Are you curious to know if you’ve done all you can to make your website accessible to all? Do you want to ensure you’re not turning potential visitors away simply because they can’t use your website due to a lack of accessible features? The fact is that creating a website that is accessible to all isn’t just smart for your company; it’s also about being in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is often cited when discussing website accessibility. So, where do you get started?

In speaking with the experts at accessiBe, they have gone ahead and put together a comprehensive website accessibility checklist that any business can follow. It will shed light on how good or how poor of a job you’re doing in your efforts to be compliant.

An Accessibility Audit is a Great Place to Start

One of the best places to start with your checklist is with the Accessibility Audit that accessiBe offers. This is meant for any website that is planning to take the steps necessary in a web accessibility remediation. It sheds light on what you’re doing right, and where you’re currently lacking and need to make improvements. And if that doesn’t give you enough information, then accessiBe’s user testing can certainly give you a much more complete picture.

Address All Audio and Video Content

Now it’s time to address your audio and video content, as audio and video isn’t exactly accessible to all. Some solutions include audio descriptions (in text form), complete audio and video transcripts, and closed captioning on videos. Think of these as the basic steps to take where all audio and video content is concerned.

Contrast Sensitivity Shouldn’t be an After Thought

Another element that you can give thought to is the contrast and color on the website. Visual disabilities and impairments can lead to low color contrast sensitivity. Some solutions include: using a font that isn’t too thin (making it hard to read), making sure there is a high level of contrast between the background and foreground so things don’t blend into each other, making sure the text size is adjustable and a good color, sticking to basic fonts that are easy to read, and steering clear of colors that make reading difficult.

Although it’s okay to be artistic with the layout, color and font, you don’t want to go too far and end up making the website difficult for some visitors to use.

Use Plug-Ins Whenever Possible

In order to make the improvements as quickly and easily as possible, you want to take advantage of plugins whenever possible. This is something that clients of accessiBe credit as part of their success. What these plugins do is take all the confusing techie work out of the transition, and make it smooth and simple.

By following this checklist from accessiBe, you’ll be able to create a website visitor experience that is positive and accessible to all – no matter what kind of disability they may have.