If your site has accessibility problems, it cannot be accessed by users on the Internet. The laws of the USA and other places across the world have mandated sites must be accessible for everyone, including people with physical disabilities. In case your site is inaccessible, it is liable to hefty fines and legal suits. Therefore, to avoid litigation and a wastage of money due to fines, it is prudent for you to invest in accessibility overlays to boost access to every visitor on your site online.
Why is an accessibility overlay better than a developer team?
An accessibility overlay is a cost-effective option for you to enhance the accessibility factor of your site quickly. It is a tool that can come in the form of an app, a plugin, a widget, or a tool set that sits inside the site. It does not make any sort of change to the source code, nor does it break the code. It merely sits on the top of the code and makes adjustments as and when required.
It helps businesses to grow faster, increase their accessibility and boost the sales opportunities that come their way. Moreover, investment in overlays helps your business to comply with all the rules and regulations of the government, making it a credible and trustworthy site to users, including people with physical disabilities.
Discover its major benefits
An overlay has the following advantages –
1. Pauses flash ads and animations– Animations and flash ads are not good for users with epilepsy. In fact, they can trigger seizures. With an accessible overlay, you can pause them and protect the user from encountering an epileptic episode.
2. Customize site fonts– Blind and visually impaired users cannot write traditional small text. They often find it hard to read fonts. An accessibility overlay tool has a feature to help them customize the font so that reading the site becomes an easy affair for them.
3. Customize site colors– Color blind users can use features to adjust color settings according to their personal preferences.
4. Screen reader compatibility– Overlays are compatible with screen readers, which are software programs allowing the blind or the visually impaired to read displayed text on the screen with the help of a Braille display or a speech synthesizer. The tool also has a feature to add text to video or photo files.
When you are choosing an accessibility overlay for your business, research well. All tools are not the same. They have different features for you to evaluate before installing them on your site. Even if you have some professional knowledge of coding, fixing accessibility issues on your site is not a wise idea. The area is complex, and, in case you make a small mistake, or worse, overlook something, your business site will face compliance issues and invoke litigation.
To be on the safe side, investing in an accessibility overlay is one of the best things to do. It alleviates the tensions and makes your site accessible to everyone, including people with physical disabilities too!
