Brands that are looking for an affordable way to create an accessible website and don’t have advanced coding or web development resources.
How to Achieve Wix Accessibility and Be ADA Compliant
#wixaccessibility #ADACompliance
If you’re looking to learn more about Wix accessibility, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will examine how to make your site accessible and achieve ADA compliance.
Wix provides its users with various guidelines, resources, and tools that lead to ADA compliance. However, keep in mind that adhering to these guidelines doesn’t make your website fully compliant.
In this guide, we’ll show you the best apps that can help you attain full ADA compliance.
According to Title 3 of the ADA, businesses are required to make modifications to their websites in order to accommodate people with disabilities. Despite the fact that websites weren’t originally named in the ADA, courts have now ruled that they should be included.
If you use Wix, your website needs to conform to ADA and WCAG guidelines.
The Website Accessibility Guidelines, which is what the vast majority of disability acts’ web accessibility guidelines are based on, ensure that people with mobility, visual, hearing, and cognitive impairements are able to fully access and understand your website and its content.
Failure to comply with these guidelines not only means you’re excluding thousands of potential users, but you could be met with costly penalties or even an accessibility lawsuit.
Read our definitive guide on ADA compliance to find out more, including step-by-step instructions on how to make your website fully accessible and ADA compliant.
Making your eCommerce website accessible is about more than just adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It is also a moral responsiblity and a way to promote inclusivity (1).
Besides this, an ADA-compliant website is also more functional and it’s a way to build a conscious brand that improves the lives of users with disabilities.
Maintaining a website that adheres to ADA compliance standards should be a priority – here’s why:
One of the main purposes of Wix accessibility is to help create a better experience for users. While UX is about designing a site for a user who doesn’t have any disabilities, accessibility takes a broader approach. Unlike UX, accessibility is focused on all users.
By failing to make your e-commerce site accessible, you’re automatically preventing a large portion of your website visitors from having a good user experience.
In 2020, over 3,500 ADA lawsuits were filed (2). However, these numbers don’t include the significantly higher number of companies that received demand letters and settled without a lawsuit.
What’s important to remember is that settling accessibility lawsuits can cost you money, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Aside from expensive legal costs, getting sued for web accessibility also puts your company’s reputation at risk. Hence, making your e-commerce site accessible is the right thing to do if you don’t want to lose your business and your reputation.
With 61 million U.S. adults living with disabilities, persons with disabilities are a significant part of the U.S. and global population (3).
Building a website that is not accessible can cost you valuable customers. They will not engage with your content simply because they cannot.
Your potential customer base instantly grows when you have a website with an accessible design. To calculate, people with disabilities have an estimated annual purchasing power of $220 billion.
Achieving Wix accessibility is not only the right thing to do, but it will also help you get a leg up on any competition.
An accessible website doesn’t just make it easier for your visitors to navigate your site. It also improves your site’s overall score (4), which in turn, improves your site’s visibility in search engine results.
As a result, you get more website traffic and potential conversions. Simply put, ADA compliance helps you improve your SEO.
Businesses that prioritize Wix accessibility often find that their SEO goals are also aligned. The reason for this is clear: a website with a clean interface and easy navigation is helpful for people with disabilities.
More website visitors means good search engine visibility, which also reduces your bounce rate.
Brands that are looking for an affordable way to create an accessible website and don’t have advanced coding or web development resources.
Businesses that are looking for in-depth site analytics or require more advanced functionality.
Wix accessibility helps people with disabilities better interact with your website.
The platform has different tools that can help you achieve ADA compliance. In simpler words, Wix supports accessibility.
In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the accessiblity features:
Many accessiblity features are automatically enabled when someone creates a professional website on Wix. These features include:
Wix also has thoughtful and well-devised guides and resources to help website creators better understand accessibility. For instance, they have a detailed guide on how to use text and graphics to ensure seamless accessibility.
Additionally, there’s a guide on the Accessibility Wizard, which you can use to identify what needs to be fixed on your website.
Despite Wix’s efforts and commitment to accessibility, getting to full compliance is not a straightforward process. That’s why Wix also has third-party apps that you can connect to your website to make it fully compliant and accessible. Different brands provide tools and resources to ensure it’s easier to comply with the ADA.
Here are some of the tools we recommend:
A Fast and Efficient Way to Comply with Web Accessibility Guidelines
Our top-recommended web accessibility solution is accessiBe. This advanced AI-powered tool makes it easier to apply the latest WCAG standards to your site by simply adding a line of code to the back-end.
accessiBeaccessiBe is another reputable name that works in partnership with Wix. You can make your Wix website ADA compliant using this tool.
UserWayUserWay is trusted by thousands of leading brands that want to create a more inclusive experience for their online users. With the help of an easy-to-use accessibility overlay, it’s never been easier to ensure your Magento site is compliant with some of the top ADA requirements.
Wix has almost 40 different accessible templates that you can use right away to attain ADA compliance more easily.
These templates incorporate many features and are grouped into different categories. Depending on the type of website you’re building, you can choose a template that suits your niche.
But, as you customize your template and add content and images, you may compromise built-in accessibility features. Thus, it is essential to audit your website regularly to find errors that might arise.
On the Wix site, you can find many informative articles to help you understand various aspects of accessibility.
While these guides can only help you improve your site’s accessibility, it’s still best to use one of the recommended tools.
Are you an agency that specializes in building Wix websites?
If so, we highly recommend checking out the accessiBe Partnership Program, which helps your agency with the challenge of accessibility at scale. The good news is this is all at an affordable rate!
With the help of this program, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors by adding ADA compliance to your agency’s offerings! The program is open to agencies of all sizes, giving you access to exclusive perks and discounts that benefit your business and your clients.
Wix features are useful and when used correctly, can help you achieve ADA compliance.
It helps to start your accessibility journey with a free site audit and make the necessary adjustments.
Find this article helpful? Check some of our other articles to learn more about e-commerce and accessibility:
While Wix states that they cannot guarantee or ensure that their services are compliant with all accessibility laws, there are steps that you can take to make your site compliant. There are even a number of top web accessibility tools available to make this process even easier if you would prefer to not do it all manually.
To add alt text to images on Wix, follow these steps: 1. Insert an image on your site or add it to a post. 2. Click on the image and then on the Settings icon. 3. Enter the relevant alt text. 4. Click done and save your page or post.
Wix has a built-in accessibility tool that you can use to get started with the basics. Navigate to your Wix Editor and click on Settings to access the Accessibility Wizard. You can now click on Scan My Site, which will provide you with recommended changes you can make. There are other tools you can use if you want to cover more of your bases and be fully compliant.