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Poor site costs Target $6m

The US retail giant Target has been made to establish a $6 million fund for settlement of claims arising from its website not being accessible to blind people. They also had to promise to make their site fully accessible to blind visitors as part of a deal ending a class action lawsuit in America.  The settlement also requires Target to ensure that in future blind people "may acquire the same information and engage in the same transactions as are available to sighted guests with substantially equivalent ease of us.".

If the web-designer had used alt tags he would have saved Target $6m !

Accessibility Certification

Our accessible website certification service provides you with the evidence that you are meeting the appropriate accessibility guidelines, but more importantly, that your site has been tested by disabled users as well as accessibility specialists.

What is accessibility certification?

Userite will provide a statement declaring the level of accessibility of your website on completion of any accessibility test or accessibility report that we undertake. If the site passes our requirement for compliance with the W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or S508 guidelines, plus our user panel tests, we will issue a notice of compliance and permission to use the relevant compliance certificate. For details of what is covered please click on the relevant image below.

Priority level 1 certicicate Priority leve 2 certificate Priority lvel 3 certificate

To maintain our independence we do not undertake repairs or recommend design agencies. We do provide training and support services at competitive rates (please refer to our training section). Our primary aim is to help you create and maintain an accessible web site.

Why would I want an acessibility certificate?

There are several reasons why you might want Userite to certify the accessibility of your site:

  • You may be running a government funded website and require evidence that your site complies with the WAI guidelines in order to maintain your .gov domain status.
  • You may have a received funding from the European Commission. national government or other agency that requires that your webiste meets the accessibility guideline and disabilities discrimination legislation.
  • You may be creating a service or application that you would like to market to the US government. If you can verify that your product conforms with Section 508, you will have an advantage over other similar products and services that do not meet this standard.
  • You may want to prove to yourself, or others, that you have made the effort to build an accessible website and help to build an inclusive society.
  • You want to confidently proclaim that your site has an accessible web presence and has been certified by a recognized leader in web accessibility.

How long is the certificate valid for?

Userite site accessibility certification is for a specific date and compliance level. It is up to you to ensure that your site maintains that level of accessibility over time. Userite can help you in these efforts by training your staff and re-testing your site upon request or at regular intervals.

How much does certification cost?

Certification of a website is an integral part of our accessibility testing process and is included in the price for any test or audit report which we carry out. Whether you have a simple accessibility test or a full accessibility audit and report we will issue the relevant accessibility certificate if the website meets the accessibility guidelines being tested.

Don't forget that all our accessibility tests and accessibility reports come with a free re-test if you make the required improvements within a required time frame - normally 3 months.