Getting compliant with the extensive list of ADA regulations can be a nightmare if you don’t have a widget like UserWay. Spending the money hiring a developer to make the changes can cost a significant amount, and you won’t know for sure if you’re protected.
The UserWay widget will make your website mostly ADA compliant and provides a certification you can post on your site that shows your compliance. But, since many of the ADA regulations are still somewhat vague, and you will need to consult a lawyer to ensure full compliance.
So if you’re looking to save time and money from getting all the changes done yourself, read below to understand how UserWay can help you become ADA compliant.
How Does UserWay Work?
UserWay works like many other widgets that you would integrate into your website. You are given a piece of code that you add to the website’s markup code.
Once you add the code to your site, you should automatically see the plugin start making changes to your site and provide more accessibility.
Helps the Visually Impaired Navigate
When you add UserWay to your site, the plugin will automatically make it so that your entire site becomes accessible by keyboard only. So any user who needs to head to different pages or scroll down pages can do so with a keyboard without using a mouse.
Users can also change the font sizes and style to be more easily read, and they can also change the colors of your site.
Helping The Elderly With Decreased Sensory Abilities
People using your site who have lost some ability with their sight can access your site much easier by increasing font sizes. They can also increase the size of their mouse cursor to be able to see where they are clicking.
And elderly users will be able to increase the contrast of colors or highlight different clickable areas, so they don’t get lost in long-form content.
Helping Mobility Impaired People Use Keyboard Only
When you add UserWay to your site, mobility-impaired people who don’t have an option to use their mouse can still access your content and information. The plugin does this by making it so that all navigation is changed from clicking links to pressing keys on the keyboard.
Users can press any of the following keys to navigate:
- Tab key
- Enter key
- Spacebar
- Arrow keys
How Much Does UserWay Cost?
There are two options for payment plans when purchasing UserWay. You can either pay monthly or annually, but if you choose the annual option, they are willing to give you up to two months free.
Of course, you will need to make a higher initial payment and be locked into a year contract, but if you plan on keeping this on your site, it will save you money in the long run.
There are three different plans you can choose from depending on the size of your website.
- Small business – $49/mo
- Medium business – $129/mo
- Large business – $329/mo
The small business plan works for sites getting up to 100k views a month. The medium includes up to 1 million pageviews a month. The large business includes up to 10 million pageviews a month.
All three plans include the following with your purchase:
- Full suite of AI-powered accessibility functions
- WCAG 2.1 AA, ADA, Section 508 compliance
- Continuous real-time accessibility monitoring
- Fully customizable
- Evergreen, always-on cloud updates
- Immediate compliance, from day 1
In addition to the above, the medium and large business plans will include a dedicated account manager should you need any help or have any technical errors occurring on your site.
Alternative Solutions To UserWay for ADA Compliance
You can research several other automated plugins to compare prices and see if there is a better option to get your site compliant.
Or, you can update your website yourself to make it ADA compliant. For a general overview of this process, you’ll want to read our article How To Achieve ADA Compliance On Your Website: Free vs Paid. Beyond the tools mentioned in that article, you can also check out our Website Accessibility Resources page.
It will ultimately be up to you to consult a professional (either an Accessibility expert, a lawyer, or both) and ensure that you are doing everything you can to remain ADA compliant.
None of the plugins will be held liable in the event you are sued over non-compliance with the ADA. With the ADA, it’s better to be safe and overprepared.
What Do I Need To Be ADA Compliant?
ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it helps create standards that all information and electronic information needs to abide by. This helps people with disabilities like the seeing or hearing impaired to access information on the internet and other online resources. The act includes websites, and over the years, many of the bigger name brands have been susceptible to lawsuits from lawyers representing individuals with disabilities.
But you don’t have to be a multi-million dollar company to be accused of not abiding by the ADA. Hundreds of smaller websites and brands are being sued for not having the correct standards in place. Because the ADA standards are still somewhat vague in their interpretation, it can be hard to know exactly what you need to change in order to be compliant.
The suggestions below are a great starting point for knowing which changes you need to make.
- Include alt text for all pictures
- Video and audio on sites must have a transcript available
- All videos must include closed captioning
- Use proper markups for websites content
- Present content in a meaningful order
- Detailed instructions can’t rely on one sensory ability
- Color alone can’t convey information
- All audio must include user controls
- The text needs to have the ability to be resized by 200%
- No images of text unless necessary
- All functions and content need to be accessed by keyboard only
- Must be able to navigate the website using keyboard only
- Users must be able to adjust time limits on a site
- Animations must have the capability to be controlled by the user
- No elements can flash more than three times in one second
- Skip to navigation link leads people to content and pass header
These are just some of the suggestions provided, but you can see a full list of ADA compliance guidelines.
Summary
There’s never going to be an all-in-one solution that fixes every single ADA compliance regulation on your site. But if you want to get ahead of the competition and stay safe from legal action, the UserWay app is a perfect way to be prepared. Especially if you want to save yourself a ton of time and headache getting it implemented yourself.
Visit the UserWay website for more information or to sign up.
Out of the automated accessibility services though, AccessiBe is hands down the better option so I would recommend that you check out AccessiBe too.