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Overlays vs. Manual Auditing: Who Are They For?
Businesses come to the realization that they need to address their accessibility for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they’ve come face to face with a threatening demand letter or discrimination lawsuit. Other times, it’s because they’ve gotten usability complaints about their website or software.
A team member could have even simply mentioned that, according to the W3C, people with disabilities have a spending power of over $6 trillion globally – and that piqued their interest.
Whatever the reason, addressing your website or software’s accessibility is important. We’ve already established that the two best ways to address an existing website or software’s accessibility issues are to either:
- Use an overlay, or
- Perform manual auditing and ensure full code conformance.
But…which is better for your business?
Overlays vs. Manual Auditing
Overlays and manual auditing both have their respective pros and cons as digital accessibility solutions. We want to put the overlay vs. manual auditing comparison in black and white terms so you can make the best decision for your company. Use this comparison to help you determine which accessibility solution aligns with your digital accessibility needs.
Overlays
Pros:
- Offer limited but immediate accessibility support upon installation.
- Catch about 30% of accessibility issues automatically.
- More affordable than manual auditing and remediation.
- Typically billed as a monthly payment, offering flexibility with the service and making upgrading/downgrading your plan easier.
- The provided accessibility support can also benefit users who may not identify themselves as having a disability (i.e., elderly users who use the text zoom feature).
- Can be an interim accessibility support while more thorough accessibility work is being conducted.
- Can be a useful accessibility starting point for businesses that are unsure of where to even begin.
Cons:
- Cannot provide 100% accessibility conformance with the WCAG.
- Cannot guarantee 100% compliance with a country or state’s accessibility laws.
- Is not meant to be used as a permanent accessibility solution since it cannot detect or fix 100% of the accessibility issues that are present.
- Utilizes computer/AI technology to identify issues instead of a human being, resulting in potential computer inaccuracies and fewer issues being initially detected.
- Does not solve accessibility issues down at the code level, which is where the majority of accessibility issues are located.
- Some overlays will override a disabled user’s personal assistive technology (like a screen reader) and force them to use the overlay instead of their own preferred technology.
Manual, Human-Led Auditing:
Pros:
- Utilizes real, human auditors to run accessibility checks, which is the only way to ensure that all accessibility issues are detected.
- Can typically be done as a one-off, singular audit or a series of audits to satisfy the level of accessibility your business is looking for.
- Provides full code conformance, where accessibility issues are addressed at their roots in a website or software’s code.
- Can get businesses fully conformant with the WCAG.
- Can get businesses fully compliant with country and/or state accessibility law.
- Minimizes legal risk for businesses.
- Can be performed on a routine basis to ensure that new content is up-to-date.
- As the WCAG and various accessibility laws update over time, human auditors will incorporate these changes into the auditing process to ensure content satisfies new versions of applicable standards and laws.
Cons:
- Can have a longer completion timeframe, depending on how quickly businesses address the issues found within the audits.
- Is more costly than using an overlay due to the thoroughness of the audits and resulting accessibility levels.
What types of businesses benefit from each option?
Both overlays and manual auditing will help businesses address their accessibility. However, certain businesses may find one option more appealing than the other, depending on their interests and business type.
Overlays are best for:
- Businesses looking to provide immediate accessibility support to their users.
- Small businesses that may not have a large budget to work with.
- Businesses that are just starting out on their accessibility journey.
If you’re interested in an overlay, check out Max Access [insert affiliate link here]. With a customizable toolbar where users can set their accessibility preferences and a dashboard that offers accessibility reports, it’s an overlay that will set you off on the right track.
Manual auditing is best for:
- Businesses looking for the highest level of accessibility available, satisfied through full code conformance.
- Businesses that want to limit their chance of receiving threatening demand letters or facing a discrimination lawsuit.
- Businesses that want to satisfy explicit accessibility law that cites the WCAG or certain accessibility parameters.
If you’re interested in achieving full code conformance, [Insert your remediation landing page here]. The auditing process is centered around human-led audits, and is offered in several tiers. Businesses can receive a single audit, a cycle of three audits, or even ongoing compliance management.
If you’re still unsure which approach is best for you, feel free to book a call with me/one of our accessibility specialists here [Insert your call booking page here]. We’ll discuss your accessibility options and help you determine which solution is best for your company.