Why Law Firms Should Make Web Accessibility a Priority?

Law firms are required to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

However, many law firms don’t meet the ADA’s guidelines for web accessibility, and as a result, people with disabilities have difficulty accessing the information on these websites.

Making your website accessible is not only required by the ADA, but it’s also the right thing to do.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss why law firms should make web accessibility a priority and how they can go about making their website more accessible.

Why Law Firms Should Make Web Accessibility a Priority?

Making your website accessible is not only the right thing to do, but it can also be good for business. Here are a few reasons why law firms should make web accessibility a priority:

You want your message to reach as many people as possible.

It is more important than ever to reach the broadest possible audience with your message in today’s society. By making your website accessible, you will reach more people who might not have been able to access your content otherwise. This includes people with disabilities, older adults, and rural areas who may have slower internet connections.

It’s the law.

Did you know that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is illegal to discriminate based on disability? [cite company policy]

Your site will rank better on Google and other search engines.

Having an accessible website that uses headings, lists, and images will ensure that Google and other search engines can better understand your content. That means you can get higher rankings in results and more organic traffic from people searching for services like yours!

It’s not as expensive as you think.

Making your website accessible does not have to be expensive or complicated; there are a number of free tools out there that can help:

The Paciello Group offers free and low-cost options to help make your site more accessible.
WebAIM has a great page on WordPress plugins that can help you improve accessibility, including the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin, which highlights all of the headings on your site and is free and easy to use!

It will increase client loyalty and leads.

If you make your site accessible, people will be more likely to share your content with their friends and family who might not otherwise have access – and that means more leads and clients for you!

You can help educate your peers in the legal industry by highlighting your efforts on social media and at conferences.

As a lawyer, it is important to understand how those issues affect our community; making your website more accessible helps highlight those areas as you learn about them. Through professional development opportunities like webinars hosted by The Paciello Group or books like Web Accessibility for Lawyers.

By following these five steps, you can improve accessibility for both current and future visitors of your website:

Use correct HTML coding. This includes using the correct DOCTYPE and providing alternative text for images, video, and audio files so that search engines can better understand your content. [Link to Google search on how to add alt-text]
Make sure your website is compatible with screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA.
Create easy navigation systems for visitors who cannot use a mouse, such as keyboard shortcuts or skip links accessible by using the tab key alone. [Link to article about how to add an accessible skip link]
Test your website on multiple browsers and mobile devices before launching it live!
Continually improve and update your site to make it accessible to all visitors, especially as new or updated technologies come out.

Why is it essential that websites are accessible?

Websites must be accessible because everyone deserves to have access to information. Websites should be designed in a way that allows everyone to use them, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Making your website accessible is not only the right thing to do, but it can also benefit your business in many ways!

Does the law require me to make my website accessible?

Yes, suppose you run or manage a website or online service and want your site to comply with the U.S. and international law. In that case, you’ll need to be mindful of web accessibility considerations for all users – not just those with disabilities.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are the internationally recognized standards for making websites accessible. Most influential organizations voluntarily adopt them because they protect civil rights and promote digital inclusion worldwide.”

Do law firm websites have to be ADA-compliant?

Yes! Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act stipulates that all websites operated by federal agencies be accessible and compliant with the ADA.

This includes law firm websites because, under ADA Title 1, all state, local, or municipal government departments must provide goods or services to citizens who have disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate.

Law firms can quickly certify their website as compliant through a service called WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool), which runs a series of tests to identify and automatically fix accessibility issues on your site.

What are the benefits of accessible web design?

Web accessibility is the design of websites and web content accessible to all, including people with disabilities. This includes making sure that all content is accessible through keyboard navigation, screen readers, and other assistive technologies.

By making your website accessible, you are not only making it possible for people with disabilities to use it, but you are also increasing the overall usability of your site for everyone.

Some of the benefits of accessible web design include:

Increased audience reach – By making your website accessible, you are opening it up to a wider audience than ever before. This includes people with disabilities, older adults, and those using assistive technologies to browse the web.
Improved user experience – It is no secret that users are willing to leave a website if it takes too long to load, is complicated to navigate, or doesn’t have all the features they are looking for. Law firms should note that making their sites accessible will improve the overall user experience, increase interaction with visitors, and enhance SEO.
Improved search engine rankings – Google has stated time and time again how important it is for websites to be accessible. By ensuring your site is accessible, you are opening up opportunities for higher search rankings, as well as an enhanced user experience. These factors contribute to building trust with your clients, which improves brand image!
Increased visitor loyalty – If someone goes through the effort of finding your website and navigating it, they are more likely to come back again in the future. By taking the necessary steps to make your site accessible, you are increasing visitor loyalty and creating long-term business relationships possible online!
It’s good for business – At the end of the day, it is important to remember that making your website accessible is simply good for business. Whether it’s your law firm or some other type of organization, providing information in an easy-to-understand format will promote trust among potential customers, which can lead to more sales. This ultimately leads to an improved company image and makes you look like a competent professional with all things considered!

