What Does An Audit Cost?
What drives the price of an accessibility audit, what each package includes and how to compare quotes before you buy.
Read the audit cost guideAccessibility Glossary: 200 Web Accessibility Terms Explained In Plain English
Clear definitions of the WCAG, ARIA, ADA, Section 508 and European Accessibility Act terms you will meet in audits, VPATs and legal letters. Reviewed by our founder, an IAAP CPACC, WAS and CPWA certified specialist with 10+ years of hands-on accessibility testing.
Start Here
Turn These Terms Into A Plan
Looked up a term? These guides answer the questions people ask next. New here and not sure what you need? Book a free 30-minute call: a first conversation to understand where you stand and scope your project. Already have scan results or audit findings to go through with your developer? The $100 one-hour technical consultation is built for that.
Got An ADA Demand Letter?
What to do in the first days after a demand letter or lawsuit, and how an audit and documented fixes support your response.
Read the ADA lawsuit guideHow Remediation Works
How audit findings become code, content and design fixes, and how each fix is retested so you can show it is resolved.
Read the remediation guideAutomated Scans Vs Manual Testing
What automated accessibility testing catches, where it stops, and why a manual review with a screen reader still matters.
Read the testing guideSelling In The EU?
What the European Accessibility Act requires, who it covers and how EN 301 549 and WCAG fit together.
Read the EAA guideDo Overlays Make A Site Compliant?
Why accessibility widgets do not fix the underlying code, and what courts and the FTC have said about them.
Read the overlays guideget in touch
Know where you stand. Know what to work on next.
Tell us what you’re working on and where you need support. Our accessibility specialists can help with audits, remediation, VPAT/ACR, accessible development, and ongoing compliance.
Free 30-minute consultation (opens in new tab)
Free 30-minute call: talk through where you stand, scope a project or get a quote.
Need technical answers now? Book the $100 one-hour consultation to walk through an audit, talk with a developer or review your site live.
Let’s find the barriers before your users do
Indicates a required field.
Your information is kept private and never shared with third parties.
From Definition To Fix
Accessibility Glossary Terms Buyers Ask About Most
This accessibility glossary explains 200 terms in plain English. If you are buying an audit or answering a procurement request, start with accessibility audit, WCAG, success criterion, conformance level, VPAT, ACR, accessibility remediation, tagged PDF and accessibility roadmap. For the laws behind them, see ADA Title II, ADA Title III, Section 508, the European Accessibility Act and EN 301 549. Technical definitions follow the W3C’s WCAG 2.2 text.
Accessibility Audit
A structured review of your site against WCAG 2.2 Level AA using screen readers, the keyboard and automated scans. Our Quick Audit is $500 and a complete audit is $2,000.
Accessibility Audit ServicesVPAT And ACR
A VPAT is the ITI reporting template. Once it is filled in from real testing it becomes an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), which buyers and Section 508 reviewers ask for.
VPAT And ACR DocumentationAccessibility Remediation
Fixing the issues an audit finds in your code, content or CMS settings, then retesting each fix so you can show it is resolved.
Accessibility RemediationADA Demand Letter
A letter claiming your website breaks the ADA, often sent before a lawsuit. An expert audit and documented fixes are the usual first response.
ADA Lawsuit RemediationTagged PDF
A PDF with a tag tree that gives screen readers its headings, reading order, tables and alt text. PDF/UA (ISO 14289) is the standard for accessible PDFs.
Document Accessibility TestingAccessibility Roadmap
A prioritised plan for fixing issues and keeping them fixed, with owners, dates and scheduled retests after each release.
Accessibility MonitoringAll Accessibility Glossary Terms From A To Z
200 definitions covering WCAG success criteria, ARIA, assistive technology, testing tools and accessibility laws around the world. Select a term to read the full definition.
Accessible Authentication
A WCAG 2.2 success criterion (3.3.8, Level AA) requiring that login processes not rely solely on a cognitive function test, like remembering a password or solving a puzzle, without an accessible alternative.
Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
Canada's federal accessibility law, aiming for a barrier-free Canada by 2040, requiring federally regulated organizations to publish accessibility plans and meet digital accessibility standards.
Accessible Color Palette
A set of brand or design colors chosen so that every required text and interface color combination meets WCAG contrast requirements without relying on color alone to convey meaning.
Accessible Data Visualization
Designing charts, graphs, and dashboards so their information is available to people who cannot perceive color, fine visual detail, or the chart image itself, not just to sighted users.
Accessible Description
The additional descriptive text an assistive technology exposes for an element beyond its accessible name, typically supplying context, instructions, or error detail.
Accessible Icon Design
Designing icons with sufficient visual clarity and contrast, paired with a text label or accessible name, rather than relying on an icon alone to communicate its function.
Accessible Name
The accessible name is the text label a browser calculates for an interface element and exposes to assistive technology, drawn from visible text, an aria-label, alt text, or other sources depending on the element type.
