Making your WordPress website ADA-compliant is important for both you and your visitors. By following a few simple tips, you can make your WordPress website accessible to everyone and avoid any potential legal issues.
In this blog post, we will discuss what ADA compliance is and how to make your WordPress website compliant. We will also provide tips for designing an accessible WordPress website and recommend some WordPress plugins that can help you achieve ADA compliance.
Table of Contents:
What is ADA compliance and why is it important?
ADA compliance stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act and refers to the laws that require businesses to provide equal access to people with disabilities. In other words, ADA compliance means making sure your website is accessible to people with disabilities.
There are several reasons why you should make your WordPress website ADA-compliant. First and foremost, it is the right thing to do. People with disabilities should have the same access to your WordPress website as everyone else.
Additionally, ADA compliance is required by law in many cases. If you are found to violate the ADA, costly lawsuits and fines could occur. If there are no ADA Compliance violations, making your WordPress website accessible can still help avoid potential legal issues.
How to make your WordPress website ADA compliant?
There are a few simple steps you can take to make your WordPress website ADA-compliant. We already wrote a blog post that covers this topic in detail, but we will summarize the main points that are only applied to WordPress sites here.
1. Use an accessibility-ready WordPress theme:
Look for a WordPress theme that is labeled as “accessibility-ready” or “ADA compliant.” You can find this kind of WordPress theme on popular theme shops like ThemeForest.
2. Install an ADA compliance plugin:
Several plugins can help you make your WordPress website accessible. We will cover them more in detail later in this blog post.
3. Use clear and concise language:
When writing your content, use clear and concise language that can be easily understood by everyone. With WordPress, it's also important to use proper hierarchy when structuring your content.
4. Optimize your images:
Make sure to add alternative text (alt text) to all of your images. This will help people with visual impairments understand what is in the image. You can also use a WordPress plugin like WP Smush to optimize your images for better performance.
5. Use proper color contrast:
Make sure the colors you use on your website have enough contrast. This will help people with visual impairments see your content more clearly. You can use a tool like Color Contrast Checker to test the color contrast on your website.
Google Lighthouse is another great tool you can use to test the accessibility of your WordPress website.
WordPress plugins that can help you achieve ADA compliance
Several WordPress plugins can help you make your website ADA compliant. Some of the most popular ones include:
1. WP Accessibility
WP Accessibility adds accessibility features to your WordPress website. It includes features like adding alt text to images and improving color contrast.
2. WPForms
This WordPress plugin lets you create forms that are accessible to people with disabilities. All of the forms you create with WPForms are automatically ADA-compliant.
3. Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your website for search engines. It also includes features to help you make your content more accessible. For example, it lets you add alt text to images and add headings to your content.
4. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is another WordPress plugin that lets you create accessible forms. It includes features like adding fieldset and legend tags to improve the accessibility of your forms.
How to automate your accessibility testing on WordPress with UIlicious
UIlicious is a tool that lets you automate your accessibility testing on WordPress. With UIlicious, you can create test cases for your WordPress website and run them automatically, whatever your theme or plugins. This can save you a lot of time when testing the accessibility of your website.
To get started with UIlicious, sign up for free and start writing your first tests using its unique scripting language, that even non-coders can understand in a few minutes. With its monitoring feature, UIlicious can also automatically run your tests on schedule and provide you with a report of any accessibility issues it finds on your website.
Sign up for UI-licious now
Conclusion
Making your WordPress website ADA-compliant is important for both you and your visitors. By following a few simple tips and using adequate plugins and themes, you can make your website accessible to everyone and avoid any potential legal issues.
Don't forget to register on UIlicious to start testing your user journeys on accessibility issues for free and without hassle.
