You should use a WCAG compliance checker and here you can find some
Making your website WCAG compliant is not only a smart idea legally, it also helps people with disabilities navigate and interact with your website. The requirements for how much your website comply with the WCAG standards might differ depending on where you live in the world, but in some countries you can get expensive fines if you don’t comply. Not complying with the WCAG standards can also in some countries cost You deals with the government because the law requires everyone to have access to your website and be able to navigate it freely.
If we look away from the legal side for a moment, making your website WCAG compliant also helps people with disabilities navigate and interact with your website. Every day our life’s become more digitalized and that means every person no matter if You are tech savvy, disabled, old or young will have to at some point interact with a website. We have the technology to make it possible for everyone to interact with the internet and not only the few, so why not take the extra time and ensure an internet for everyone.
Where can I find a WCAG compliance checker?
By doing a simple Google search You will find many WCAG compliance checkers, but almost every one of them are different. Some of them checks for contrast and some checks for HTML attributes, but which ones are the best? Below You will find a list with the 5 top WCAG compliance checkers we found.
- Contrast checker: https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
- Accessibility checker: https://wave.webaim.org
- Accessibility checker: https://www.webaccessibility.com
- Accessibility checker: https://www.powermapper.com/products/sortsite/checks/accessibility-checks/
- Contrast checker: https://contrastchecker.com
What does a WCAG compliance checker do?
A WCAG compliance checker is a tool you can use to check if your website comply with the WCAG web standards. The tool can either check your HTML to see if you are using the correct HTML attributes, check for contrast between the background color and your font color or see if you are using the correct HTML elements for lists and links.
In other words, a WCAG compliance checker is your gateway into figuring out where you can improve your website and make it more accessible to everyone. Certain people have problems with their eyesight and might need a sharp contrast to read the words. It could also be the screen that your user was using which couldn’t show as much difference in contrast and therefore contrast and colors would be more washed out. Just by using your eyes it can be hard to know if you are hitting the right minimum contrast each time without breaking your design, but with a WCAG compliance checker you can check that in only a few seconds.
The same goes for checking HTML attributes in your code. While writing the code you could have forgotten an attribute or maybe used a wrong element at certain places, but by checking this you would quickly be able to fix it.
What does it mean to be WCAG compliant?
Being WCAG compliant simply means that you comply with the current WCAG web standards and that you have put thoughts into the way your website was built. If you have a WCAG compliant website people will be able to navigate it if they were blind, couldn’t hear or couldn’t move most of their body.
Imagine if you were blind and you had to fill a form on your website in order to get a refund on a purchase you made. To find the right page you would need to have the links read to you and once you reach the page you will need to have all the inputs read to you and described so that you can fill in the form correctly. This procedure is common but if your website is not setup with the correct WCAG standards doing this will be problematic. If you want to know how it feels like navigating your website as blind, you can try to install a screen reader software on your computer. A screen reader software will allow you to have the website read out loud so that you can navigate without seeing. Besides trying being blind you will also gain knowledge on how to make your website accessible the best possible way. If you can navigate your website without sight, then others might be able to as well.
Is it important for your website to WCAG compliant?
Yes, it is important for your website to be WCAG compliant. Not complying with the WCAG standards might have legal consequences in some countries and therefore cost your company lots of money. In some countries as well it is required for the governments websites and everyone working with or for the government to be WCAG compliant and if your website is not compliant you risk loosing your deal or future deals.
A large portion of the websites on the internet today it not WCAG compliant simply because people don’t think about it. If you are not disabled in any way and doesn’t have close relatives that are, you are less likely to think about this when building your website. Of cause. There is also people out there thinking about this subject but simply choosing to ignore it because of cost. A website built using the wrong methods can be costly to turn accessible/WCAG compliant, but it should be done.
If we look away from legal consequences and cost and instead take a moment to think about the people really needing this. Every day our life’s become more digitalized and the people who can’t are forced into it as well. We move everything we can online, but for most this means moving it online to those who can see and without even thinking about it we leave the rest outside the circle. The internet is supposed to connect us, give us all a voice and make life easier for everyone.
You most likely tried helping an old lady across the street or helped someone to their car with their grocery bags. The feeling you had after was nice and the people you helped also felt nice. When making your website WCAG compliant once you help everyone over and over again navigating your website.
To read the full article please click the link to be redirected to our website: https://sustainablewww.org/principles/what-is-a-wcag-compliance-checker-and-where-to-find-one