Accessible PDF Tagging
The technical process of adding structural tags, headings, lists, tables, reading order, and alt text, to a PDF so it conforms to the PDF/UA accessibility standard.
Accessible Typography
Type choices, size, spacing, line length, and font selection, that support readability for people with low vision, dyslexia, and cognitive disabilities.
ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report)
An ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report) is the completed version of a VPAT: a filled-out document reporting exactly how a specific product conforms to accessibility standards, criterion by criterion.
ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the 1990 U.S. civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities, applied by courts and regulators to websites and digital services under its Title II and Title III provisions.
ADA Amendments Act
A 2008 US law that broadened the legal definition of disability under the ADA after court rulings had narrowed it, restoring a wider scope of coverage.
ADA Demand Letter
An ADA demand letter is written correspondence, typically from an attorney representing a disabled individual, alleging that a business's website is inaccessible and demanding remediation and often a monetary settlement.
ADA Title II
ADA Title II covers state and local government entities and, as of 2024, carries a formal Department of Justice rule requiring public-facing web content and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
ADA Title III
ADA Title III covers privately owned businesses open to the public, including most commercial websites, and is the basis for the large majority of U.S. web accessibility lawsuits.
Alt Text
Alt text (alternative text) is a short written description added to an image's alt attribute so screen reader users, and search engines, know what the image shows or communicates.
Alternative Keyboard
Any keyboard hardware designed differently from a standard layout to accommodate specific physical needs, such as larger keys, one-handed layouts, or reduced key counts.
AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act)
AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) is Ontario, Canada's accessibility law requiring public-sector organizations and larger private businesses to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on their public-facing web content.
ARIA (WAI-ARIA)
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications, formally WAI-ARIA) is a W3C specification that adds attributes to HTML, letting developers tell assistive technology about roles, states, and properties that plain HTML cannot express on its own.
ARIA Label
An ARIA label (aria-label) is an attribute that provides an invisible text name for an element, used when there is no visible text label a screen reader can read, such as an icon-only button.
Put The Terms To Work
Not Sure Which Of These Terms Apply To Your Site?
New here? Start with a free 30-minute call to understand where you stand and scope your project. Already have scan results or audit findings to work through with your developer? Book the $100 one-hour technical consultation. Ready for findings? Start with a $500 Quick Audit or a $2,000 complete audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an accessibility glossary?
An accessibility glossary is a list of the terms used in digital accessibility, from standards such as WCAG and EN 301 549 to laws, assistive technologies and testing methods, each explained in plain language. Ours has 200 terms, written and reviewed by the web accessibility experts who run our audits.
What is the difference between WCAG, the ADA and Section 508?
WCAG is the W3C’s technical standard for accessible web content. The ADA is a US civil rights law: the Department of Justice’s Title II web rule requires state and local governments to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA by April 26, 2027 (populations of 50,000 or more) or April 26, 2028 (smaller entities and special districts). Section 508 covers US federal agencies, and its standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA. See ADA Title II, ADA Title III and Section 508 in the glossary.
What is the difference between a VPAT and an ACR?
A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the blank reporting template published by the Information Technology Industry Council. When it is completed from real testing, the result is an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). We write ACRs from hands-on testing through our VPAT and ACR documentation service.
What does WCAG 2.2 Level AA mean?
WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023. It adds nine success criteria to WCAG 2.1, such as Target Size (Minimum) and Accessible Authentication, and removes 4.1.1 Parsing (W3C: What’s New in WCAG 2.2). Level AA means a page meets every Level A and Level AA success criterion. It is the level most laws and contracts ask for.
How much does an accessibility audit cost?
Our packages are fixed prices: a one-hour technical consultation (audit walkthrough, developer Q&A or live issue review) is $100, a Quick Accessibility Audit is $500, and a complete audit is $2,000, including the Shopify Accessibility Audit. Remediation and VPATs are quoted after we see the findings. See accessibility audit pricing for what each package includes.
Can an automated scanner or overlay make my website compliant?
No. Automated tools cannot check every WCAG requirement, which is why the W3C’s guidance on evaluation tools says to combine them with manual review. An accessibility overlay does not fix the underlying code either; read why in accessibility overlays and ADA lawsuits. Our audits pair scans with manual testing in NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and the keyboard.
Who writes and reviews these glossary definitions?
Our web accessibility experts. Reviews are led by founder Mohammad Shadab Saifi, who has 10+ years in digital accessibility and holds the IAAP CPACC, WAS and CPWA certifications. If a term on your audit report is unclear, book a $100 consultation and we will walk you through it.
I am new to accessibility. Where should I start?
Read WCAG and accessibility audit first, then the guide that fits your situation: audit cost, an ADA demand letter or the European Accessibility Act. When you want to talk it through, book a free 30-minute call. It is a first conversation to understand where you stand and scope a project. If you already have scan results or audit findings to go through with your developer, the $100 one-hour technical consultation is the better fit.