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If you want to take website accessibility seriously, then manual accessibility auditing is a must.

Whenever I hear the word “manual” I sigh to myself. Mostly because I’m lazy and manual suggests hard work. 

But if my years of watching 5-minute craft videos have taught me anything, it’s that there’s always something that makes things easier (usually superglue and plastic bottles).

When it comes to your website’s accessibility testing you probably already use or have considered using an automated testing platform like Silktide. 

But if you are, does that mean you don’t need to do anything else? Does it mean that manual accessibility auditing can be ignored? We don’t think so. And here’s why.

Pssst. Don’t worry if you’ve not got the internal resources to do manual testing yourself. We give you some tips on how to do it at the end of the article .

Level up your dedication to accessibility

Manual accessibility testing is carried out by people. And that’s important. Because people have empathy. 

Where AI and automation tools see accessibility checks as a box-ticking exercise, a person can actually consider how users with disabilities use your website. 

Manual accessibility auditing combines human judgment, empathy, and a deep understanding of accessibility.

They go beyond surface-level assessments and cover your website’s key pages, templates, and forms. The result? Detailed and actionable reports that break down issues and step-by-step guidance for remediation.

You shouldn’t be working to make your website accessible to get another badge on your collar. You should be doing it to make your website a better place for people who use it.

Accessibility audits don’t have to be as boring as they sound

Hearing “accessibility audit” isn’t quite inspiring enough to get me out of bed in the morning. Often it can be pages and pages of spreadsheets and documents that blend into one as you develop a serious case of brain fuzz.

But that doesn’t have to be the case.

With manual accessibility auditing, you can ensure reports are built in a way that is actually beneficial. It’s what we do with our own manual audit reports (spoiler alert! We do manual testing).

Accessibility audits should have clear and concise explanations. Without that, they just aren’t… accessible. Ironic, right?

Protect yourself from legal risks

Legal risk can be scary. But with manual testing, you can accurately find places where your website doesn’t comply with accessibility regulations. That means you can take better protective measures to mitigate risk. 

Accessibility is hard. And learning it can take a long time. So using the expertise of a manual auditor with years of experience means you get it right first time.

If you want to find out more about accessibility legislation visit our Glossary, including articles covering the ADA, Section 508, EU Web Accessibility Directive, and more.

Dig deep into your website content

Manual accessibility auditing lets you dig through all your content. From web pages to templates, forms, PDFs, and videos – the benefit of manual audits is that they can look at it all. 

But it’s not just about finding where problems lie. Manual auditors give you a detailed breakdown of why the problem is a problem. Then they guide you step-by-step to fix them.

Accessibility testing on actual devices

The best way to test websites for accessibility is by actually using the devices and technology your visitors use. 

This includes the usual suspects, desktop, tablet, and mobile – all on different operating systems such as iOS, Windows, and Android. But that’s not all. 

They may also test using accessibility technology like screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and Talkback. 

All of this adds up to a lot of testing and in some cases, knowledge of how to use the technology. 

It’s something that would take years of training and experience to gain that sort of expertise in-house. So why not get someone in who already does?

Accessibility testing tips, as promised

At the start of this article, I promised you some tips on how to do some manual testing yourself. Be warned, it’s not easy.

• Learn accessibility
  If you want to find accessibility issues on your website then you’re going to need to be able to identify what is a problem. And it’s not going to be a quick Google to find out. Luckily enough you’re in the right place. We’ve got tons of blog articles about accessibility and a YouTube channel full of bite-sized explanations.
  
• Understand WCAG
  The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a set of guidelines most cited for what is considered “accessible”. There are different versions and different levels of WCAG compliance. Be warned, it’s not an easy read, but you’re going to want to know this stuff.
  
• Use multiple devices and accessibility technology
  Just because a page looks good on a desktop, doesn’t mean it’s going to be good on mobile too. And unfortunately, you can even find accessibility problems on one browser, that aren’t there on another. The best thing to do is to test your site using multiple browsers and multiple different devices. You should also try using a screen reader on your site. These can be quite hard to get used to though. Fortunately, we’ve got a handy beginner-friendly field guide that’ll help you get started.
  
• Keep at it
  There’s no “right time” to improve your website’s accessibility. Instead, it should be a constant effort. If you’re building or migrating your website, then it’s the perfect time. You can focus on accessibility right from the beginning and save a HUGE amount of time down the line.

By now, I’m sure you’re convinced. Manual accessibility auditing should be part of your workflow. And if you need a hand getting there, let’s talk and see how we can help.

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TLDR; Accessibility overlays are literally the worst thing you can do for web accessibility.

Web accessibility in 2 lines of code?

An accessibility overlay (sometimes called an accessibility widget) is a piece of software that promises to make your website accessible without you lifting a finger. They let users change accessibility settings while on your website and customize the browsing experience.

All you need to do is add it to your website through a couple of lines of code and boom! Your website is accessible!

Isn’t it?

Everybody loves quick and easy solutions. But unfortunately, website accessibility isn’t that simple.

Accessibility overlays promise to make websites more accessible, but in truth, they masquerade as a silver bullet to prevent accessibility lawsuits. And they don’t even keep you safe from that.

But perhaps we’re being harsh. Maybe overlays do work?

Do accessibility overlays make my website legally compliant?

Legal requirements for website accessibility are different depending on a multitude of factors. These include where you are in the world, and whether you are in the public or private sector. But let’s make it simple. In the US, websites must adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which requires websites to be accessible to users with disabilities. Yet the standard they need to reach to be considered accessible is unclear.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a series of guidelines for website accessibility, and generally, most of the world agrees WCAG is the universal standard to follow. Some laws specifically reference WCAG, and others do not. But even the Department of Justice references WCAG during ADA breach lawsuits.

Now for the kicker.

Despite what you may have heard, overlays do not comply with the ADA or most other accessibility laws across the world. They simply don’t meet WCAG standards.

There are countless criteria that overlays don’t address, such as mobile compatibility and PDF documents, but even the issues they do address are unreliable. Take, for example, the settings for reducing motion. Ideally, websites should apply the CSS media query ‘prefers-reduced-motion’ where needed.

Overlays don’t implement this. Instead, they attempt to pause everything themselves, which can produce more harmful results.

What all this means is that accessibility overlays do not and will not protect your website from accessibility lawsuits. Why? Because they don’t make your website accessible.

