Accessibility and Maintenance for Your Website

How can IGV improve my website accessibility?

At IGV, accessibility is our goal. The tools we use to create accessible websites the same WCAG standards established as best practices for building websites that are accessible to all. During the design process we identify potential problems with your website. Then we work with you to develop a plan to address your current website issues, and sometimes we recommend a complete redesign of your website. Sometimes it would take longer to retrofit a non-compliant website than to start over and create a website that better meets the accessibility requirements.

While there are very few perfect websites that meet all the criteria for inclusion, it is our duty as developers to create sites with WCAG compliance in mind. We now offer maintenance plans to offer continuous improvement for the accessibility of your website. Quarterly we will audit your site and go over our discoveries with your team. Then we will quote the work to update your site to improve accessibility for your website users.

What is WCAG, and why is it the world standard for digital accessibility?

The W3C is the world wide web consortium developing international standards for the web using HTML, CSS, and more. You can find support materials for development standards and support materials here.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Is the global standard for accessibility. Today there are several levels of standards. As accessibility standards evolve, guidelines change too. Here is a quick guide to see all the considerations for WCAG 2.1.

Here are the current standards levels:

- WCAG 2.2 Draft
- WCAG 2.1 Standard
- WCAG 2.0 Standard

Accessibility Maintenance Plans with Innovative Global Vision

Accessibility is never a one-and-done project, it requires ongoing support and continued work for your website. Even the largest companies in the world are regularly improving their digital footprint to better serve their entire audience.

Our website accessibility maintenance plans are a yearly commitment to monitor and improve your website as technology becomes available and standards continue to change. Through our plans, your website will be monitored with quarterly reports with suggested changes to improve accessibility for your entire audience to try and meet WCAG standards.

American ADA-compliant websites

Canadian AODA Requirements for Websites:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 requiring that businesses make themselves accessible to those with disabilities. That may include wheelchair accessibility or Braille for customers who are visually impaired. Today the ADA also extends into the digital space. Meaning that businesses who have a digital footprint should also make their best effort to accommodate users with disabilities which could include those with eyesight impairments, hearing impairments, and more.

As of June 2022, there are no defined ADA regulations explicitly outlining what elements must be updated to meet the needs of those who are differently abled in the digital space. However, businesses that fall under ADA Title I or ADA Title III are required to develop a website that offers “reasonable accessibility.”

In Ontario, organizations are required to have accessible web content. This includes the content that they own and if they use any third-party applications, they must also meet the AODA requirements. This standard AODA requirement for Ontario websites applies to web content created after 2012.

Who needs to comply with AODA Requirements? Today, commercial organizations that provide goods, services, or facilities to the public, have at least 50 employees, and have at least one employee in Ontario must be AODA Requirements.

“January 1, 2020, was the deadline for all internet and intranet websites and web content to conform with WCAG 2.0 AA (with the exception of Success Criteria 1.2.4 and 1.2.5).” Essential Accessibility

Non-compliance with the AODA can lead to heavy penalties for websites. A corporation can be fined up to $100,000 for each day their site does not meet requirements. Event individuals or unincorporated organizations can face fierce penalties of up to $50,000 a day.

Get A Complimentary Accessibility Report

Allow us to scan and evaluate your site! Submit your information to receive a custom Accessibility report.

Let's Discuss Your Needs

Coaching Service

Participants will learn how to:

Create visual content to post on social media platforms
Organize a content calendar
Find inspiration for different types of content
Get a hands-on session with different content creation and scheduling tools

Our team is determined to help you succeed and this is a great way to start!

OUR SERVICES TO HELP YOU GROW

Whether you need help managing your social media profiles or you want us to take over for you, we can show you what needs to be done in order to be successful! With this training session, we will point out different types of approaches to how to target your audience, give you sources for inspiration and ideas and help you create and schedule your content for all your social media platforms.

If you are more of a beginner, we can get you started by creating a profile and showing you the basics of what is needed for when and where.

If you already are on social media, but not really using it to its full potential, we are going to help you enhance that in order to grow your business and sales results.

And if you’re an expert, don’t knock it til you try it! You may learn something new or be introduced to a new concept you’d like to implement with your profiles.

Accessibility Maintenance