This recording is a continuation of my previous video where I explained why you would never want to have a separate or alternative version of their website even if that separate version is accessible and I will link to that video below.
But in this video, I am on a separate version of the web- the apartment website. And at the very bottom of the page there’s a footer. And in the footer it says, The Apartments 247 Accessibility Portal is in conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA.
Then it says Visit the certification page for details, for now I will click on that link.
And now we go to a WebAIM page and I will link to this page on the description, the URL is webaim.org/services/certification/apartments247. And the heading is apartments247 Accessibility Portal.
Then the subheading is Verification of Conformance. The paragraph reads WebAIM, an independent authority in web accessibility, evaluated a representative sample of the Apartments247 Accessibility Portal web content and found conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1 Level A and AA.
And so originally, I did not click on the link, but when you click on the Apartments247 Accessibility Portal link. It takes us to a page that looks like it’s for a Las Vegas Nevada apartment. But is the same exact format as the other page for the other apartments. So really, this is just a template that has been edited.
And I’m just scrolling down it now and it’s the same format as this previous separate alternative version of the page. So it looks like WebAIM simply evaluated a template.
And so that’s why it’s somewhat generic in the sense that it’s the Apartments247 Accessibility Portal is that WebAIM is only evaluating this template and then continuing on it says WebAIM cannot verify the conformance or accessibility of content beyond the scope of the sample, nor content changed after June 29, 2021.
So this is something that most people don’t realize is that accessibility certification documentation- it expires when it’s issued.
And that’s because- a digital asset can’t be constantly evaluated or deemed conformant or certified or whatever, because it’s live and it can be changed. And so, and content can be dynamic anyways.
So it doesn’t- just because there’s an expiration date doesn’t mean that the documentation still isn’t effective. That’s just the practical nature of it.
And if you want to keep it fresh, what you could do is speak to the fact that it hasn’t been changed or won’t be changed without notification or ever, but that’s just taking it really, really far.
The point here being that documentation can only be good as of the date it’s issued. And then there’s a nicety. However, based on our interactions with the Apartments247 development team, WebAIM is confident in their ability and willingness to maintain conformance.
So this is really what certification can look like. I think in most instances, it will be different. Here we are- WebAIM evaluated a generic template. So it was a digital asset of sorts, but it wasn’t live and it wasn’t specific.
So there weren’t specific URLs that could be documented. So it was a different case, but we do have certification linked, And if you do have a conformance statement I think it is. I would always link to it from my accessibility statement because why wouldn’t you.
This is a different type of situation, but I did want to go over. A really- sort of a website accessibility certification that I found while looking at website.
