An accessible website is one that accommodates and is accessible by all users on all devices no matter the physical or mental ability of the user. Website accessibility simply means making sure that your website is designed in a way such that visitors with disabilities can use it without issue or additional stress.
As it looks currently, Website accessibility is now mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA is a strict liability law that ensures all websites are at least accessible to users and which means there are no excuses/defenses for violations (e.g. ignorance, web developer is working on it, etc.). In fact, failing to make your website accessible leaves your business exposed to costly lawsuits.
Most website owners and builders usually have this mindset that web design and user experience suffers when websites are built (or rebuilt) to comply with the ADA, which mandates that websites must be accessible to individuals with various disabilities or impairments. It’s also a myth that websites lose ideal, user-centric functionality when they become ADA-compliant.
Web accessibility addresses the basic needs of every website visitor to achieve an optimal level of usability and ADA compliance. Many people browsing the web have a permanent disability (visual, mobility or neurological impairment), or a temporary impairment such as a broken arm, broken or lost eyeglasses, and so on. These people all need a simple and basic way to interact with the web.
Your website design or user experience doesn’t have to suffer if you are doing it the right way. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t create a beautiful, interactive and engaging website that is also accessible. A few adjustments and touches can lead to a website that’s aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly for everyone, as it should be.
In this article, we’ll be looking at beautiful and gorgeous websites that are ADA compliant in 2020 and are fully accessible to every user.
1. accessiBe
accessiBe the first and only AI-Powered web accessibility solution that automatically complies with worldwide standards and legislation. This accessibility tool is powered by AI that helps you make your website adhere to all the web accessibilities guidelines and correct anything that can make your website inaccessible.
accessiBe is fully customizable and can easily adapt to your website’s design. With a few clicks, you can easily make your website ADA compliant and accessible to all types of users.
It is not surprising that their website is extremely accessible as I found it easier to navigate and able to achieve what I intend to in a few seconds. The markup, color contrast, text usage, element focusing, the use of image with alt-text, the buttons design is at its peak. Every part of their website is accessible, you should check them out.
Their AI tools are very easy to integrate and implement, you should give it a try to help speed up the process of making your site compliant.
2. Deque
Deque is a digital company that helps other companies in making their websites and mobile applications accessible to people with disabilities. Their focus is making your website accessible, WCAG and ADA compliant.
Deque is the creator of the popular accessibility tool – aXe – which is actually one of the popular open source tools for checking your website against web accessibility guidelines. It doesn’t come as a surprise as well that their own website is perfectly accessible, complete with an accessibility statement that summarizes all the accessibility features on their site.
All non-text elements on the website have alt text, navigational aids (for keyboard-only users) are provided, forms are linked with labels, table navigation guidance is provided, and structural markup to indicate headings and lists is also available. Plus, the colors are distinct and buttons are well-designed, making this a beautiful yet accessible website.
3. WebAim
A fine resource for web accessibility guidelines and best practices as it claims Web Accessibility in Mind. WebAIM is a non-profit organization based at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. WebAIM has provided web accessibility solutions since 1999.
WebAim’s mission is to empower organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities. They have the best tutorials and best practices to make your website accessible and ADA compliant. They set up full fledged training on making your website accessible.
4. Wix
Wix is one of the leading professional website builders using drag ‘n drop technology. It’s more than a drag and drop tool, it’s a full-fledged online presence builder with beautiful website design, SEO ready, ecommerce and so on.
Wix’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create a professional website – without having to know a line of code! With hundreds of templates and great tools Wix lets you build and sell through your site. Beginner-friendly and scalable, Wix is suitable for anything from personal online portfolios to small business websites. All websites built by Wix are accessible and you can take advantage of their tool to make sure your website is ADA compliant.
One thing I like about the Wix website is that every element, especially the Nav menu dropdowns can be accessed using the keyboard. Most websites don’t usually take that into place.
5. Squareada
Squareada is a digital online service focused at making your Squarespace website accessible and compliant to ADA and WCAG guidelines. As they are into web accessibility you’d expect their website to be accessible and ADA compliant.
The forms on their website are very accessible and well labeled. You can easily interact with the forms just with the keyboard. The use of their text colors and color contrast is perfect as it makes it easier to interact with the form.
6. SIITGo
SIITGo is an online technology institute whose mission is to train and make Technology Education and Certification accessible towards career advancement. SIIT is an online institute model designed to provide Self-Paced Learning and Certification for various Technology courses, including Industrial Training for industry experience.
They offer technology courses including Web Design and Development. With their simple and accessible website they are able to train and certify over 300,000 students. The free learning portal is built with accessibility in mind as you can navigate through courses and chapters through the keyboard. The text color usage are ADA compliant and can be accessed by all users.
7. Nomensa
Nomensa is an award winning UX design agency. Website accessibility is an indispensable part of creating a solid user experience. Nomensa, being a UX design agency, has a well-designed accessible website of their own, as you’d expect.
8. Parramatta Park
The beautiful, invigorating 85-hectare parkland of Parra Park is Parramatta’s favourite gathering place. The website has vibrance and life taste, showing off the beauty of the park and striving to encourage more visitors and enterprise level clients to use the park and its facilities.
With the use of striking, big bold colours and professional photos from the park, the website is a visual feast. The website also caters for users with vision impairment through the colours usage, link styling, size of elements, code structure, alt tags on images of importance and background images for decorative images.
9. NSW Government
The NSW.gov website is the top level NSW government website for communicating their services, plans, initiatives for 7.5 million NSW residents.
The NSW.gov website was designed and developed to ensure content is available to the widest possible audience, including readers using assistive technology.
Visually, the website presents information clearly and is accompanied by large images and unique layouts. The colours used are bold and vibrant and pass accessibility contrast level requirements and all functionality is accessible with a keyboard.
10. The Cram Foundation
The Cram Foundation has a long history since 1932, providing disability care, housing, disability transport and recreational activities. The Cram foundation website has a bright, colourful website, exciting, lively and modern interface that still passes website accessibility colour contrast levels.
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