In regard to attorney website ADA compliance, the first step to knowing if your law firm website should adhere to ADA compliance is to simply check if your firm meets the requirements under Title II of the American with Disabilities Act. Title II lays out the basic requirements for businesses and if they meet the requirements to have an ADA compliant website design for a law firm. ADA Compliance Website Checklist 2021
The requirements are quite simple. If a law firm operates for at least twenty weeks a year and has at least fifteen employees, then the ADA does apply to your law firm. If your law firm is small enough employee wise or you are functioning less than twenty weeks a year, you may not meet these requirements.
But once you have checked to see if you are, next steps are going to need to be taken to ensure that your attorney website’s ADA compliance is up to snuff. And even if you are not required to have an ADA compliant website design for your law firm, making efforts to comply can overall benefit you and your users.
Is Your Law Firm Website ADA Compliant
When it comes to attorney website ADA compliance, knowing more about the different ways to meet ADA compliance can be helpful. Asking “Is your law firm website ADA compliant” is the first step, but looking at what elements are often used in ADA compliant website design for law firms can help you to better understand what actually makes a site ADA compliant.
- Text Transcript: This feature is common in ADA compliant website design for law firms as it provides transcriptions of audio or video files that may be on your website. They are specifically tailored to hearing-impaired users.
- Keyboard Navigation: When it comes to users who may have a disability, mouse navigation may not be the first method they can use. By using keyboard navigation in ADA compliant website design for law firms, navigation of your site is still possible even without using a mouse.
Some common keys that are used include “Esc” to leave a window and “Tab” to move in between tabs in a browser.
- Alt Tags: This feature works as short phrases that can be seen on screen. They describe everything from audio files to pictures and videos and are especially useful for those with visual impairments. A bonus to using alt tags as well: they are search engine friendly. So while they work to make an attorney website meet ADA compliance, they can also work alongside your SEO implementation as well.
- Label Form Fields: Often used in ADA compliant website design for law firms are label form fields that are found on the outside of the field. Screen readers often have hard times finding these label form fields when they are inside of the fill-in space.
The above features are some excellent ways to get started on the path to having an attorney website meet ADA compliance. Taking steps to have answer the question of “is your law firm website ADA compliant” goes a long way to making the user experience for your established and potential clients that much better and more accessible.
ADA Compliant Website Design for Law Firms
When looking at attorney website ADA compliance, it can be easy to understand the regulations and guidelines. But when you are in need of an ADA compliant website design for law firms, working with a web design agency can be a great choice. Contact Split Reef to get started on making your website ADA compliant!
Split Reef is a modern, results-driven digital organization always ready to support clients in their search for digital supremacy. With Split Reef, your budget isn’t going to hold you back from partnering with us to make your project successful. Our offices are located in Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida.