Website Compliance Requirements
There are various requirements that every website must adhere to and comply with. These include data protection and privacy laws and policies, as well as specific industry guidelines governing ecommerce, copyright, plagiarism, and anti-spam. Certain industries also have additional, specific website requirements that pertain to health, legal and financial matters.
The shared hosting vs dedicated hosting with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most common and highly visible regulations to ensure websites are accessible for people with disabilities. The ADA mandates that all content, images, video and multimedia, as well as any forms or documents posted to websites, must be tagged with proper accessibility descriptions in order for them to be properly displayed by assistive technologies.
For instance, any videos or audio content you may post on your local government’s website must be tagged with accurate and easy to view closed captioning. This is a standard level AA best practice to allow users of assistive technology to properly interpret and understand your content.
Navigating the Legal Landscape: Understanding Website Compliance Requirements
Other guidelines for website compliance include the use of header and column attributes in tables to provide meaningful structure and context to assistive technologies, such as screen readers. Using header styles rather than hex values also helps avoid falling out of ADA compliance with regard to table structure.
In addition, any drop-down menus on your site should be structured to avoid overlapping with content on the page or creating an unnecessarily large amount of vertical space. This prevents users with mobility issues from accidentally selecting a submenu they’re not meant to and it also addresses the risk of blinking or flashing content, which could cause seizures in some visitors.
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