Make your website accessible for everyone
By January 1, 2021, all large and public sector organizations in Ontario must, by law, ensure that their websites (new and old) meet a specific set of accessibility requirements.
Free accessibility audit
Our team will help you determine whether your existing website is legally compliant and where improvements can be made. Simply fill in the form below to get started!
What is AODA?
An accessible website is one that can equally be used by everyone, regardless of ability or disability.
While the aim of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) has been to make accessibility a worldwide standard, the government of Ontario has taken it a step further and created legislation around it.
By January 1, 2021, the Act for Ontarians with Disabilities (AODA) legally mandates that the following websites meet Level AA compliance of the WCAG 2.0:
- Large private corporations (50+ employees)
- Large non-profit organizations
- Public-sector organizations
Your customers are diverse and likely have a range of different needs. Website accessibility standards help to remove barriers that might prevent or hinder your customers from using your website. As well as being the law, an accessible website helps you to do business better.
Why to comply?
Avoid
legal battles and penalties
Gain
more customers
Increase
search visibility
Enhance
the user experience
Criteria
Provide text alternatives for all non-text content
Provide equivalent information for time-based media
Create content that may be presented in multiple ways
Use of color
Audio controls
Keyboard control
Controlling time limits
Controlling content presentation
How Convergine can help
Steps
01
Get a complimentary audit
Have our knowledgeable team conduct a free accessibility audit of your existing website. We will provide recommendations on improvements that can be made to boost customer service and ensure compliance.
02
Make it compliant
Trust us to make the necessary changes to your website. Some will be visible while others will be behind-the-scenes. We’ll make sure your online presence continues to meet the needs of your business and its customers.
03
Run tests and confirm
Once the accessibility improvements are in place, we’ll run tests to ensure that your updated website is compliant with the WCAG 2.0 standards and provide you with a report for confirmation.
Accessibility for Ontarians
with Disability Act (AODA) and Web Accessibility Compliance
Case Study
Kiosk UI design for LifeLabs
Working closely with LifeLabs team helped us identify the requirements for the new UI: accessibility, simplicity and integrity in alignment with brand guidelines.
We started with fancy initial drafts but as we progressed, they have undergone significant changes towards minimalistic, brand aligned, and highly accessible design with manageable font sizes, contrasting colors, integrated help options. Simple navigation makes the check-in and registration processes easy and straightforward for all patient groups and ages.
Through a comprehensive process of understanding the target audience and research on key requirements for a modern and accessible website, our team started the project with accessibility in mind from the very beginning. We paid attention to AODA requirements by integrating all necessary components as we progressed through the project.
We ensured that all user groups are able to effectively use the website and benefit from it by accessing all necessary information. The new website is fully WCAG 2.0 AA compliant. Simple intuitive navigation, keyboard controls, attention to text contrast, text size, content structure are only some of the parameters that we incorporated and tested through the project life cycle.
The site features text alternatives for all images, appropriately contrasting colours and consistent navigation throughout. The LifeLabs website was designed and built with accessibility at front-of-mind, and we tested continuously during the project to ensure that the standards were being met and that nothing was overlooked.
While developing the website, one of the key requirements was to ensure that the website meets accessibility standards and, in particular, conforms to WCAG 2.0 Level AA criteria - an obligatory requirement for larger and public sector organizations to be achieved by 2021.
While Excelleris products and services target a specialized niche and its audience is not too large, our goal was to ensure that the website is fully accessible to every visitor.
To achieve this goal, we started the project with accessibility mindset at the design stage working with the color contrast rations, navigation balancing between the aesthetics and AODA Level AA requirements. As a result, we developed a modern functional website that is accessible and fully compliant under AODA standards.
Free accessibility audit
Our team will help you determine whether your existing website is legally compliant and where improvements can be made. Simply fill in the form below to get started!