Accessibility Audit and Initial Remediation

With the recent updates in search engine rankings and requirements, coupled with the technology and awareness of accessibility requirements, Design TLC highly recommends that all sites undergo an evaluation and remediation for accessibility. 

We are offering a full website accessibility audit to our current clients. This also includes the installation, use and configuration of our custom Design TLC Accessibility plugin. We will use the Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker plugin (Premium version) which identifies errors so we can correct them with content editing, plus our own Design TLC Accessibility plugin and custom code as needed.

• For our clients on our Basic Maintenance Plan this service includes the above plus one hour of fixes/remediation.
• For clients on our Extra Plan, we will add a free extra 30 minutes of remediation, for a total of 90 minutes.
• For clients on our Plus Plan, this service includes an extra hour of remediation at no charge, for a total of two hours.

The most common errors and warnings we see are: 

• Color contrast 
• Incorrect heading order
• Ambiguous link text
• Missing alt text

We will conduct an audit and provide a report showing errors and warnings, what we fixed, as well as anything left to be done. Additional hours may be purchased with the TLC by The Hour service. The average website can take 1-12+ hours to correct fixable accessibility errors and warnings.

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$249.00 – Purchase Now Purchase Now Added to cart

Why is accessibility important for your website?

Legal Compliance

In many countries around the world, laws require websites to be accessible. Some laws require only public sector (government) websites to be accessible. But, increasingly, laws worldwide also require business and nonprofit websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. The ADA, which has no specific web accessibility guidelines, is increasingly being used to enforce website accessibility. Even with the ADA remaining unclear, it’s estimated that nearly 1,500 cases will be brought forward under the ADA before the end of 2018.

For laws like Section 504 and 508 which explicitly lay out web accessibility guidelines, legislation is far less likely to be up for interpretation, making it crucial that federal agencies and federally funded programs fully understand and adhere to the law.

Broader Audience Reach

Many accessibility remediation efforts overlap with search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Google and other search engines require semantic HTML and quality code to understand what websites are about. Improving accessibility on websites can help them to rank better in search engines, thus bringing more traffic to the site.

Beyond bringing more traffic in general, making a website accessible broadens the customer group who can use it. People with disabilities make up a significant portion of the global population (1 in 6 people). By making your website accessible, you ensure this group can engage with your products, services, and content.

Enhanced User Experience

Improving accessibility often leads to a better overall user experience for all visitors, not just people with disabilities. Accessible websites typically have cleaner layouts and clearer navigation. They may have faster load times due to reduced use of animations and JavaScript. There may be more clearly defined paths or journeys leading users to take the actions you want them to take.

Ethical and Moral Imperatives

Ensuring website accessibility is a matter of social responsibility and ethical obligation.

Everyone should have equal access to information, products, and services, regardless of their abilities. All people should be able to live a happy and healthy life.

Live Your Values

By prioritizing accessibility, organizations demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In today’s business culture, corporations create values and meaningful mission statements. Having an accessible website is a way organizations can live the values they’ve put on paper (or on the wall).

Create a Positive Brand Image

In line with living corporate values, prioritizing accessibility can also help organizations build a positive brand image in the public. Consumers increasingly expect businesses to prioritize inclusivity and diversity. By investing in accessibility, organizations show that they value all customers and stakeholders.

Reduced Costs

Accessibility may require some upfront investment, but in the long run, investing in website accessibility can reduce businesses’ costs. If you wait until a complaint is received, fixing the problem will be a lot more expensive.

Disclaimer: Accessibility Checker uses automated scanning to help identify if common accessibility errors are present on your website. Automated tools are great for catching some accessibility problems and are part of achieving and maintaining an accessible website, however not all accessibility problems can be identified by a scanning tool.

True accessibility can only be achieved through a combination of automated scans and manual review, and manually fixing any identified problems either within the content editor or in your website’s code.

It’s crucial to note that no AI solution or automated tool can make your website accessible. Only you, your team, or an accessibility consultant/firm/developer can make your website accessible through real effort, conscious decision making, and fixes at the root of the problem.

If you want to make your website 100% accessible, it is possible and Accessibility Checker is a vital part of that goal. Use Accessibility Checker to test for obvious errors and strive to have every page or post on your website say “100% Passed Tests.” That, in tandem with your manual testing efforts, will get you well on the way to an accessible website