Web Accessibility means that your website is configured to allow people with disabilities to use it with ease. To make your website accessible, you need to adhere to the WGCA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) guidelines. As a business owner, achieving full WGCA compliance is a must as it regulated by law. Simple as that. Web accessibility is no longer a choice.
Userway is a free web accessibility plugin that offers a “quick fix” for all your accessibility problems, supposedly. But as many businesses realize, Userway falls short of providing full-proof WCAG and ADA compliance. Its widget answers only a narrow scope of the requirements, focusing mainly on front end design and UI adjustments. The heavy lifting – backend fixes that deal with screen readers and keyboard navigation – are left unattended. On top of that, Userway doesn’t provide ongoing compliance monitoring, which is highly problematic considering that today’s websites are dynamic and constantly updated.
Here are three Userway alternatives – web accessibility solutions that either provide full WCAG and ADA compliance or ones that will
accessiBe is a fully-automated, SaaS web accessibility solution. accessiBe is more than just an accessibility interface, it’s an ongoing compliance monitoring platform that keeps scanning your website (every 24 hours) using a proprietary algorithm to ensure any new content or element that comes up comply with the regulations.
How does accessiBe work
You add accessiBe code to your website – a single line of Javascript. accessiBe’s algorithm will scan, analyze, and makes adjustments to your website so it becomes fully accessible and ADA compliant.
Among the features are:
- Screen-Reader – elements and functionalities needed for blind users’ screen readers
- Keyboard navigation – adding keyboard-only functionalities to the website structure and elements
- Image alt text creation through OCR technology and machine learning
The third layer of accessiBe’s solution is the accessibility interface – the portion of the solution that allows users with disabilities to personalize their experience on the website based on their unique needs. The accessibility interface of accessiBe is especially comprehensive and detailed and supports a wide range of adjustments – content, color and display and navigation.
Advantages
- Fast – the initial scan, analysis and accessibility adjustments take only 48 hours. Once it’s done, your website is fully compliant and certified
- Cost-effective – the standard subscription that covers websites with up to 1,000 unique pages is $490 a year
- Ongoing monitoring – accessiBe keeps scanning your website every 24 hours and makes adjustments to new content and structural changes to ensure compliance
How does Deque work
Deque offers four main services:- Audit – Full assessment of your current state of accessibility, which results in a detailed issue report
- Accessibility Remediation – Deque’s team will guide yours on how to fix accessibility issues with your website on the path to full compliance (this service relies on the Audit report)
- Strategy Consulting – Consulting to help your company assess the effort needed to attain compliance and construct a plan for how to get there – suited for larger organizations
- Training – various training courses to help your team familiarize themselves with accessibility requirements
Level Access main offering is its AMP software (Accessibility Management Platform). The software provides support, testing, and reporting for development projects. Level Access approach says that you should incorporate accessibility features early in the development process. It is a valid approach, and a smart one, but it does not provide a solution for all those websites that are already online and still need accessibility remediation.
For those, Level Access offers audit, testing, and consulting services. Similarly to Deque, the Level Access team will conduct a comprehensive assessment of your current level of accessibility compliance and provide a detailed report on how to fix these issues.
Level Access does not offer an accessibility interface for your website. You’ll need to install one independently.
How does Level Access work:
Level Access has two distinct offerings:
- For active websites – audit, testing and consulting to fix accessibility issues
- For websites in development – APM software that helps integrate accessibility features and frameworks into the development process
Advantages
- Integrated compliance – For development projects, the APM software is a great tool to help you integrate accessibility in the core level of your website
*Level Access doesn’t provide any details regarding pricing, or duration of their offered services.
To Sum Up
Rest assured, there are great alternatives to Userway that actually work. The three mentioned here all have distinct offerings, though only accessiBe delivers it ‘out the door’ with a fully automated, ongoing solution. The other two are excellent for one-time manual auditing and ‘hands-on’ consulting that involves a prolonged process and a much higher cost.