Automated content generation in accessibility overlays

Accessibility overlays can attempt to generate content such as headings and alternative text automatically. While a machine might be smart enough to identify the contents of an image, what it won’t provide is the context.

For example, an accessibility overlay might try to generate alt text for the image below as “Image: Men in a boat.”

But is that really helpful?

Instead, here’s some alt text we’ve written that includes the context accessibility overlays simply can’t generate.

“Image: Painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware river in 1766”

Do you see how that is more informative?

Compliance means making sure that users are not deprived of any information due to how they access the content. With overlays, you simply can’t guarantee they will do this. You can read our article on writing better alt text if you’d like to know more.

Do accessibility overlays actually help?

Okay, so accessibility overlays are not compliant, but do they actually help people? Well, a survey from the accessibility group WebAIM found that only 2.4% of disabled users found overlays effective.

In fact, this sentiment is widespread across accessibility spaces. There’s even an open letter signed by accessibility advocates opposing the use of overlays.

And they’re not just targeting a single overlay. There are lots of overlays out there. Visiting a website is rolling the dice on which accessibility plugin you’ll encounter in the bottom corner of your screen. But that’s another problem. The user has to navigate to the overlay menu and apply their preferred settings. Every time.

If you’ve ever been annoyed with pop-ups, chat bubbles, and cookie banners littering your screen, you can imagine how difficult it can be to close them without using a mouse or being able to see the screen. This process is not only frustrating but exhausting.

More complexity means less accessibility.

Are accessibility overlays better than nothing?

You might be thinking “So overlays aren’t perfect. Surely they’re better than nothing?” Well, no. Ready for the big twist? Your operating system or web browser already has all of the options that you’ll see in accessibility overlays.

Zooming into the page? You can do that with your keyboard. Larger text? Every operating system lets you do this. Cursor size? Yes.

Here’s the thing. Users who depend on these features will already have them enabled, and overlays will try to overwrite them with their own settings. This means that accessibility overlays don’t make websites any more accessible, they only put barriers up to people who have their own accessibility configurations.

A practice like this may not be helpful, but it is performative. Websites wear accessibility overlays like a badge of honor, to show the world how much they care about accessibility. Overlay providers are aware of this, and will sometimes include it as part of their pitch.

Overlays don’t solve everything, and even what they claim to solve doesn’t always work. Even something simple like changing the text size can make the website unreadable since overlays don’t reformat the page.

Are accessibility overlays a good code-free solution?

This comes down to our final point. Accessibility overlays might call themselves a code-free solution, but their main selling point is why they don’t work. The underlying code is what makes or breaks a website. It makes it mobile-friendly. It makes it work with assistive technology. It makes it functional.

If overlays don’t change your website’s code, then how can they possibly fix any accessibility issues in your website’s code?

Overlays create problems and resell features that everyone already has. And they don’t make websites compliant with accessibility legislation. And it’s not just us who thinks they suck.

Do accessibility overlays actually work?

In short, no. But don’t just take it from us. People in the accessibility community strongly warn and advise against accessibility overlays.

Regardless of what they claim, overlays simply can’t bring a website into full ADA compliance or ensure that it meets all WCAG requirements.

Perkins Access

Beware of companies claiming to use AI solutions to make websites accessible

Haben Girma

Largest U.S. Blind Advocacy Group Bans Web Accessibility Overlay Giant From Its National Convention

Forbes

Accessibility groups and influencers have been outspoken about the accessibility overlay problem. More and more publications have shed light on the issue and yet websites still use them. While companies think they’re saving money and “doing the right thing” by supporting them, it’s the users who are paying the price.

You don’t need us to preach about the importance of website accessibility. We just need to agree on a solution that works for everyone, and that means listening to what the community is saying.

Basically, overlays are terrible. Don’t use them.

Web Accessibility Education

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Let’s be honest. Migrating a website can be a real headache. 

Between managing content, broken links, and accessibility checking, it can feel like a never-ending to-do list. 

You’ve probably heard that you can expect a large drop-off in traffic after launching a new website. And while this can be true, it doesn’t have to be. Migrating or launching a new website doesn’t have to mean saying goodbye to your traffic or revenue. In fact, it’s possible to maintain and even grow your traffic after launching a new website.

So what’s the secret? Moz says “every single step [has to be] well-planned and executed.” But surely that goes without saying? The thing is, it’s a big project, with a ton of work. And that means it’s easy to slip up without realizing which can have huge ramifications on your website performance. That’s where automation tools come in.

But is it really worth the extra cost for automation tools during an already expensive website rebuild or migration project? Many would argue that it’s essential.

How do I manage content during a website migration?

One of the biggest challenges of a website migration project is moving content between websites. This can cause a whole host of issues, from hundreds of broken links to duplicate content. These issues have the potential to tank your site’s SEO and discoverability.

Here’s an example of a large retailer that after switching from HTTP to HTTPS saw a loss of 35% of visibility within just 2 weeks. It took them 6 months to recover. With a dip that large, the loss of revenue is huge.

The solution is easy – on the surface. Simply launch your website without issues like broken links and duplicate content. In reality, it’s a very difficult task. Finding these issues takes time and a whole lot of testing. And when you’re towards the end of a large website project, it’s easy just to go live with the intent to solve these issues later. 

Silktide helps us understand the new website, how it all hangs together, how it flows, and identify quickly any issues we are causing with the new build.

– Health Transformation Manager at National Health Service

That’s why it’s so important to track these issues throughout the website migration project. Using web automation tools, you can save time by taking the legwork out of manual tasks. By automating the finding, tracking, and monitoring of content issues as they arise you can make the whole project smoother, and remove the chance of human error.

How do I avoid traffic drops during a website migration?

It’s easy to assume that if the content on your website doesn’t change, then it should still perform the same after a website migration or rebuild. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. 

A new website can introduce a whole host of issues, from content, user experience, and accessibility, to crawling and indexing issues. This can damage your website’s user experience, performance, and brand reputation. Removing (or adding) large amounts of content, can also damage SEO visibility and conversions.

Automation tools that scan your entire website for these issues can help build an accurate picture of how your website looks to Google. Often the technology to crawl and rank your website is similar to how these automation tools work.

Armed with this sort of data, you can turn the odds in your favor and stand a better chance of setting yourself up for better rankings and an increase in traffic after launch.

Should my website be more accessible after a website migration?