Conclusion:

It is essential for law firms to make web accessibility a priority. I hope this article has given you some good ideas about how you can improve your firm’s ability to serve those who may not otherwise visit your site due to limitations imposed by disability.

Working on a website can be difficult. Adding new media and updating pages is chore, even though you know your company website needs to evolve and become more accessible to the many users you are trying to reach. Maybe when you first built it, accessibility wasn’t even really discussed. But now you’ve taken a step back, looked at your customer base with a desire to include everyone and you’ve realized just how important it is to make your site accessible. However, the thought of building a robust site that can do all the things you want it to do is overwhelming.

What is Web Accessibility

A practice of designing and coding the website in order to provide complete compatibility in accessing it by people with disabilities. In addition, it is a way to improve search engine optimization only an ADA Compliant Web Designer will help you to make your website Compliant. Is your website compatible? By going through the checklist below, you can get the answer.

Assessing Current Web Pages and Content

The website must include a feature like a navigation link at the top of the page. These links have a bypass mechanism such as a “skip navigation” link. This feature directs screen readers to bypass the row of navigation links and start at the web page content. It is beneficial for people who use screen readers to avoid to listen to all the links each time they jump to a new page.
All the links should be understandable when taken out of the context. For example, images without alternative text and links without worded as “click here”.
All the graphics, maps, images, and other non-text content must provide text alternatives through the alt attribute, a hidden/visible long description.
All the documents posted on the website should available in HTML or another accessible text-based format. It is also applicable to other formats like Portable Document Format (PDF).
The online forms on the website should be structured so assistive technology can identify, describe and operate the controls and inputs. By doing this, people with disabilities can review and submit the forms.
If the website has online forms, the drop-down list should describe the information instead of displaying a response option. For instance, “Your Age” instead of “18-25”.
If the website has data charts and tables, they should be structured so that all data cells are associated with column and row identifiers.
All the video files on the website must have audio descriptions (if necessary). This is for the convenience of blind people or for having a visual impairment disability.
All the video files on the website must have synchronized captions. People with hearing problems or deaf can access these files conveniently.
All the audio files on the website should have synchronized captions to provide access to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
All web pages should be designed so that they can be viewed using visitors’ web browser and operating system settings for color and font.

About Website Accessibility Policy and Procedures

One must have a written policy on website accessibility.
The website accessibility policy must be posted on the website at a location where it can be easily found.
The procedure should be developed to ensure that content is not added to the website until it has been made accessible.
It should be confirmed that the website manager has checked the code and structure of all new web pages before they are posted.
While adding the PDFs to the website, these should be accessible. Also, the text-based versions of the documents should be accessible at the same time as PDF versions.
Make sure that the in-house and contractor staff has received the information about the website accessibility policy and procedure to confirm the website accessibility.
It should be confirmed that in-house and contractor staff has received appropriate training on how to ensure the accessibility of the website.
The website should have a specific written plan if it contains inaccessible content. Also, it should include timeframes in place to make all of the existing web content accessible.
A complete plan to improve website accessibility should be posted along with invited suggestions for improvement.
The homepage should include easily locatable information that includes contact details like telephone number and email address. This is useful for reporting website accessibility problems and requesting accessibility services with information.
A website should have procedures in place to assure a quick response to the visitors with disabilities who have difficulty in accessing information or services available on the website.
Feedback from people who use a variety of assistive technologies is helpful in ensuring website accessibility. So make sure to ask disability groups representing people to provide feedback on the accessibility of your website.
Testing the website using a product available on the internet is helpful, These tools are of free cost and check the accessibility of a website. They may not identify all accessibility issues and flag issues that are not accessibility problems. However, these are, nonetheless, a helpful way to improve website accessibility.

Checklist of Action Items for Improving the Accessibility of a Website

In addition, while considering the above suggestions, the following checklist initially prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal Agencies provides further guidelines on ways to make websites more accessible for persons with disabilities.

This practical advice, as well as another checklist, are available at:

Satisfying all of these items does not necessarily mean that a website complies with ADA, but it will improve the website’s accessibility and decrease the risk of litigation. Again, an Expert or Web Accessibility Consulting & Services provider should be engaged to conduct a comprehensive review of your website.

Nothing brings you closer to reality than actually facing it. This is the premise of my latest attempt to spread awareness about Web Accessibility.

For better understand, here is a link in which a practical example is shown to make the websites’ user experience better by following the guidelines. Also, it tells the issues affecting various users on the internet with solutions.

You can make your website ADA compliant in an easy way by consulting the professionals, who can do this job effortlessly. Also, you can get a quick website audit from To Be ADA Compliant that offers complete web accessibility consulting & services in California, USA.

Resource: https://dev.to/chinchang/an-interactive-and-practical-introduction-to-web-accessibility-22o1