Effortless Accessibility — The New Face of Digital Equality
THE MOST PROMISING ACCESSIBILITY SOLUTION — The value of a digital solution hinges on its ability to provide effortless accessibility functions to end consumers without compromising user experiences. Along the same lines, a website that fails to help differently-abled patrons attain equal experiences is bound to tarnish an organization’s hard-earned reputation. A lack of special web features prevents disabled people from navigating the vast online information realm and isolates them from the general society. Hence, a company’s digital architecture must be as hospitable and inclusive as its brick-and-mortar facilities.
Propelling this idea forward is an Israeli organization called EqualWeb, which provides accessibility solutions for their customers’ websites. EqualWeb’s cloud-based platform and state-of-the-art remediation tools provide accessibility features such as smart navigation using numeric keys, voice commands to browse the website without a mouse/keyboard, and many more. EqualWeb upholds digital equality above all; it transforms websites to make online content accessible for people with special needs. “We are the one-stop-shop for all digital accessibility needs,” remarked Adam Ikar, CEO at EqualWeb. He added, “We offer a wide range of solutions that includes auditing, remediation, monitoring, and consulting, among many others.”
Why EqualWeb?
EqualWeb has an ingrained experience of over two decades working for people with disabilities. Banking on this accumulated knowledge, the company offers a straightforward, cost-effective accessibility solution to transform its customers’ websites.
Without interfering with the already running website’s architecture or modifying existing codes, EqualWeb seamlessly integrates its solutions into client websites to create a digitally inclusive channel for media consumption.
EqualWeb’s skilled team of IT experts, designers, programmers, and marketing professionals meticulously scan customers’ site domains to unearth issues that may hinder web accessibility. The company’s machine learning algorithms identify and analyze inconsistencies in data patterns. By either using an automatic remediation process or applying its fully managed manual audit plans, EqualWeb introduces accessibility rules that fit customers’ code, content, and style.
With a single line of code at the back end, EqualWeb fulfills the entirety of their accessibility needs.
The company combines full WCAG 2.1 compliance with an intuitive and seamless browsing experience for all. It allows users to select from 27 accessibility functions to create the optimal browsing experience, regardless of disability or personal limitation. In its comprehensive accessibility menu, EqualWeb orchestrates features such as screen reader adjustment, keyboard navigation, numeric navigation, blink block, text reader, voice commands, color adjustments, customer color, font sizing, readable fonts, and others. These online remediation widgets are unobtrusively present on every web page to provide the ultimate accessibility for any user’s needs.
EqualWeb’s simple Google Chrome browser plugin automatically detects accessibility issues by locating and identifying 70 percent of potential problem areas. After scanning, the robust checker flags static and dynamic accessibility concerns on customers’ HTML pages based on WCAG 2.1 compliance requirements. The checker tool, along with EqualWeb’s remediation widget, helps clients mitigate any issues and expand their digital presence among users. To that end, EqualWeb’s accessibility experts use its AI-based technology to periodically monitor customers’ sites, highlighting any potential violation risks. When encountering inconsistencies, the EqualWeb team proficiently mitigates error and manually audits customers’ websites for full WCAG compliance and certification. The company even offers customers’ websites auditing to provide them an actionable checklist of accessibility constraints to prevent potential lawsuits. And EqualWeb stands behind its product. “We are proud to offer a $1 million warranty to our clients, protecting them from potential loss,” said Ikar.
Success Stories that Spur Progress
A typical client onboarding process at EqualWeb begins with evaluating the customer’s website before proceeding with any remediation widgets. EqualWeb then issues a report to highlight the changes required to make the website/mobile app accessible. After ensuring that the domain meets WCAG standards, EqualWeb prepares an ADA-compliant website for its customers.
To further illustrate these benefits, Ikar cites a case study where EqualWeb collaborated with Fiverr, the biggest online global trading platform. The client’s website was very complex, with hundreds of components changing every month.
To facilitate a more seamless operation, Fiverr installed the EqualWeb remediation widget. EqualWeb technicians analyzed the site behind the scenes using their smart AI engine from the ground up, introducing accessibility rules that fit the code, content, and style. This automated process was not only designed to fix common issues, but also to ensure the highest levels of compliance. In Fiverr’s case, this automated process fixed 70% of the accessibility issues in less than a day. Following this, EqualWeb accessibility experts initiated the manual process of auditing and remedying all Fiverr components and templates — and in less than two months, the site was 99% accessible.
Rather than hiring an expensive in-house professional, Fiverr chose to go with EqualWeb, spending only a fraction of the amount they’d have spent otherwise. Every year, the EqualWeb team conducts manual testing and adjustments to enhance the level of accessibility and bring it back to 99 percent after every update. EqualWeb’s solution fixed a longstanding and perplexing issue, and the client forged a relationship with EqualWeb that stands strong to this day.
EqualWeb leaves no stone unturned to make its customers’ website accessible by all, regardless of traffic or upgrade requirements. The company even goes the extra mile by offering consultancy services to help customers realize the importance of featuring the right mix of accessibility functions to serve all audience categories.
“In the physical world, it goes without saying that access for people with disabilities must be ensured, such as entrance ramps, accessible restrooms, and so on,” noted Ikar. “The same goes for the digital world — morally, legally, and economically. People with disabilities must be allowed the same access, information, and ability to perform actions on stores and websites as anyone else can.”
To that end, EqualWeb also provides accessibility training to help customers understand the ever-changing online landscape in the wake of premium technologies and how they affect accessibility needs for the disabled. This pragmatic approach allows clients to curate websites that serve the broadest potential audience with minimal litigation risk.
“Innovation is the essential key here. We are using machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to make our solutions more autonomic, faster, and reliable.
We’re proud to be working alongside people with disabilities at every step of our development cycle to create an EqualWeb that is accessible to everyone,” concluded Ikar.