Since the big boom in smartphones, the idea of “Mobile first” web design has been at the top of the list for any website migration project. However, we’re stepping into an era where mobile-first is second to “Accessibility-first.”

If a website is accessible, that means that it also works seamlessly on mobile devices – it’s a huge part of accessibility standards like WCAG. Think of it this way; website performance is a subset of website accessibility.

That’s why many websites are turning away from mobile-first design to accessibility-first instead. It allows websites to be built with the same benefits as mobile-first design plus a ton more. Increased accessibility means better SEO, more available market size, and a better user experience. 

“We can make sure that overall the theme is accessible and compliant from the start. What we really didn’t want to do was get to the completion of the website, and then find that we built in a load of problems that we then had to go back to, and so it was really a case of wanting to build it effectively along the way and the team use and refer to Silktide for that on a daily basis to make sure that that happens.“

– Health Transformation Manager at National Health Service

Automation tools that can find and report on accessibility issues alongside content and user experience optimizations means that you can ensure your new website is on track throughout development.

Starting a website rebuild or migration project with this mindset saves you time down the line too. You won’t need to invest the time to improve the fundamental structure of your website to make it accessible after launch.

How do I know if my new website is really ready to launch?

Automated tools can access the areas where your content isn’t yet live. The fact that these tools can access areas behind a VPN or on a staging site can give you increased confidence that your site is ready to go live. 

By identifying and fixing issues as they arise, you can ensure your site is fully optimized and accessible before launching. This is the best way to avoid those large drops in traffic and website performance after launch. 

How do I manage a website migration project?

Managing a website migration project can be challenging, especially with a large site with lots of pages and content that are essential to get right. Add large teams, or external resources into the mix and it’s very easy for the project to blossom into something overwhelming. 

Automation tools are a vital project management resource that can streamline the process and make it much smoother. You can keep track of all your site’s pages, content, and issues, making it easier to identify areas for improvement and track progress. 

You can schedule page checks so that you can be sure that your reports are all up to date. This removes the headache from managing a large amount of work and meeting deadlines. By automating the processes that can be done by a computer, you can save time and effort, allowing you to focus on more important aspects of your project.

How do I prevent a negative impact on my existing website visitors?

Moving content between websites can be a time-consuming and challenging task. There is always a risk of losing content or introducing errors such as broken links, pages that don’t work on mobile, or outdated content.

For your existing website visitors, this sudden bad experience can seriously damage your brand reputation. Or worse, turn your loyal brand advocates away.

Using automation tools, you can identify and resolve any content-related issues before going live. The result? Your new website is error-free and ensures a smooth user experience for your existing website visitors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, using automation tools during your website migration can be incredibly valuable. They help ensure accessibility, improve SEO, save time, and enhance user experience. They can give you complete confidence in your new site and reduce the chances of reduced traffic and revenue.

With the cost and time involved in a large website rebuild or migration project, it’s essential that everything goes smoothly. It’s already difficult to launch a new website without seeing a large dip in web visitors and revenue that takes a long time to recover from. So don’t make it even harder. 

Want to see how your website holds up? Get a free scan of your website.

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Expect a year of change in the world of websites, as cutting-edge AI technology takes center stage.

2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year for website design and development, with many trends set to make a big impact on the industry. In this article, we’ll take a look at seven key trends to watch out for in the coming year.

1. AI design becomes mainstream

AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E-2 took the internet by storm towards the end of 2022 and it doesn’t look like the hype is going to die down in 2023. Already we’re seeing users using AI tools to inspire design and content ideas and save time. Expect to see more AI-generated website designs and more tough conversations on who owns what when it comes to AI-generated art.

If you’ve watched any sci-fi movie ever then you might recognize large steps in AI technology as the start of the end. In truth, it’s unlikely we’re going to see a time-traveling Arnie any time soon. Instead, there’s potential for AI to inspire us to break conformity when it comes to web design.

Over the years web design has fallen into a repetitive routine, they might all be different, but they essentially all look the same. We’ve decided on what a good website looks like and we all aspire to it instead of innovating. There’s a chance that AI-generated designs could be the push we need to start.

2. AI-generated content will be everywhere

On the content side of things, users of AI technology such as ChatGPT are already realizing its potential to change the game. Much like the in-demand skill of “Good at Googling”, it seems 2023 will be the year in which the art of prompt writing for AI tools becomes a valid skill for the resume.

Content marketing has long been a core pillar of an organization’s digital marketing strategy. But releasing a variety of content is often a challenge. Tools like ChatGPT make it a walk in the park. Expect savvy entrepreneurs to integrate AI tools into their websites to automate SEO-boosted blog articles, social media posts, and emails during 2023. In fact, we expect over a million web pages will contain AI-generated content before the end of 2023.

There are other steps to take too. Website chatbots are likely to install advanced AI to provide a more authentic and personalized experience for users. It is hard to say whether it’ll be indistinguishable from a human before the end of the year. But considering these AI tools are still in their infancy, it wouldn’t be surprising.

3. Cookies are dying

It’s been 10 years since Safari and Firefox browsers began taking internet privacy seriously and disabled the use of third-party cookies. Now, Google is finally catching up. In fact, it’s been “catching up” for a while.

Google announced it would be dropping third-party cookies on the Chrome browser back in January 2020. Now, it looks like they’re finally going to make good on that promise by the end of 2024. Expect 2023 to be the year that many organizations start thinking about alternative “cookie-free” technologies.

When cookies are finally no more, it’s going to mean big changes for many organizations. They’ll need to rewrite their software to follow the new rules. So yes, cookies are dying, but despite the efforts of companies like us creating cookie-free analytics solutions, the cookie banner is likely here to stay.

Despite this, website professionals should be aware that the way they collect and process data is going to change significantly. This is a great opportunity to rethink how to approach user data and make sure that data privacy is at the forefront of your website strategy.

4. Apple is looking at changing reality

Apple is expected to release Reality OS or xrOS, its new VR or AR project this year. There’s a lot of speculation about what it will exactly be – likely a VR headset/AR glasses combo that they hope will be the next big thing in consumer technology. While the tech is likely to be out of most people’s budget on release day, it could have a huge impact on web design and development.

The real question is, how do you build a website that works in augmented reality? How do users navigate? How do you optimize it? All these questions are speculative right now but 2023 is likely to be the year we start getting answers. If the tech is as big as rumors suggest, it’ll make website professionals rethink everything they know about website design. It’ll have a huge positive impact on digital accessibility and so a fully accessible web may be a lot closer than we think.

