You have just finished setting up your Shopify store and are excited to begin selling your wares to the public. The site is pleasing to the eye and filled with things you know people will love. You even have an advertising plan in place. Before you open your cyber doors, it is important to ensure your website is accessible to anyone who may want to use it.
Without tools like the Shopify accessibility widget, you could be in legal trouble if your site is not accessible. Fortunately, these compliance widgets can help ensure your website is accessible to differently-abled people.
An eCommerce store owner must do a few things to make sure they comply with the rules set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Every Image Must Have Alt Text
There is nothing more important to a Shopify store than pictures of the products you are selling. Unfortunately, not everyone can see those pictures. Therefore, the ADA requires that businesses have alternative text for those pictures. The text must fully describe what's going on in each image.
Make Sure Your Theme Is Accessible
If you are working with a web designer to create your Shopify store, make sure they create a theme that is ADA-compliant. If you are a small independent company, you are more likely to use one of Shopify's predesigned themes. Most of their themes are compliant, but some do not meet ADA standards.
New store owners often do not realize the importance of color contrast compliance. People with vision issues cannot read the text or see the images on a webpage with certain color combinations. For example, people who are colorblind may not be able to distinguish the colors red and green.
If you use hyperlinks, they must have descriptive text. You should never have text that says "click here" or "click this link."
Make Sure You Have a Keyboard Navigation Option
Not everyone can use a mouse. You must make sure that visitors will be able to shop on your site using just a keyboard. Visitors must be able to access a picture or description of every product on your site and use drop-down menus to make purchases. They should be able to do this using the tab and arrow keys.
Properly Label Everything
Good web content will have headers describing each section of the article. This will make your content easier for everyone to read.
If you have a contact form on your site, each section the visitor fills out must be marked clearly. For example, the box where they put their first name must say "first name," and the box where they put their address must say "address."
You want as many people as possible to visit and buy things on your Shopify store. Accessibility compliance will keep you out of legal trouble and increase your profits.
