Third-party widgets, such as accessibility overlay tools, attempt to automatically improve the accessibility of websites. Furthermore, they may provide additional functionality such as text resizing, element highlighting, and color scheme adjustments via a custom "popup" interface, making your website more accessible. However, most functionality does not significantly differ when meeting WCAG 2.0 or 2.1 requirements.
As it turns
out, almost all of the functionality provided by some of these accessibility
overlay tools has no bearing on your WCAG compliance level. Furthermore, these
overlays offer your website little to no legal protection. In recent lawsuit
filings, some users used screenshots of these tools to build a claim against
websites that are not also seeking a holistic approach to ADA compliance. These
tools are also widely believed to increase your security risk, and many
companies' security policies prohibit the installation of such widgets.
Better Experiences vs. Band-Aid Solutions
In terms of
accessibility, the best defense is a good offense. No accessibility overlay
tool will ever outperform the effectiveness of empathic designers, developers,
and content creators who prioritize digital equity in their workflow. It is
especially true if you fail to properly test these overlays using software
programs and a diverse range of users from your target audience.
Rather than
relying solely on accessibility overlay tools to solve internal issues, invest
in effective testing software and encourage your audience to provide feedback.
You can also empower your team to create accessible digital content manually.
As a result, you will not only have a website that meets the needs of everyone
who visits it, but you will also be investing in your team and assisting them
in implementing a long-term process for keeping accessible websites.
Finally,
accessibility overlay tools should never serve as a quick-fix solution to
website accessibility issues. At best, they can address a limited set of
accessibility requirements, and they frequently do so in an imperfect manner.
Instead, it is best to follow all appropriate protocols to avoid wasting money as
you provide a better user experience.
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