The web accessibility field can be separated into two software fields:
- Web accessibility remediation tools
- Web accessibility evaluation tools
The first assists the website in becoming accessible to users with disabilities, removing digital barriers that impair the ability of the user to browse and navigate seamlessly throughout the website by fixing accessibility errors.
The second evaluates the accessibility levels of a website, looking for accessibility issues and compliance violations according to various standards and guidelines that we will touch anon, and can issue reports, compliance scores, and instructions on how to fix the website and finetune its accessibility levels.
For more on the remediation process, please
click here.
Evaluating a website’s accessibility levels
There are many different web accessibility evaluation tools. What is important to consider when searching for these tools is to ensure that they evaluate a website according to WCAG 2.2 guidelines and ADA standards.
The
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the world’s benchmark standard for web accessibility. It is a branch of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is an international community of web developers, programmers, and scientists that “develop open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web,” according to the W3C.
The W3C released the latest WCAG 2.2 guidelines for web accessibility in 2018 and is used as the regulatory standard for many states throughout the world. It is due to release version 2.2 this upcoming December (2022)—EqualWeb clients, of course, need not worry as we have most of the new requirements adjusted via its solution tools.
The
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the Unites States’ Federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. There is much to say in regard to the ADA, but there are two chief factors that any business or organization should keep in mind:
- Albeit with few exceptions, the vast majority of businesses must comply with ADA legislation. The evolution of ADA regulations requires its own entry, which you can find out more about here, but the fact of the matter is that ADA law applies to most organizations that have websites.
- Non-discriminatory laws and court rulings that refer to the online sphere have increased in recent years—along with ADA claims with bigger, costlier lawsuits. If you want to avoid an ADA federal claim and protect your business, the best way to do it is to comply with ADA standards and make your website accessible according to WCAG 2.2 guidelines.
EqualWeb Accessibility Checker - Google Chrome
The first evaluation tool that you can use in order to audit your website against WCAG 2.2 guidelines is the EqualWeb Accessibility Checker, which is also 100% free. That’s right, you can go to
this page and add the extension to your Chrome browser. In just a few seconds you will be able to start scanning web pages of your website and find out just how accessible you really are.
This is a great way to get started on your path toward web accessibility and ADA compliance—no strings attached.
EqualWeb Accessibility Monitor
This is EqualWeb’s crown jewel, cream of the crop, the #1 auditing solution in the web accessibility field. Our monitor scaling system is second to none and scans an entire website thoroughly, using powerful and robust technological software, with experts monitoring the entire process and evaluating to the T the accessibility levels of the website. And if you are an EqualWeb client, the monitor also fixes the detected issues while it performs the high-level scanning.
In short, the
monitoring tool ensures that your website is periodically assessed for potential accessibility issues, supporting you in removing them together with our team of experts. At the end of the scanning, the monitor also issues an evaluation report that you can use for internal or regulatory purposes.
Audit, scan, test, issue evaluation report
If you need to run a scan of your website, audit it against ADA and WCAG standards, test your web accessibility remediation tools, and/or issue an evaluation report, including a
VPAT report, please
contact us directly and we will be able to help you out.
For any questions or further details on web accessibility evaluation tools, feel free to contact us at
info@equalweb.com.
