Services
Accessible Digits offers an array of services to aid you in determining, resolving & maintaining website accessibility.
Web/App Assessment
Videos
Remediation
Consulting
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Web/App Assessment
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Basic Service
We include everything in WCAG 2.1 except media and data entry in our "Basic Service." A basic evaluation will show if your website was developed with accessibility in mind. It may even be enough to avoid coming to the attention of "drive by" litigators using automated tools to sniff out non-conformance. Some of the issues included here are low contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader navigation, and the appropriateness of alternative text on images. Although our basic service is designed to be an low cost alternative, we do not stop, or even start, with an automated scan. Some accessibility evaluation companies offer a "free" automated scan, which can be counted on to find many areas where a manual test is needed. Expensive professional-grade automated scanners find at most 40% of accessibility barriers. If you are buying an automated-only scan, do your research, because it goes way down from there. Accessible Digits does not offer automated-only scans. For large websites with repeating design elements, a representative sample of pages will tell you most of what you need to know. We work with you to pick out the most representative set of pages to keep your costs low.
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User input
User input – most commonly forms – is challenging owing to the need for blind users to be able to identify and correct user input errors (called "validation"). Certain aspects of forms not pertaining to validation – such as matching labels to input fields in a way that screen readers can understand – are covered under our basic service. However, forms must announce input errors to screen reader users, provide guidance in filling in the cells correctly, and be keyboard actionable. More strict accessibility guidelines apply if the user is making a financial commitment. Please contact us for a quote.
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Videos
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Closed Captions
Closed captioning can be obtained for relatively little investment, and it is not cost effective to hire us to tell you if you need it or not. We do not offer it as a stand-alone service, but will include it in an overall remediation project.
You should understand the difference between subtitles, open captions, closed captions, and live captions. Subtitles are for users who can hear, but don't speak the language of the video. Thus, speech is translated, but not things like "footsteps approaching". For our purposes, subtitles are not an element of accessibility. Open captions include relevant descriptions of sounds that the user is presumed not to hear. Closed captions are the same as open captions, except they may be hidden for users that don't want them. Most modern video players support closed captions. Live captions, as the name implies, are generated in real time, whether automatically
or by humans; they will not include descriptions of non-speech sounds. Accessible Digits does not provide a live captioning service.
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Audio Description / Described Video
Audio description, aka described video, helps blind and low vision individuals consume video content more fully by describing relevant non-dialog occurrences in the video. Unfortunately, the cost of audio description is high, and player support minimal. Accessible Digits will evaluate your videos, accounting for video purpose as well as content, and tell you if you need audio description. If you do, and decide to remediate, we can procure the audio description and set up your website to support it.
Remediation
Websites that can be remediated without altering the design (too much) will be quoted on a case-by-case basis when the assessment is complete. If substantial design alterations are needed, please consider our consulting services.
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Consulting
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Design
It is always best to include accessibility from the beginning, rather than having to remediate an inaccessible design.
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Remediation
If substantial design changes are needed, or you just want to remediate the site yourself, we also offer remediation consulting. An hourly remediation consulting contract must be preceded by an Accessible Digits assessment of at least a representative sample of pages to be remediated.
Section 508
Accessibility for the US government and contractors follows what is commonly known as "Section 508." More than a set of accessibility requirements, Section 508 requires the evaluator follow a particular set of testing standards using approved tools, distinct from the W3C methodology noted previously. Accessible Digits personnel are Section 508 certified and ready to take on your compliance projects.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA does not call out a standard, demanding only that you provide disabled persons "full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations." In the absence of specific regulations, courts are making the rules. Though WCAG 2.0 has emerged as a de facto standard, certain provisions overspecify and others underspecify what is needed to align with the ADA.
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
The AODA is one of the most comprehensive and forward leaning accessibility regulations in the world. As of 1 January 2021, all websites must conform to WCAG 2.0. However, Ontarians are exempt from the audio description and live captioning requirements, so the path to full compliance could be much less expensive for residents of Ontario.