As we proceed through our mini-series on ADA Compliances, we’ve already discovered how significant it is to follow the Shopify accessibility policy. By now, we know it - every Shopify merchant must consider making their website, mobile apps, or any other digital platforms user-friendly. Legal requirements apart, any ADA compliance expert would suggest you conform to this policy - because it will be easier to leverage long-term competitive advantage as you can draw a customer base from the disabled community too. Tapping into website accessibility potential lies in implementing WCAG 2.1 accessibility checklists.  How do you do it? Here’s a rundown of key areas to look upon when you determine to make your Shopify store ADA compliant. 

Essential things to make your Shopify website compliant

WCAG 2.1 is a technical standard, and we should follow it while introducing ADA compliance to our Shopify website. Additionally, an ADA-compliant website audit is the best way to determine which areas your website needs accessibility support and makeover. 

Website Design 

Have you ever thought about - is your website user interface smooth or easy to search? If it is not, people with disabilities might have difficulty navigating your website and poor user experience will leave them frustrated. You can make things easy for them by allowing them to take control of your website content.  How can you do this- 

Page content should be accurate. 

Website page content should have accurate text, font, and color, anchor links, and headings. 

Color - you have various elements on your website. Segmenting each of these elements with alternative titles and captions will be more effective than only with color. Many depend on color in improving the readability of a website and subsequently ensuring Shopify legal requirements. 

Forms - forms are not easy to comprehend for screen readers. Apply coded labels so making corrections feel easy while providing vital information to it. 

Headings 

A proper hierarchy of headings can simplify the understanding of web content for every user. Segment your content by applying the suitable form of <H1> tag and other necessary tags as required. 

Alt tags for images 

It is mandatory to use alt+tage for images for ease of recognition for your users with disabilities. For identical items, you must use the same labels. 

HTML code

Don’t risk losing potential customers. Ensure your Shopify website does not contain any HTML error, error pages, and also broken links. Fix them or have quality codes on your site to improve searchability. 

Links 

Using underline for any copy can only confuse your readers online. Also, make sure links are separated with particular differentiators like color and font. 

Consistent Navigation 

When it comes to navigation, we talk about only menu pages on the header. But, as per ADA eCommerce accessibility, merchants must think differently. Your Shopify website should be easy to navigate from the product page to the cart page and just about anywhere to enable users to collect the information they need. 

On the other hand, if your website lacks proper design, visually impaired individuals may have it difficult to move through your website. 

The best idea is to use tab navigation. It offers compatibility with keywords. People with disabilities can navigate through your website using keyboard shortcuts. Screen readers rely a lot on this type of accessibility. 

Make keyboard accessible for Shopify websites. 

1. Make it easy for your Shopify users with disabilities so that they don’t depend on pointer-driven events. Keyboard operability improves without the need for pointer-driven events like onmouseover when scripting. 
2. Don’t divert focus from the elements on the user interface unless the user wants it manually.
3. Access keys should not allow frequent uses. The existing browser must work with ease even when keyboard shortcuts and access keys combine. 
4. All screen functionality must align with the keyboard without depending on the specific timing of keystrokes. 

Enable this feature on your website. People with disabilities find it quite flexible to move around a website. A few important things to consider here- 

• If your website has repeated components across the web pages, they should reflect identical characteristics as other components relative to how they appear on the other pages. 

• For the navigation menu, the order of the navigation menu links should be the same on each page. 

Responsiveness 

Your business website can be more easily accessible on smartphones and devices like tabs. Allowing scalability for your website on different devices means your website can fit any format and screen size, which is an excellent way to engage more users, especially individuals with disabilities.

If you look more closely at this, you will discover that- 

Hover effects are well adjusted to working with desktop and laptop computers. But, these functions are ineffective on tablets or smartphones. You should remove hover effects, instead apply click functions. Some important notes to follow- 

1. Get responsive stylesheets. It doesn’t require horizontal scrolling, and you can have 320 px wide content to showcase on your website. However, horizontal scrolling can work with two-dimensional formats i.e. maps and tables. 

1. Content should disappear using the escape key if it works on hover or focus.  For another reason, content should not obstruct the view of the other content except for a form input error. 

Spacing and sizing 

Padding and margins are two ways to follow proper spacing and sizing for web layout. An element gets perfect spacing between its edges and content when padding added to it to make it look larger. 

Margins make elements look bigger by adding spacing to the outer edges. 

Users with loss of eyesight and someone who does not have strong motor skills can find it challenging to click smaller buttons. By adding padding and margins to buttons can be relatively more accessible for users to apply the process and get the information, they look for. 

As more and more tech-enabled devices are coming up, people from all quarters are eagerly taking advantage of these tools and more people love connecting with businesses that offer online flexibility. From this perspective, website accessibility is not just a choice but a mandatory requirement to make your service stand out. 

HulkApps perspective 

Maintaining Shopify accessibility allows you to follow good online etiquette and also draw more buyers to your store and helps them meet their needs. 

In the sphere of Shopify website accessibility or ADA compliance, HulkApps are a true enabler of these critical processes. We are experienced with a wide variety of accessibility tools, mainly to ensure Shopify ADA compliance. We give clients a 100% success rate with our unmatched Shopify and ADA compliance packages. Our Shopify ADA compliant experts can help you with more services - 

• ADA automated testing 
• Offering proper accessibility checklists
• Making your website ADA compliant in compliance with Shopify characteristics 

Conclusion