Key Accessibility Considerations When Building Your Website.

Why Website Accessibility is Important for your Business

Since January 2021, small business have been receiving notices for non-compliance of Web Accessibility. Don’t know what Web Accessibility is and why it matters to you, your business, and the wider industry? Let Rosewood tell you and help you stop getting all those citations. There are some key website accessibility aspects that you should consider.

Web accessibility has become a technical standard. It is extremely important for your business’ website as well as the general internet. Your website provides worldwide access for people to discover and learn about your business. It is often one of the first impressions someone has of your brand. It is critical to your company’s success and growth. So you want to be sure that your website can accessed and browsed by people with a range of hearing, movement, visual, and cognitive abilities. You want your website to welcome its users, not scare them off. Some simple examples to increase accessibility are ensuring that all writing is easily legible and understandable, providing subtitles and captions for videos and audio. In addition, making the website usable with just a keyboard. 

Does your website need to be accessible?

Web accessibility is the basis for an accessible internet, and it means your website can be used by more potential customers or clients. Every website should be accessible for the public. For some businesses it’s also legally required. In Ontario since January 2021, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires that a public sector organization or any business with at least 50 employees must make their public websites accessible. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 at compliance levels A and AA.

As a result, they have begun issuing non-compliance notices to business not meeting these requirements. British Columbia is currently finalizing its own accessibility act this year which will have similar requirements. While 2.0 is the current requirement, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has already released 2.1, 2.2 will be published this September. Version 3 is an early draft. It is a good idea to future-proof your site for these upcoming revisions. Plus it will only make your business’ website more accessible. 

Our Founder Deanna Simone, recommends finding out if your website needs to be accessibility compliant prior to starting the development process on your website.Website accessibility is extremely important for your website’s users, and improving accessibility on your website will also improve its SEO, meaning search engines like Google will prioritize your site.

How can Rosewood help?

Our web-design services will apply their expertise to make your website comply with these standards to provide users an accessible experience. Our team can help you build a new site that’s accessible, functions smoothly, and looks elegant on most of the major platforms. Including WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix. While it’s better to design a website as accessible from the start, it’s not always easy or possible to build a replacement. That’s why Rosewood is partnered with AccessiBe. This AI-powered software continuously scans a website for any possible accessibility concerns and updates pages to be WCAG 2.1 compliant. 

Whether it’s from the ground up or a revision, our web design experts will ensure your website’s users have a smooth and welcoming experience.