5. The next generation of voice control

The next level of sophisticated voice recognition technology, such as OpenAI’s Whisper, means we’ll likely see more voice-controlled devices and web navigation tools. This will be game-changing for web accessibility and will allow users to navigate a website using voice commands, rather than a mouse and keyboard.

6. Google will enable new web transitions

Earlier in 2022 we looked at Google’s new web transitions that allow the simple implementation of fancy animated transitions across a website. It’s the first step towards making websites look and feel more like native apps. Right now they are being tested but it is likely they’ll be released later in 2023.

7. WCAG 2.2 will finally release

After numerous delays, the next version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is set to release in 2023. If you want to know more about what’s coming up in WCAG 2.2, you can watch our on-demand webinar or watch our YouTube series on WCAG 2.2.

It’s unlikely WCAG 2.2 will be upheld as a legal requirement any time soon. But it’s important to be aware of the changes that are coming. Particularly as organizations such as the Department of Justice have been working hard to hold organizations with inaccessible websites legally accountable.

8. Everyone is going dark mode

When it comes to design, more and more users are switching to dark mode on their devices, and it’s no surprise that this trend is set to continue in 2023. Expect to see more websites offering toggles for users to switch between light and dark modes to reduce eye strain and improve website readability.

9. A legal focus on privacy

Privacy laws are on the rise in the US inspired by GDPR regulations in Europe, and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Privacy laws on the way that will be enforced in 2023 specifically include:

• The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“Virginia Act”) – effective January 1, 2023

• The Colorado Privacy Act (“Colorado Act”) – effective July 1, 2023

• The Connecticut Act Concerning Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring (“Connecticut Act”) – effective July 1, 2023

• The Utah Privacy Act (“Utah Act”) – effective December 1, 2023

Collectively, these are known as the “2023 State Privacy Laws”, and will require organizations to update existing privacy notices, extend additional rights to consumers and update contracts with vendors.

You can read more about the 2023 State Privacy Laws, what they include and what steps to take to prepare here.

10. Introducing Progressive Web Apps

We’ve heard a lot of buzz recently about Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). This looks to be the next step to bridge the gap between websites and native apps. For example, PWAs work offline and can access the user’s camera or photo album at their permission. It seems PWAs are a direct response to the increasing amount of users that browse the web on mobile compared with desktop.

It’s unlikely it’ll become the norm for all organizations. Instead, it’ll be a niche case for social media websites and other sites with a high volume of visitors. Here’s a great video about PWAs and how to build them yourself in case you’re interested.

In conclusion, 2023 is set to be a year of big changes and exciting developments in the world of website design and development. With so many new trends and technologies on the horizon, it’s an exciting time to be a part of the industry. Stay ahead of the curve by keeping an eye on these trends, and by being mindful of the legal and ethical implications of these new technologies.

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In August 2022, Google published a blog post talking about their new Shared Element Transition API. And boy, do they look neat.

Now unless you’re a web developer or just a switched-on tech god, Shared Element Transition API probably just sounds like a bunch of random words. And that’s okay (it kind of is).

Web developers are pretty smart and so they can make cool effects and transitions happen on the page when a user does something specific. Just check out Screaming Frog’s Our Story page. I think you’ll agree that it looks awesome.

Companies aiming to be at the cutting edge of web design have done this sort of thing for years, so why don’t more websites do it too? Well, first, it requires a decent amount of web design and development understanding (a resource some companies just don’t have). And second, it takes a lot of time to get right.

That’s where Google’s new Shared Element Transition API comes in. Where page effects and transitions could take dozens of lines of code, now, the same can be achieved in two. It saves a bunch of time, a lot of headaches, and is pretty simple to pull off.

From now on, I’m just going to call the Shared Element Transition API Google’s new web transitions – because that’s exactly what it is in human language (I don’t talk robot). 

What does Google’s Shared Element Transition API look like?

While Google has shared a demo site where you can experiment with the transitions, they probably won’t work for you without some extra steps. That’s because it’s all currently going through feedback so it’s not enabled by default just yet. Think of it as being in Early Access. 

If you don’t want to go through the steps of getting it working and just want to see the pretty moving pictures, here’s a video from Google themselves showing it off.

If you want to get it working on your system you’ll need to do two things.

• Be using the Chrome browser
• Enable the documentTransition API Chrome flag

That second step is more simple than it sounds. To enable the flag, just visit chrome://flags/ in your Chrome browser. It’ll come up with the “Experiments” page. Make sure you understand the Warnings here – fiddle with your Chrome flags at your own risk. Search for documentTransition API and change it to Enabled. 

Here’s a GIF I made covering the process in case you need a hand.

And that’s it, you’re done!

If you check out Google’s demo site now, you’ll be able to see the smooth transitions when clicking on certain parts of the website. 

Are Google’s new web transitions worth using?

This is the big question. But it’s also not an easy one to answer. You might think that the transitions look basic and probably aren’t worth the extra hassle. However, the important thing to note is how much easier it is to achieve these transitions now than it ever has been before. 

What it achieves is not new per se, but it changes the way we approach web transitions in an equivalent manner to how streaming services changed the way we watch tv shows. 

The other thing of note is that this is just the beginning and it enables creative web devs to go wild with their own web transitions to create some cool-looking sites.

I’m a sucker for pretty-looking animations and transitions, (my PowerPoint presentations will blow your socks off), so naturally, I’m looking forward to seeing how Google’s new web transitions change how we interact with websites. Will they have an effect on the future of web design? Absolutely. Are they a good thing? Maybe not…

How do Google’s new web transitions affect web accessibility?

When it comes to web accessibility, we’re all over it. It is a huge part of what we help our clients with after all. And so you’ll forgive me for it being the first thing I thought about when seeing these new web transitions.

I won’t go into detail about the basics of web accessibility and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) here, otherwise, this blog will be a book. Luckily, we already wrote that book, so if you want a beginner’s guide to web accessibility you can download the eBook for free.

Some users with various disabilities may find animations, auto-playing videos, or gifs distracting or nauseating when navigating a website, which can cause them a lot of problems. That’s why WCAG 2.1 A has a success criterion called Pause, Stop, Hide that aims to alleviate the issues caused by moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information. 

There’s a lot involved within the criterion so I’d recommend you have a read-through yourself if you’re interested. In short, you must provide a way for the user to pause, stop or hide any moving parts of your website that start automatically, are presented in parallel with other content, and last more than 5 seconds.

