AKEA Web

AKEA Web Review

What is AKEA Web?

AKEA Web Solutions is an accessibility consulting firm offering accessibility solutions ranging from accessibility consultation, audits, website, and PDF remediation, web accessibility training, and WordPress web hosting and design and consulting solutions.

Having been offering accessibility consultation for about a decade, AKEA provides both web design and web accessibility solutions. For their web accessibility, they determine your level of non-compliance and identify barriers to accessibility by performing a series of accessibility audits on your web pages and providing documentation of the major issues. The overview documentation contains prioritized recommendations on how to remediate your website, removing the barriers to accessibility. They also work with you on maintaining accessibility compliance by charting a path that efficiently meets your goals. This part also includes designing, redesigning, and upgrading your existing website to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 compliance.

AKEA Web Service(s) and Features

Like it is for manual web accessibility solutions, AKEA will, first of all, perform accessibility tests to determine if your digital assets are compliant with web accessibility standards. For the web accessibility assessment, AKEA’s experts perform an overview and generate documentation of major issues identified including a recommendation while the accessibility audit is much more detailed. They perform both automated and manual audits for WCAG 2.1 and ADA compliance. AKEA’s automated audits are executed using scanning software and a series of scripts to identify where the technical (code) problems exist on the site while their manual web accessibility audits are performed by expert user testers who test every page with assistive technologies such as screen readers and keyboard-only commands.

AKEA’s audit involves a comprehensive analysis of your entire digital assets (websites, documents, and multimedia) to pinpoint barriers preventing individuals with disabilities from accessing the website and to determine if your website meets the Web Content Accessibility Standards (WCAG 2.1). The audit provides a comprehensive analysis of each page and an intricate report on the identified web accessibility issues while also documenting areas in need of remediation. It is with the accessibility audit report AKEA’s experts will work with your organization’s technicians and developers to chart an accessibility path going forward. This involves technical guidance and resources and making a budget-friendly recommendation on whether you should redesign your website or fix its non-accessible elements, and if so, specify the prioritized procedures and guidance on resolving the identified issues.

AKEA Web Solutions also provides accessibility remediation services. For remediation to establish ADA, WCAG 2.1, and Section 508 compliance, AKEA takes a hands-on approach by working collaboratively with your web and content teams (internal and/or contracted) to develop a road map and tailor your remediation plans to your organizational needs. The remediation is primarily ordered by priority while AKEA’s experts provide in-depth explanations throughout the process and provide documentation and relevant tutorials that your organization can retain for future reference. Together, they eliminate barriers from your digital assets- websites and mobile devices, PDF and Microsoft Office documents, and multimedia (audio and videos). Like many web accessibility solution providers, this process can be expedited in real time if your organization already received a letter or is involved in legal action. Upon the conclusion of remediating your digital assets and final quality assurance review, AKEA will provide you with a Letter of Conformance/Accessibility Statement confirming your conformance to the ADA, WCAG 2.1, and Section 508 accessibility standards.

It is during the remediation process that accessibility training for your team comes in handy as it ensures your team can take charge of ongoing compliance. AKEA’s multi-dimensional web accessibility training is aimed at educating your team on implementing WCAG 2.1 standards, removing barriers from an inaccessible website, maintaining accessible documents, etc. This training can, however, be tailored to individual needs and as well be delivered through virtual sessions or in person.

AKEA Web Pricing

Like it is with manual remediation, AKEA Web Solutions does not have fixed pricing. This is because web accessibility consultations (tests, audit, remediation, and training) are tailored to your organization’s specific needs, your website requirements, and according to available resources. 

AKEA Web Platform and Support

AKEA offers expert support for all of its services from accessible web design, and development services to web accessibility consulting such as website and document accessibility audit and remediation, web accessibility certification, and customized web accessibility training. AKEA’s support also covers organizations that already received a notice or that want to be proactive, including those that require accessibility policy development.

AKEA Web Solutions’ experienced development web accessibility experts primarily handle the accessibility and user tests and audits with a comprehensive report on methodology to fix different issues for ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliance while the task of removing hurdles on your digital assets will be done collaboratively by your both teams through specified sessions to ensure your team can keep up with ongoing compliance.  

You can get in touch via a phone call or send an email for a consultation or to clarify issues. They also have good web accessibility resources for first-timers on web accessibility compliance standards and checklists.

The summary…

Why AKEA Web? Pros and Cons

AKEA Web’s approach to digital accessibility compliance is fully manual. It combines automated detection of errors and manual testing and adjustment, web design among other services to keep you compliant with accessibility regulations and avoid a lawsuit. Let’s examine the positives and negatives of AKEA Web’s solutions:

The Final Verdict On AKEA Web

AKEA Web is a robust manual accessibility solution that fixes barriers at the source. They can either remediate your website and fix your digital asset or design and develop another from scratch.

To identify barriers to access, they test and audit your website, documents, and multimedia against ADA, WCAG 2.1, and Section 508 standards. This is performed and documented by their trained professionals who combine their expertise with software/automated tools to generate prioritized recommendations on how to remediate your website. In the situation, your organization is already involved in legal action or unless specified, web accessibility remediation is usually performed in a cooperative with your team of developers and designers (as a form of training) to ensure all your digital assets have been upgraded to be accessible to all web users, including those experiencing disabilities, and therefore in compliance with accessibility laws and standards. A review is performed by user testers and a letter of conformance is issued afterward.

Since manual accessibility is usually structured in the form of a project, the process will likely take more than 6 (six) weeks, depending on the complexity and requirement of your digital assets. 

AKEA offers something similar to what Accessible Web offers in web development. Even more with their training and document remediation. The robust services for ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliance, track record, and experience win it for me.