Level A (minimum)
- Basic level of accessibility
- Removes some barriers to make the website more accessible
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The Orbit approach to accessibility
Orbit has a realistic and accessibility-first approach to web design and development, with the goal of building a site that is AA compliant.
Disclaimer: We are NOT accessibility law experts. We implement best practices based on our knowledge and are highly dependent on our assessment tools. Always seek legal advice from an expert.
1 in 5 visitors has a disability that may impact how they navigate the web
Many types of impairments impact people’s abilities to interact with websites. There are auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments.
But people without disabilities benefit from your website being accessible too. Many factors influence how we access and view websites, including our devices, ages, internet speeds, physical environments, and more.
When you have an accessible website, you make it easier for everyone to use.
Accessible content includes:
- Easily readable text with large fonts and high-contrast
- Text that can be read using a screen reader
- Meaningful and unique titles and headings
- Unique and descriptive link text
- Alternative text for images
- Transcribed videos
- Visual indicators (such as an arrow or underline) are used to identify links and other navigational information
- Other means for navigating the site are usable, such as keyboard shortcuts.
- … and more! We’ve outlined a number of tips for creating accessible content in this article.
Levels of conformance
There are 3 levels of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): Level A, AA, and AAA.
Level AA (Orbit target)
- Must satisfy this level to be Section 508 and ADA compliant
- Removes many barriers to make the website more accessible
Level AAA (maximum)
- Not enforced by regulators today
- An entire website may never meet the AAA guidelines established
- An unlikely target goal for your organization
| Example Components | A | AA | AAA |
| Content: Descriptive H1 headings | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content: Descriptive links (avoid “read more”) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content: Image alt text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content: Video transcriptions, closed captioning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Design: Text color contrast | Yes | Yes | |
| Design: Text size (fonts should be big) | Yes | Yes | |
| Design Assets: Avoid images containing text | Yes | Yes | |
| Design Assets: Use icons + buttons consistently | Yes | Yes | |
| Links: Use color, underline and arrows to indicate links | Yes | Yes | |
| Links: Use an icon or visual indicator for offsite links | Yes | Yes | |
| Misc Features: No time limits or interruptions | Yes | ||
| Video: Low or no background audio in videos | Yes | ||
| User Control: Provide a range of presentation options | Yes |
The five-step process
Our approach to accessibility is to plan, implement, test, audit and remedy. We’ll attempt to avoid surprises by educating you when decisions impact compliance and try to minimize the impact of those decisions.
When you decide to move forward with a non-conforming decision, we’ll document that decision in our accessibility report.
1. Confirm your accessibility plan
2. Write and design accessible pages
3. Implement accessible code
4. Conduct pre-launch audit
5. Inform, decide, remedy, and launch!
Project scope
You should commit to an accessibility plan that makes sense for you. We’ll inform you on how to get there and avoid surprises at the end.
What is in the project scope?
Orbit will work to:
- Write content with compliant descriptive headlines, copy, and links
- Test designs and document color contrast and text size
- Enter content with accessibility best practices in mind
- Conduct an accessibility audit on the developed website on roughly 4-7 unique pages or post types
- Provide recommendations for improvement
- Remedy issues within our control and budget to attempt to meet level AA compliance
What is not in the scope?
Some accessibility recommendations may not be in scope, such as:
- Editing existing migrated content to be accessible
- Entering alt text on all images to describe the image
- Transcribing videos
- Revising to 3rd party plugins or iFrames that are not built by Orbit
- Remedying issues that are not within our control and budget to meet level AA compliance
Our accessibility audit
Orbit will measure for all levels of accessibility on the pages we test, and provide recommendations for achieving your accessibility goal.
Some tools we utilize include:
- Chrome Extension from Stark
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker – Siteimprove.com
- Accessibility Insights For Web – Accessibilityinsights.io
- Wave Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool – Wave.webaim.org
- Lighthouse – Developers.google.com
- NVDA Screen Reader – Nvaccess.org
NOTE: The above list of links is an example of how offsite links use the arrow indicator to inform visitors they are leaving the site. Opening external links in a new window or tab is not considered a good accessibility practice. It can be disorienting for people using screen readers or with low vision, especially if there’s no warning. Hence, why we include the arrow indicator to warn visitors they are leaving the website.
Compromises
There’s almost always an accessible alternative. The choice is yours to implement it or exclude it.
Building an accessible website includes making tradeoffs during the process. Your team will need to make decisions to balance legal risk, branding, third-party features, and usability. Websites are often an imperfect mix of accessible and less accessible features and pages.
Several things can negatively impact accessibility compliance, including:
- Non-compliant brand colors and fonts
- Images containing text
- Using captcha on forms
- 3rd Party iFrames or embedded forms
- 3rd Party widgets or scripts
- External plugins and themes
- Embedded videos
Provide your accessibility statement for the website
An accessibility statement can be as simple as you’d like it to be.
- State the intent
- Provide resources to show that intent
- Provide a means for users to ask for help
- Create a page in the footer of your website
- Use these tools to help generate one:
Moving forward
We’ve covered a lot. Now it’s time to start implementing your accessibility plan. Here’s what we need from you:
- Your target level of accessibility: A, AA, or AAA
- Your accessibility statement
Some reminders:
- Most websites don’t pass all the criteria due to deliberate decisions and content complexity. You tell us if and how you want to address these gaps.
- We are not accessibility law experts
- Utilize our accessibility best practices article when drafting content and gathering assets.