Most of the transitions seen in the Google example site are relatively quick and smooth (under 5 seconds), and we can imagine that this is likely to be the case across most websites. But because Google’s new web transitions are so easy to implement and customize, it opens the doors for less experienced web designers to create transitions that are highly inaccessible.

However, there is something you can do if you still want these sorts of transitions. A web manager or web developer can use the prefers-reduced-motion CSS media feature to prevent animations or transitions from being applied to elements on the page. This means that users who have their system set up to reduce motion won’t be adversely affected by moving parts on your website. It’s something you should look to implement anyway, even without wacky transitions across your website.

Back in the 2000s, I made my first website and boy did I think it was the coolest thing in the world. It had animated gifs of guitars on fire and autoplayed rock music when it loaded (yes I was a very edgy kid). Of course, it was objectively awful. But it makes me think about where websites could go with Google’s new web transitions.

All it takes is an inexperienced web designer thinking they are being innovative for us to see websites full of highly inaccessible and nauseating flashing transitions all over the place. 

Should I use Google’s new web transitions?

Most people will agree that they look great and from the examples we’ve seen, they seem to work pretty well. It updates websites to act like native apps and I doubt anyone has a problem with that. But of course, it’s in its testing phase right now so until it’s part of Chrome by default there are going to be a lot of updates, bugs, and changes. So it makes sense to hold off for now. But if you plan to use Google’s Shared Element Transition API right now, I’d suggest you think about how it’ll affect the accessibility of your website.

I don’t have a crystal ball but still, it’s exciting to see new developments when it comes to the web. Websites have changed a huge amount over the years, and now with new features like Google’s new web transitions and AI tools like we’ve never seen before, it’ll be interesting to see what the future of the web holds in store.

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I’m always interested in the latest innovative web solution that’s “proven” to increase conversions by 10 bajillion percent. And one of the big culprits are pop-ups. 

There’s no doubt you’ve experienced them before. You’re scrolling down a page when suddenly everything falls into shadow like a scene from War of the Worlds and then, pop! You get a pop-up. 

These pop-ups can be set to appear after various triggers. Some may appear on page load, others are timed to appear after a few seconds, at a certain point on the page, or (the more frustrating) pop-ups that appear whenever the user tries to change a tab or press the back button.

There are quite a few different types of pop-ups and common uses across websites today. In fact, OptinMonster lists 37 different types of popups. But some of the most common ones include:

• Lightbox – Darkens the webpage you’re on and displays a new smaller window over the website you’re viewing.
• Floating bar – A thin strip of text-based content usually at the top or bottom of a website.
• Chat pop-up – These are usually part of a live chat plugin on the website and look as if you have received a direct message.

Back in the early years of the internet pop-ups were a side effect of a computer infected with a virus picked up from a dodgy website. You may even remember the term “pornado” (please, do not Google this term. You’ll thank me later) to describe an onslaught of them across your boxy screen. Eventually, anti-virus got more sophisticated and pop-ups slowly faded into a melting pot of bad internet memories right next to dial-up connection.

Then, one day, clever marketers decided to bring back pop-ups – a concept that everybody hated – and make it the go-to strategy in today’s world of digital marketing. It’s gotten so bad that even Google has had to weigh in – although they affectionately refer to pop-ups as interstitials…

If you’re a Chrome user like me, you’ll also commonly see popups asking if you want to receive “Chrome notifications”. Not only are these annoying instant rejects but they are so common on mobile devices where screen real estate is already extremely limited. If you combine this with a cookie banner then it’s likely any users accessing your website on mobile have up to 40% of their screen covered by popups. 

What’s worse (in my superior opinion) are video overlays that I see all the time on news and gaming websites. If you visit IGN.com on mobile, almost half of your screen will be covered by a sticky video overlay that hides the majority of the page content. 

For those of you who use a browser ad blocker like me, you’re probably also used to ad blocker popups that block you from being able to browse the site unless you turn off your ad blocker and expose yourself to paid advertisements. You’ll find these across every newspaper website.

If it’s not coming across, I’ll be plain; I don’t like pop-ups. But it’s not because I’m an impatient millennial or technophobe, it’s simply because while they might have a chance to increase conversions, they can only do so at the sacrifice of major aspects of your website’s experience. Just take a look at OptinMonster which instantly showers you with popups.

Whenever you look up website pop-ups online you’ll see endless articles, lists, and expert marketers singing their praise (usually the people selling them). And if there’s anything that digital marketers suffer from it’s extreme FOMO (fear of missing out). If someone is doing something cool that increases conversions, then yoink! I’m doing the same thing. Or at least, I used to…

Sometimes it’s difficult to find a way around using pop-ups. Cookie banners are a good example. If you’re tracking cookies on your site (and following the law) then you’re likely to have a banner asking for users to accept cookies. Unfortunately, there’s no cleaner way to do this than a popup.

If I’m honest, I’ll admit that not all pop-ups are that bad… they just mostly are. If they’re not properly considered they can do more harm than good. Floating bar pop-ups for example can be done better. If they aren’t overlaid over any webpage elements or push down the contents on the page then they can be less annoying and accessibility friendly.

As for lightbox pop-ups, please get rid of them. A non-visual user is likely to use technology like a screen reader to navigate your site. It focuses on areas of your site and reads the selected content aloud. So, imagine the frustration when the focus is stolen from your content and instead is now on a pop-up. As a visual user, it’s frustrating enough to close the pop-up, find where you were reading, and carry on. For users using screenreaders, it’s even more cumbersome.

In fact, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 bans all uses of pop-ups without explicitly alerting the user beforehand. While WCAG refers to this as part of a wider success criterion called Focus Order, it’s often referred to by web devs as stealing focus. It’s known as something that you should always look to fix on a website or web application. Yet it is literally the problem that pop-ups create.

So, what is the secret about pop-ups that nobody tells you? It’s that using pop-ups on your website is guaranteed to impact your user experience and your website’s accessibility negatively. In turn, that can seriously plummet your SEO, average page duration, and overall brand reputation. If you want inspiration on how to get it right, just look at Apple’s website. They don’t use pop-ups and absolutely nail the balance of web design, user experience, and accessibility.

So stop with the FOMO and ignore the horde of digital marketers telling you to buy your way to the top with pop-ups. There is no shortcut. Instead, focus on good quality, authentic content, good design, and accessibility. 

