What Are The Four Principles Of ADA Web Accessibility?
Every website is bound to the Americans with Disabilities Act and, in turn, the provisions outlined within it.
Out of all the provisions that pertain to websites, the two most important are as follows: your website, no matter how big or small it is, must abide by the ADA, and, in doing so, it should satisfy four basic principles.
The four basic principles of ADA web accessibility are as follows:
-Your website must be perceivable.
-Your website must be understandable.
-Your website must be operable.
-Your website must be robust.
If your website is all of those things, then it is ADA-accessible. But, if it doesn’t – or, in turn, if it doesn’t include some of the features that satisfy these principles – then you are at risk of an ADA web accessibility lawsuit.
What Is Live Text?
Many of those who are disabled rely on screen readers and other related devices to perceive and understand the content of a particular website.
If a screen reader cannot access a website, then someone with a particular disability may not be able to engage with the content of that particular website.
To ensure that screen readers can access and then interface with your website, you can make use of live text.
The definition of live text is as follows: text that has been encoded into the website itself.
Just as an example, if you are on a page and you can copy and paste the text on a particular page, then that is live text. But, if you are unable to do so, then the text you are interacting with is not live text.
Why Is Live Text Important For ADA Accessibility?
A screen reader must interact with the code of a website in order to “read” the text hosted on that website. But, if the text within that website is not live text, then a screen reader cannot read it.
Outside of the above fact, live text also allows text to be resized. This way, if someone is unable to see text at its current size, it can be resized and made more visible.
To ensure that your website is fully ADA accessible, live text should be integrated into embedded images. Doing so ensures that if there is text in an embedded image, this text can be read by those who cannot see it.
