM's WCAG Contrast Checker, or Lighthouse in Google Chrome. These tools scan your site for common accessibility issues, such as missing alt text, improper heading structure, color contrast problems, and keyboard navigation support.

Additionally, manually navigate your website using a keyboard only, without a mouse, to identify potential usability concerns. Regularly test your site after updates or content changes to ensure ongoing ADA compliance and create a more inclusive experience for all users.

 

Common accessibility issues in WordPress websites include missing or inadequate alt text for images, improper heading structure or improper use of headings, insufficient color contrast between text and background, lack of keyboard navigation support, non-descriptive link text, inaccessible forms, and the use of elements like carousels or auto-playing media without appropriate alternatives.

Additionally, WP accessibility issues like inaccessible iframes, videos without captions or transcripts, and poor focus management can also hinder users with disabilities. Addressing these issues through best practices and adhering to the WCAG ensures a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for all visitors.

 

While it's challenging to achieve absolute perfection in ADA compliance, making a genuine effort to address accessibility issues can significantly improve your website's accessibility. Strive to follow the WCAG 2.1 or later, which provide comprehensive standards for web accessibility.

Accessibility is an ongoing process, and continuous efforts to improve will make a substantial difference in providing an inclusive experience for all users.

 

Yes, you can use plugins to help make your WordPress site more ADA-compliant. There are various accessibility-focused WordPress plugins available that offer features like adding accessibility widgets, enhancing color contrast, managing ARIA attributes, and improving keyboard navigation.

While these plugins can be valuable tools to address some accessibility issues, it's essential to remember that they might not guarantee full compliance. Manual intervention and following best practices are still necessary to ensure a more comprehensive approach to ADA compliance. Combine the use of a WordPress accessibility plugin with other manual efforts to create a more inclusive website for all users, including those with disabilities.

 

It's advisable to test your website for ADA compliance regularly, especially after making significant changes or updates. Regular testing ensures that any new content, features, or design elements maintain accessibility standards. Additionally, conduct accessibility testing whenever you add multimedia content or implement design changes to identify potential barriers for users with disabilities.

Aim to follow WCAG and periodically use accessibility evaluation tools to assess your site's compliance. By testing your website regularly, you can address any issues promptly and provide an inclusive user experience, promoting equal access for all visitors.

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Written by Stephen Beer
Stephen Beer is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures and has written about various tech industries for nearly a decade. He is determined to demystify HIPAA, integration, enterpise SEO, and eCommerce with easy-to-read, easy-to-understand articles to help businesses make the best decisions.

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