If you want a hand governing your website’s content, user experience, web accessibility, and more, then fill out this form and we’ll give you a tour.

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The Department of Justice is criticized for lacking clear web accessibility regulations. But that’s about to change.

All local and state governments across the United States including California will be required to meet new regulations or suffer legal action from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

New proposed rules will be released by the DOJ in April 2023 and are expected to detail what needs to be done in order for a website to be considered accessible under the ADA.

Why does this matter?

If the rate at which web accessibility lawsuits have increased over recent years tells us anything, it’s that the threat of legal action is very real. In 2020, 10,982 ADA Title III lawsuits were filed in federal court, a number that was barely slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These trends continue to accelerate drastically. In January 2021, 1,108 cases were filed – the most ever in a single month (source).

When it comes to US local government, the DOJ is very attentive, filing hundreds of lawsuits for allegedly violating the ADA. And with DOJ introducing new regulations, it’s a big sign that they plan on scaling up the velocity of lawsuits against local government organizations.

Am I exempt?

The likely answer is no. All local and state governments, no matter their size or receipt of Federal funding are expected to comply with Title II of the ADA.

Is my website already accessible?

Many people ask “How do I know when my website is accessible?”, and unfortunately the law, and indeed the standards themselves, don’t explicitly state ‘Here is a pass and here is a failure’. We explain this in more detail here.

Some common accessibility issues you may encounter include those with:

• Keyboard navigation
• Insufficient color contrast
• Incorrect/missing alternative text on images
• Two-dimensional page scrolling on mobile devices
• Inaccessible PDFs

If you’ve not heard of these terms before, don’t panic. We have plenty of resources available to help you understand them.

What are the legal standards for accessibility?

The DOJ is widely expected to adopt the WCAG standard for accessibility, which is the same standard adopted by Section 508, and much of the rest of the world.

But what is WCAG? You may have heard the term. They’re the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – the globally accepted standard against which accessibility is measured.

We put together the following short video about WCAG for beginners.

The DOJ has promised to clarify the exact standard in early 2023, but it’s almost certain to range between WCAG 2.0 (what Section 508 uses) and WCAG 2.2 (the latest version, currently in final draft).

If you’re new to web accessibility, or concerned that your website will be considered a breach of the ADA, getting a good understanding of WCAG 2.1 is a good place to start.

What can you do about it?

You should start by performing an audit of your websites. We’d generally recommend an approach that combines both automated and manual accessibility testing. You can read more about why here.

While there’s no quick and easy fix for web accessibility, Silktide will help you find and fix a large range of accessibility issues on your website.

Next steps

If this article has confused you, don’t panic. All you need to know is:

• You need to make your website accessible
• Silktide can help you make it a painless process

We work with organizations across the US to solve problems with web accessibility, content quality, user experience, privacy, SEO, and more.

We provide a user-friendly software platform that tests all your websites and shows you how to fix issues. See a live demo of how Silktide works here.

We’re happy to talk to you about your accessibility problems. Contact us on our live chat or request a demo of Silktide now.

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Nike faces a class-action lawsuit for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In our blog post covering news of the recent lawsuit against Etsy, we looked at the 250% increase of web accessibility lawsuits between 2017-2021. Following the latest guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on web accessibility under the ADA, it seems like the sharp increase in cases isn’t slowing down.

If you’re unsure of the latest guidance from the DOJ, we’ve written a blog post about it, explaining things in plain English, because legal documents aren’t the most thrilling read. 

So what’s the deal with Nike’s website? The core claim appears to be that Nike’s online eCommerce store is allegedly inaccessible to people with a visual impairment who rely on a screen reader to navigate the web. 

Now, this includes a bunch of accessibility issues. Some can be easily identified and fixed, while others require a lot more work. So, let’s take a look at some of these accessibility issues that allegedly plague Nike’s website.

Text alternatives

The primary concern seems to be that the site allegedly fails to present text alternatives to visual elements. Visual elements like images, icons, and buttons required to navigate a site must have correct and informative alt-text or labels. 

Without the correct labeling, it’s practically impossible for a visually impaired user to access your site. Here are just some of the alleged labeling issues across Nike’s website:

• Search button is mislabeled
• Shopping cart is mislabeled
• Promotional images and associated links are mislabeled
• The wide fit option is not labeled
• Size options beyond the first choice are not labeled
• Product description and details are not labeled
• In the shopping cart, the total is not labeled

The key takeaway here is to always, always, have a text alternative to any elements of your website that are required for a user to interact with. From images to forms, radio buttons, collapsable menus, anything interactive elements need to have an alternative way of being able to be understood and interacted with without relying on vision.

You can read up more on the importance of text alternatives and the success criteria under WCAG here. And if you want to better understand labels here’s another handy guide. If you want to check your own website right now, use the Silktide Accessibility Checker extension for Chrome.

You can easily test your website for this too. Using a mac you can hit CMD + F5 to switch on VoiceOver which acts just like a screenreader. On Windows, you can use screen readers like NVDA. Once you’ve activated your screenreader, go to your website and hit Tab. Keep hitting tab to navigate through your site and pick up on any problem areas. Is your site easy to understand and navigate using the keyboard? 

To make things even easier, you can go ahead and download our free plugin for Google Chrome. You can use the screenreader simulator to experience how a user with visual impairments might experience your website.

Now the downside to the methods of testing above is that they take time. And if you have a large website – a lot of time. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of manual testing. However, if you want a tool that automates this and picks up on all the problem areas, then that’s where the Silktide platform comes in. I don’t mean for this to be a sales pitch, just an alternative solution.

Missing accessibility policy

Another issue that Nike’s website faces is that it allegedly doesn’t have an accessibility notice, statement, or policy where a disabled or impaired user could provide feedback and seek support. This is an easy one to fix but is so often overlooked. Make sure that you have a clear policy on accessibility with contact information.

Cookies

It’s no secret that we’re swiftly entering a world of cookie-less analytics. I could rant for a while on what a cookie-less web will look like, or the pretty nasty (and scary) stuff that some companies are doing to get around it.

Like most sites, Nike uses cookies. Cookies can track user information such as IP address, browsing history, previously visited websites, and much more. Basically, every time you click the “Accept” button on a cookie popup, you’re giving a lot of personal data away. 

But that’s the point, you have to accept it. Otherwise, they are taking and saving your personal data without your consent.

