What exactly is ADA compliance?
In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities, making sure that they enjoy equal rights and opportunities with the rest. Exactly 20 years later, in 2010, the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design was passed to ensure that all electronic and information technology such as websites are accessible to people with disabilities. In other words, they should be accessible to visually impaired users, hearing impaired users, and those who need assistive technologies.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Established and managed by the international web standards group, the W3C, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the internationally recognized set of guidelines for digital accessibility.
To sum up, WCAG has four basic principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
Perceivable – Information is presented in a perceivable manner. This may include putting text alternatives to non-text content, adding captions for multimedia, and making it easy to see and hear content.
Operable – Users must navigate the website easily. This may include making functionalities available from a keyword, giving enough time for users to read, and helping users navigate.
Understandable – Content must be easy to understand. This may include making the text readable and understandable, making content and functionalities operate in a predictable manner, and helping users avoid and correct mistakes.
Robust – This means that users can access the content as technologies evolve. The content must also be compatible with different devices, platforms, and technologies.
You may refer to WCAG 2.1 for more details.