AODA Website Compliance Checklist: A Guide for Ontarians

Many people will require assistive technology to access and engage with your site, including screen readers and keyboard navigation. Legal requirements for web accessibility state that your website needs to be compatible with technology such as this to cater to disabled users.

Many disabled users need clear labels and instructions to engage with certain elements on your site. Be sure to clearly label form fields, tables, and charts to provide visitors with an accessible experience. 

AODA color compliance requires websites to have a color contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for larger text. The same ratio of 3:1 applies to graphics and user interface components.

To make your content easier to read and scan using assistive technology, it helps to incorporate numbered and bulleted lists where it makes sense to do so. 

CAPTCHA tests are often difficult for visually impaired users, and puzzle-style CAPTCHAs can also be a barrier for people with cognitive disabilities. Where possible, avoid CAPTCHA entirely in favor of alternative bot-detection methods. If you do need one, offer more than one way to complete it. For example, an audio option alongside the visual one, rather than relying on a single format.

Website visitors need to be able to engage with every element of your website, including images, audio files, and videos. AODA compliance requires you to add alternative text to images and captions to video and audio files. Users should also have the option to stop audio output at any point.

When someone navigates your site using a keyboard, they need to be able to see exactly which element is currently selected. WCAG 2.2 raises the bar here, requiring focus indicators that are more visible and harder to miss. For example, a clear outline or highlight around buttons, links, and form fields as a visitor tabs through them.

This is a new requirement under WCAG 2.2: interactive elements like buttons, links, and icons need to be large enough (and have enough spacing around them) that users with limited fine motor control, or anyone using a touchscreen, can tap them accurately without hitting the wrong element by mistake.

Since flashing content can cause seizures in some users, it’s important to either remove that type of content completely or limit it to 3 seconds or less. It doesn’t help to provide visitors with the ability to turn the content off either as they might not be able to do it in time. 

Not only should you aim to keep your menus simple, but they should be standard across all pages. This makes it easy for your visitors to understand and they know exactly what to expect. 

Lastly, make sure that if a user has to zoom in on text or any of the elements on your site that it doesn’t become distorted to the point of being unusable. Ideally, visitors should be able to zoom in on specific elements.