The problem with Nike’s website from an accessibility point of view is that Nike allegedly adds these cookies without the user’s consent. Even with me just visiting the homepage, Nike added over 50 cookies to my browser – without telling me. Now couple this with a user who is unable to comprehend the site due to visual impairment – you have a site that has taken personal information without the user’s choice or knowledge.

You can understand why this is a problem. 

But with all browsers soon to be cookie-less, is this a moot point right now? Well, no. It means that some companies are instead implementing new ways to get the same (if not more) of your personal info.

Conclusion

So, what now? Well, I’m sure Nike will be keen to fix any of the alleged accessibility issues across their site. And that’s a positive thing. But if you’re worried about falling into the same trap, what do you do about it? Here’s my advice:

• Get to know the WCAG accessibility guidelines. Get into bed with them, take them out for dinner, and really understand them. Sure they may be a bit dull, but they are necessary.
• Understand why it’s important. Is it important that you don’t get sued? Or is it because making the web accessible to everyone is simply the way the internet should be?
• Get the team on board with accessibility too. From content editors to developers and managers – help them to understand the importance of web accessibility.
• Work smart, not hard. Use automated tools where you can. Accessibility will always require manual testing in tricky areas but if you automate what you can to identify and solve most issues then you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet to solving web accessibility across your site. It’ll certainly take time and resources. But by knowing the what, how, and the why of web accessibility you can better integrate it into your web management processes.
If you want to see how Silktide can help with all of these things across your web estate, you can book a demo with our team.

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Here are some of the things that we do to make remote working the best way of working.

Back in 2020 employees around the world had no choice but to pack up their desks and set up an office at home. Today, remote working is the new norm. For a lot of organizations anyway.

Consider that people have different preferences. We understand that some people thrive in an office environment and others in their comfy home office. So, why not give employees the choice?

There are a lot of strong opinions about the benefits of remote work online, including claims that “a switch to permanent remote work would make us all less productive”, from the Washington Post.

I get it, and in some circumstances, I think that remote working could kill productivity. But I think that it comes down to how a business handles remote working. Without specific measures in place to help and truly support remote working, then it’s unsurprising.

Here at Silktide, we think that we’re doing remote work better. So, here are some of our solutions to the common challenges with working remotely and how we keep up productivity.

Relationships

In a traditional office environment it’s easy to build relationships with colleagues during a chat over the desk, a catch-up by the water cooler, or just over lunch.

If you and your colleagues are working from home then it’s much harder to build these relationships. Yet they are super important when it comes to having a team that works together efficiently. At Silktide, we do a bunch of things to tackle this.

One thing that every employee does is write their own personal README. Just like a README document that may come with a software download that tells you how to get started, a personal README is a short guide on how to get started with that person. It contains information about their job, experience, and what they can help with but also their hobbies, interests, and future goals.

It’s a great way to get to know people new and old so that you can easily build those relationships as you would if you were sat across the same desk.

Now we can’t take all of the credit. Employees at Slack, Google, Netflix, and GOV UK also use personal READMEs – and for good reason. I’ve found them invaluable when it comes to working with a remote team effectively.

While we all work “remote”, we still have offices in the US and UK. They’re perfect for regular meet-ups, meeting new employees, and, importantly, giving people the choice of where they’d prefer to work. You can’t assume everyone likes to work the same way.

Capturing the office vibe

Transitioning from a busy office environment to a new remote working role can be difficult for some people. I hate noise, so working in my almost silent office is a luxury for me. But others might miss that background chatter or the casual over-the-desk chats you’d get in an office.

At Silktide, many of our team members may host a background Zoom call for anyone to join to get a taste of that background office chat. They’re never scheduled in and there’s never any pressure to join. But for those who miss the office “buzz”, it’s a perfect substitute.

Getting set up

One challenge with remote working is that you never know the conditions of someone’s home working environment. Some people may be working from the kitchen countertop whereas others may have their own dedicated office space. You can’t always assume that everyone has the same kind of working environment.

That’s why Silktide provides all of its employees with an office budget that they can spend on a good desk, office chair, monitors, and anything else that they need in order to work comfortably.

And that’s not all, all new starters get their choice of laptop equipment since we know that people like to work in different ways. Ensuring that every employee has what they need to work effectively in their own remote environment is obvious to us.

Healthy working

If the pandemic taught us anything it was that we all should pay greater attention to our health, both physical and mental. When working remotely it can be easy to fall into unhealthy bad habits.

It’s worth considering how you can help provide additional ways for your remote workforce to remain healthy. A healthy body means a healthy mind after all.

For many of us, the transition to remote working during the pandemic wasn’t good for the waistline. Silktide supports and encourages healthy habits by funding gym membership. So you can ensure that while working remotely you can still maintain physical health.

But it’s not just about physical health. All of us have mental health of varying degrees and it’s important, particularly in a remote working environment, that employees feel supported.

That’s why Silktide has a dedicated and qualified Mental Health First-Aider who is available to have a confidential conversation in whichever format works for you. It’s supportive and needed. I don’t think there’s any reason why every organization shouldn’t have several qualified mental health first-aiders in the workplace.

Silktide also has a different take on the outdated notion of Human Resources. Instead, Silktide has a Happiness Manager who is responsible for the traditional HR responsibilities but also has the more important role of ensuring that everyone in the organization is, well, happy. From confidential chats to regular check-ins and gifts on birthdays, our Happiness Manager plays a huge role in our remote working practices.

Slack journals

As a SaaS business, the fact that we use Slack for internal communications comes as no surprise. But we use it in some interesting ways.

Everyone at Silktide has something called a Slack Journal – even our CEO. It’s a channel that everyone in the company can view. Think of it as a diary to jot down thoughts, pain points, things you’re working on, or even out-of-work plans.

The result is something that we think is special and helps us achieve a bunch of things. In a nutshell, journals help us:

• Let everyone know what’s going on without the need for time-wasting, tedious meetings
• Improve collaboration and knowledge-sharing between teams
• Reduce the risk of stress or overwork
• Improve relationship building, as often a journal is a reflection of a person’s personality

Flexibility

In a remote environment, you may find yourself spending more time cooped up in your makeshift office than you do on the sofa in front of the TV. And so here at Silktide, it’s important that all of our staff have the flexibility to work around their life.

We don’t have set lunch times, start or end times. Instead, all we ask of our teams is that they try their best to be around during the core work hours of 10 am-4 pm when possible. The rest of their working time is down to them.

