Complying with ADA’s and WCAG guidelines isn’t just costly, but it’s really complicated too – that is, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here’s
the thing, website owners in the country are being sued by people with
disabilities left and right because the latter can’t use their sites.
Domino’s
Pizza, for example, was sued by a PWD because he couldn’t order pizza through
their site.
(Image
Source: accessiBe)
If you are looking for a solution to comply with ADA standards without having to spend thousands of dollars by working with manual web accessibility solutions, then you need to check out accessiBe – an automated web accessibility solutions platform.
How
does accessiBe work?
accessiBe
is a fully automated platform fitted with the latest AI technology to ensure
your website complies with ADA, section 508 and Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
Each
time you upload (or update) content on your website, accessiBe will
automatically scan, analyze, and adjusts the different elements in your content
to make sure they meet the standards and are compliant.
The
best part about this is that it requires absolutely zero coding for it to
work.
When
you’ve fully integrated accessiBe onto your website, all your visitors have to
do is to press the Alt + 1.
This
command opens the Quick Navigation pane. This is where they can set various functions
like keyboard navigation and screen readers to run in the background.
Once
these features are turned on, accessiBe uses machine learning and AI technology
to get to know your website and all the different elements you have in
place.
It
will then run the essential apps in the background in real-time while your
visitors who are struggling with their motor functions or are visually
impaired.
The
platform also includes a host of tools visitors can use to adjust different
parts of your web page so that the look and feel of your website is easy for
them to navigate.
For
example, let’s say someone that’s visually-impaired and needs to adjust the
font size on your product pages.
They
can access the Content Adjustment dashboard by clicking on the International
Symbol of Access button on your web page.
Once
they click this, it’ll give them a list of tools like emphasizing the titles on
the page or increasing the font size.
You
can also choose colors that would be friendly and pleasing to view for your
site visitors with epilepsy or are color blind.
How
do you get accessiBe up and running on your website?
What’s
great about accessiBe is that it’s fully compatible with many of the Content
Management Systems (CMS) popularly used like Wix, Shopify, WordPress, and
Volusion.
For
this review, however, I’ll be discussing how to install accessiBe on a website
using the WordPress CMS.
The
reason is simple: WordPress remains to be the most widely used CMS by companies
and business professionals for setting up their websites and blogs.
To
install accessiBe to your WordPress site, you’ll first need to create an
account on accessiBe’s website.
After
that, click on the Installation link on the dashboard’s navigation menu. This
will take you to the different installation guides for the different CMS
mentioned earlier.
Click
on the option “accessiBe embedding,” followed by the option “Copy to
Clipboard.”
Once
you have this, log into the backend of your WordPress website.
Under
the Appearance menu in your WordPress dashboard, click on “Customize.”
This
will take you to another menu that’ll allow you to customize the different
parts of your website. Click on “Theme Settings” followed by “Headers &
Footers.”
Paste
the script you’ve copied from accessiBe’s website in the space titled “Footer
Scripts.”
Then
click “Publish.”
Congratulations!
You’ve successfully installed accessiBe to your WordPress website.
Are
there any drawbacks to using accessiBe?
Let’s get real here for a moment: There’s no such thing as a perfect tool or app. In fact, there are somethings about accessiBe that can still be improved.
For
example, your website doesn’t become WCAG 2.1 and ADA compliant the moment you
successfully embed the accessiBe’s script to your site.
It
would take accessiBe’s AI and machine learning capabilities 48 hours to go
through your entire website and make this fully compliant to WCAG 2.1 and ADA
guidelines.
However,
even though the 48-hour waiting time could use some improvement, it’s worth pointing
out that manual web accessibility solutions would take months (some would take
over six months, even) to pull off what accessiBe can do in a meager 48 hours.
That
being said, accessiBe’s AI-powered automated web accessibility solutions is
still miles ahead of its competitors.
As
far as pricing goes, accessiBe isn’t free.
It
would have been great if they were, but then again, with how robust and
reliable their web accessibility solutions are, it only makes sense for them to
charge their customers to continue providing exceptional service.
Integrating
accessiBe to your website will cost you $490/year. At
first, this may sound like quite a hefty price to pay. But think about it for a
moment.
Going
through a compliance lawsuit is a very expensive and painful ordeal to go
through.
You
can be looking at paying $50,000 to $75,000 to settle these types of lawsuits,
all because your website isn’t fully compliant.
And
if you work with manual web accessibility services, they could very well charge
you about $10,000 to make your website compliant (and that doesn’t even include
maintenance).
Then
there’s the damage to your company’s reputation. Thanks
to social media, customers have now become even more vocal about sharing their
experience with a company, especially when it’s a negative one.
Combine
that with the extensive media coverage you’ll receive once the case goes to
court, and you got a crisis in your hands.
Final
word
Web
accessibility issues may not be as huge of a problem as security breaches and
identity theft. Nevertheless, it’s still an issue and a concern that every
company with a website should take seriously.
Investing
in a tool like accessiBe will ensure that your website provides a positive
experience for all your customers, particularly those with disabilities.
This
will help you establish your credibility and reputation among your target
market, resulting in more sales and loyal customers in the long run.
