I’ll start with a quote by Jakob Nielsen, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, pioneers in web usability.

4 MIN. READ

Imagine you’ve been tasked with riding a unicycle across a tightrope. It sounds difficult, right?

We’ve all been there. You’ve painstakingly overhauled your site to be ADA compliant and to match the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Then just a short time later, changes to the standard are made and you have to start all over again.

Since 1990 when it was first passed, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has helped ensure that those with disabilities may more fully and equally participate in the public sphere. Accessibility guidelines have expanded to include websites, and your business's website and digital presence must be ADA compliant to better serve your customers, meet regulatory requirements, and protect you from potential legal action.

Compliance with legal regulations can be a chore. It’s not likely to show up on your list of the most exciting topics.

Approximately 25% of American adults have a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means that your organization's website should be built in a way that accommodates and meets the needs of people with a variety of disabilities.

In today's digitally advanced world, designing for accessibility has become the norm. Brands that aren't using an accessibility-first design run the risk of losing leads and prospective customers to competitors that do.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was signed into law in June 2018. Its introduction into California law reminds many of GDPR and the increasing awareness of privacy by both the government and consumers.

The CCPA has put stringent requirements on those who fall within its jurisdiction (we’ll let you know later who that is). Compliant companies must be able to tell consumers what data they have on file, what it’s used for, and how to request its deletion. You cannot store California consumers’ data and use it in secret anymore.

California is among the first to enact a major privacy law; it likely won’t be last. The U.S. government is considering a federal level law in the wake of GDPR and CCPA. If you’re not ready to be open about how you use consumer data, then you’re not ready for CCPA or later privacy laws that pop up.

Although the CCPA requirements don’t go into effect until January 1, 2020, companies need to start preparing now to be compliant. First, you’ll need to know who is required to be compliant with CCPA and how to do it.