Of course, it requires a huge amount of trust and things like Slack journals help with this. Giving employees the flexibility to take a pet to the vets, pick up the kids from school or even visit a loved one help to make employees feel valued. And at Silktide, we’re big believers that our people are our most important assets.

The takeaway

While we have organizations such as Twitter and Slack that continue to support a fully remote working culture, there are others who don’t. Leaked emails from Elon Musk showed his requests for all Tesla employees to stop remote work and return to the office (understandable given the nature of what Tesla does).

Then there are the brands in-between. Google and Apple are experimenting with a more hybrid approach, providing employees with, albeit limited, flexibility in where they want to work.

So is remote work good, or bad? I think it all comes down to how you manage remote working. We respect people who think differently from us about remote working. You may think that our solutions to the challenges that come with remote working are right, wrong, or maybe even inspiring. Either way, you should be thinking about how remote working operates at your organization.

And yet importantly, our employees have the choice. We still have an office. And giving employees the choice to work the way they work best seems like a no-brainer.

There are a bunch of ways in which Silktide gets remote working right and I hope some of these can inspire other organizations to improve their ways of remote working. And if you’re looking to join a company where you can feel valued, check out our careers page to see what opportunities we’ve got available.

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The DOJ has finally included websites in the ADA but failed miserably to define any actual accessibility standards to work towards. How does this affect you?

With lawsuits around web accessibility on the rise and some confusing new guidelines from the Department of Justice, it’s important to have a good understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act so that you can be confident that you’re covered. In this article, we’ve stripped out the legal jargon and written things in plain English to make it easier.

I’m a complete layman when it comes to the intricate details of the law, particularly with all of the legal jargon, abbreviations, and terms that I’ve only ever heard in an episode of Suits. But when it comes to web accessibility, lawsuits across the US are on the rise.

Etsy has recently experienced a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the number of lawsuits on accessibility has risen by over 250% over the last 5 years. 

But understanding the legal requirements for web accessibility can feel like a daunting task. So, I’ve brandished my gavel and translated all you need to know about the legal requirements for web accessibility in the US (generally).

A quick disclaimer: Laws can often change and while I’ll try to keep this article as up-to-date as possible, this article is for informational purposes and cannot be considered legal advice.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

In case you’re unaware, the ADA protects the rights of people with disabilities to access stuff that should be accessible to everyone equally. This “stuff” includes;

• Access to employment
• Access to state and local government services
• Access to places of public accommodation
• Access to transportation

The main purpose of the ADA is to make it so that people with disabilities are not discriminated against and denied things that someone without a disability has easy access to. 

The ADA covers all sorts, not just website accessibility, so it’s not exactly a quick and easy read. Of course, I’d recommend you familiarize yourself with it anyway. The ADA is enforced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and for years they’ve been working on new guidance around website accessibility since so many people rely on the web in today’s world.

But things can get a bit confusing. There’s a clear understanding of what should be considered a “disability” but when it comes to terms such as “public accommodation” it’s a little more unclear. Can some websites be considered public accommodation? Well, maybe.

Some courts have decided that for something to be considered public accommodation, it needs to include a physical place. However, most of these rulings were made before the boom of eCommerce, particularly following the global pandemic.

New guidance

However, the DOJ has released new guidance in March 2022 that changes this, and writes as follows: 

“In recent years, a multitude of services have moved online and people rely on websites like never before for all aspects of daily living.”

Hence, “the Department has … taken the position that the ADA’s requirements apply to all the goods, services, privileges, or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web.“

So what does this really mean? Well, it essentially means that anything accessible to the public such as goods and services should be equally accessible to anyone with disabilities regardless of whether the place of sale is physical or online.

So, just like you’d install a wheelchair ramp at your physical store, you need the digital equivalent for your eCommerce website.

So what aspects of web accessibility should you pay attention to?

In the new guidance, the DOJ does offer some examples of website accessibility issues that are problematic under the ADA. While this is useful, it’s not an exhaustive list. This means that you could still be violating the ADA even if you have paid close attention to the web accessibility examples offered by the DOJ. 

These examples include:

• Poor text color contrast can make it difficult for moderately-visually-impaired people to read
• Use of color alone to give information that color-blind people cannot read or ascertain 
• Lack of text alternatives (“alt text”) on images such that blind people cannot understand the content and purpose of pictures, illustrations, and charts.
• No captions on videos that people with hearing impairments may not be able to understand.
• Inaccessible online forms that do not convey clear instructions or error indicators telling the user a form field is missing or incorrect.

The muddled bit

For the most part, this might all be clear enough to you. But it gets a bit muddled. Unlike it has for other aspects of accessibility under the ADA, the DOJ has not set out any detailed standards for web accessibility. 

This means that organizations can’t be certain how they’ll ensure that the goods or services that they provide online will be accessible. While the DOJ does identify some existing technical accessibility standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), there’s no indication as to a definitive list of web accessibility standards that must be followed.

Recently, Democratic senators have been asking the DOJ to define clear and enforceable standards to reduce the risk of excluding people with disabilities from online and digital services. Although the DOJ has stated that the ADA applies to digital spaces, the argument here is that without “specific requirements or technical compliance standards” then it’s going to be slow to see meaningful change.

So is this a good thing?

I’m on the fence. Even among the Silktide team, there are disagreements on whether the lack of any clear standards provided by the DOJ is good or bad. On the one hand, I think that it forces a lot of organizations to do the research around accessibility and understand what they can put in place to make for a more accessible website. Otherwise, organizations may just focus on doing the bare minimum and box-ticking in order to avoid getting sued. 

However, without a clear understanding of what needs to be improved for a website to be considered accessible, or whether a website is required to comply with the ADA in the first place, there’s a good chance that a substantial public lawsuit could be unfairly filed against an organization.

Technology and the web are constantly changing. New tools, AI, and better development standards all mean that some new web features that are considered inaccessible could have huge ramifications for organizations of all sizes. Though, you could argue that any of these new features and ideas should be made and released with accessibility in mind in the first place.

My advice is the same as my Grandmother’s: “Better safe than sorry”. Cover your back and make accessibility a priority. Not only will you be happy to avoid any lawsuits, but you’ll simply be doing the right thing by not excluding disabled users from accessing your website.

If you need a hand with managing accessibility across your whole web estate, we can help. See Silktide’s platform in action.