Every single website must be ADA-accessible. And, just as you might assume, reflow is an important part of ADA web accessibility.

Going over reflow and its importance to ADA web accessibility while speaking with a New York ADA lawyer will allow you to protect your website.

What Is Reflow?

The term “reflow” refers to a process. And, this process is as follows: fitting the content on a particular website, to match the viewport you are using to interact with the website.

A “viewport” is the visible area of a web page. Your viewport is dependent on a variety of factors. Some of the most notable of these factors are as follows:

● The web browser you are using.
● The device you are using.
● The browsing preference you are using.

Just as an example, if you are reading this web page and zoomed in at 150%, then what is visible to you, as a result of this zooming, is your viewport.

If the content on a particular web page supports this zooming and adjusts itself to accommodate it, then that website supports reflow.

On the other hand, though, if zooming in forces the website to serve a completely different version of the content presented on that page, then that website does not support reflow but is, instead, adaptive.

Why Is Reflow Important For ADA Web Accessibility?

Reflow is very important for ADA web accessibility. And this importance comes from three key facts:

● Many of those who are disabled rely on different tools to read and access web content.
● A website that does not offer reflow fails to support those tools in the manner that they, legally, should.
● If those tools are used and reflow is unsupported, a user may not be able to use your website.

Just as an example of the above, if a disabled user is zooming in on your web page and upon doing so, they find that they need to scroll in two directions, to read a single sentence, then their experience is going to be very challenging.

On the other hand, if they can zoom in and see the content clearly and with greater visibility while still being able to interact with it in the same manner that they would without zooming in, then their experience will be much easier.

A website that supports reflow is a website that offers an easy, pleasant, and accessible user experience for all of its users.

How Can You Test Your Website For Reflow?

The best way to test your website for reflow is to test your website by:

● Using a wide variety of different web browsers.
● Setting different background colors and contrast levels.
● Zooming in and out.
● Selecting different visual orientations.
● Activating different fonts.

If you do the above, and your website still functions in the way that it is meant to, then this means that your website supports reflow. But, if it doesn’t, then this means you need to adjust certain aspects of your website’s design.