Weebly Accessibility: ADA Compliance Features and More

Not only does your business need a website, but it should be accessible too.

If you have a Weebly website, it’s essential for you to make sure that it’s ADA compliant – this means making sure everyone can access it, including people with disabilities.

Along with providing your website visitors with a more inclusive experience, complying with the ADA also ensures you can avoid costly penalties and brand-damaging lawsuits.

We’ve created this in-depth guide to take you through the steps required to be ADA compliant and inclusive as a brand.

Defining ADA and WCAG

According to Title 3 of the ADA, businesses are required to make modifications in order to accommodate people with disabilities. Despite the fact that websites weren’t originally named in the ADA, recently, courts have ruled that they should be included.

If you currently use Weebly or are planning to, your website also needs to conform to ADA and WCAG guidelines.

Once you comply with the web accessibility standards outlined in the ADA and WCAG, you are ensuring that all users, including those with disabilities, are able to access your site. This not only boosts website traffic and sales, but can increase brand loyalty.

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.

What is Weebly?

Weebly is a popular website building platform that has been in operation for more than ten years (since 2006). Unlike many other website builders, Weebly has a free plan.

The best feature of Weebly is that it integrates with third-party applications and marketing solutions ito provide you with a more comprehensive solution. Websites can range from blogs and full-fledged businesses to a basic landing page with an integrated form.

What’s more, this website builder is easy to use, even for those with no previous knowledge of web design. All of the options are clearly labeled and easy to find.

Accessibility on Weebly

Weebly believes that a website should be built for everyone, regardless of disability, including those with vision or hearing impairments, cognitive difficulties, or physical limitations. Styling and compatibility with assistive devices like screen readers are just two examples of best practices organizations must follow.

As the number of cases alleging non-compliance with the ADA increase, so has the number of website owners concerned about Weebly’s actions to ensure their platform is compliant. The corporation has primarily provided vague assurances that they are investigating the matter.

Even in 2022, there are still Weebly websites that do not conform with the ADA compliance guidelines.

For this reason, some organizations use third-party software to comply with ADA, WCAG, and Section-508 guidelines.

Common Issues with Web Accessibility for Weebly Websites

Have you ever considered if your website is accessible to people with disabilities? Regrettably, some developers know it but do not conform to the guidelines anyway. So, before we can discuss the finest web accessibility solutions, it’s necessary to understand how assistive technology works for individuals with disabilities:

• Mobility. Individuals with physical limitations benefit from additional typing aids, on-screen keyboards, and specially adapted mice and keyboards. Eye-tracking tools, which are also utilized in games, are an excellent illustration of an on-screen keyboard.
• Auditory. When visitors with hearing impairments use text-to-speech software to access your website, it’s a good idea to add subtitles for all your videos.
• Visual Impairment. Visually impaired individuals utilize screen readers or require a greater contrast between the text and the backdrop color.
• Seizures. Photoepileptic seizures are a common problem. Providing a warning before any flashing effects would be beneficial, but eliminating them would be preferable.
• Cognitive. Your site users with cognitive difficulties may benefit from using text-to-speech software as well as spelling and grammar aids. Dyslexia is the most prevalent cognitive disability. Hence, spacing and color customization are excellent ways to aid individuals even more.

Weebly ADA Compliance Checklist

Compliance with the ADA requires that all elements on your Weebly website adhere to WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA requirements. These rules serve as the barometer for compliance. Visitors who are disabled must navigate your website in the same way that non-disabled visitors can.

Even a solo entrepreneur without a brick-and-mortar location is required to comply with the ADA.

Courts have determined that websites must make reasonable accommodations for disabled users in the same way physical establishments do. So, here is what you need to look at:

• Skip links. Users with vision impairments and those without arms do not navigate a page using a mouse. Rather, they rely on skip links. They can use the tab and enter keys to navigate past menu items. Numerous Weebly websites lack these skip links.
• Proper alt tags. Screen readers look for alt tags, which provide verbal explanations of images for visually challenged users. If any tags are missing or wrong, they will not have equal access to your website.
• Correct color contrast ratios. The WCAG 2.2 rules specify specific color contrast ratios for web pages. Without this 4:5:1 contrast on a Weebly website page, your colorblind visitors and others with low eyesight will have difficulty reading your page.
• Input labels. Certain Weebly websites prohibit visually-challenged users from filling out input areas. This element is required by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It’s also highly infuriating when disabled individuals get to a checkout page only to discover they cannot purchase or do any other activity due to missing input labels.

How To Make Your Weebly Website Accessible?

A larger audience and more visitors are your goals, whether you run an e-commerce site or a blog. Remember, your Weebly’s readership and profitability will rise if you follow website accessibility guidelines.

In line with this, accessibility plugins and widgets are the most convenient way to accomplish compliance. Accessible Weebly plugins are available from companies like accessiBe, Userway,  and Siteimprove.

To Wrap Up!

When taking your company to the next level by going digital and creating a website, ensure that you are taking steps to promote inclusiveness by making your website accessible.

You can accomplish numerous critical solutions, such as contrast, font, and font size, manually. However, if you want to go the extra mile and ensure that your website is fully compliant, you’ll need to integrate your manual efforts with an automated web accessibility solution.

You can kickstart your website accessibility project by auditing your website on the Accessibility Checker

Take time to read our other blogs if you find this Weebly Accessibility article helpful:

• How To Achieve Drupal ADA Compliance?
• Why Should You Be Concerned About The Joomla Website Accessibility
• Best ADA Compliance Software To Help You Get Started With Website Accessibility