“The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from.” – Andrew Stuart Tanenbaum, Operating System Creator and Computer Scientist

Standards in any industry are, well, standard. In short, they’re there to provide for a certain level of consistency. For example, the English language has rULES dicTatinG h-ow wurds and sen.ten.ces wrk. All the better so when we all learn the standard, we are all on the same page, so to speak.

And as the above quote states, there are lots of to choose from. There’s British English, American English, and on occasion during many a happy hour, Drunken English too.

But with so many to choose from, there are lots of standards that we ignore, some at our peril.

No, but it did create one, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The A.D.A., or Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. Within that piece of legislation is Title III, which pertains to private sector businesses.

As the web and technology become more pervasive in our day-to-day lives, so does ADA compliance. It requires, amongst other things, that websites are accessible to people with disabilities. In other words, a site must meet WCAG guidelines to ensure people with disabilities can access their content.

Examples of this are:

• On-screen text must meet a minimum contrast ratio against the background
• Sites must be fully navigable via keyboard only
• Sites must be navigable with screen reader software

All these requirements can impact both the visual design and coding of your website.

Sadly, while the intention of the ADA is itself noble in that it provides everyone with disabilities equal access to the same information and services as able-bodied persons, it means that businesses that do not comply are open to litigation. As with a lot of litigation in the U.S. some of it is warranted, some of it not. Regardless, DOJ damage guidelines can reach six figures.

So what can you do about it? Two things; mitigate your risk and be on the defensive.

The good news is your website is probably already mostly compliant. But, 51% compliance in this case isn’t enough.

Depending on who you ask, 70-80% compliancy will help you avoid being litigated against. But while 10% between friends might be cool, when it’s between you and a jury it could well mean a hefty fine so getting your website up to standard is the smart thing to do.

LOL to Baby Boomers always meant ‘Lots Of Love’ before millennials redefined it as ‘Laugh Out Loud’. This unfortunate change in the abbreviation standards led to some rather awkward messages of condolence between parents and their children.

By the same measure, meeting WCAG 2.0 guidelines will keep you out of court today, but WCAG 2.1 is around the corner so ensuring your website is always up-to-date keeps you out of the dog-box and ahead of the bloodthirsty pack of lawyers.

Also, by having a process in place whereby you’re working to meet the standards within a reasonable timeframe, and are always monitoring your site to ensure it stays compliant, gives you a robust legal defense.

DesignStudio can quickly identify which parts of your website are not compliant and can then resolve those issues, helping your site meet the 2.0 or even 2.1 standards. We can also keep an eye on your site, monitoring any changes you make, and even train you and your staff how to safely upload content that doesn’t put you at risk.

How long is a piece of string? Not that long in this case. Some solutions out there can run into the tens of thousands of dollars . In the case of Winn-Dixie, they could have avoided a $100,000+ fine for just $37,000, but for most of our clients, their costs have consistently been in the region of $100 a month or less for ongoing compliance maintenance and monitoring. There are of course variables that affect pricing so the best way to know is to connect with us and we’ll give you a free, no-obligation quote.

At the end of the day, the ADA and WCAG are here to help make the world a better, more accessible place for all, and we think that is great thing. Open access for all is part of our core set of values at DesignStudio and we are only too happy to help make it happen.

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