How to Make Your Shopify Store Ada Complient? [in 2023]

Written by: Mark Coleman
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Are you aware of the risks associated with not being ADA compliant on your Shopify store? As a website owner, it’s your social responsibility to ensure that all users, including those living with disabilities, can access your website, products, and digital content you publish.

Failure to comply with ADA regulations can result in fines up to $5,000 and even legal action.

But don’t worry, making your Shopify store ADA compliant doesn’t have to be complicated.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the guidelines and policies you can follow to make your store accessible to all users.

For more Shopify tutorials, check out this page: Shopify tutorials.

If you prefer to watch a video tutorial on how to Make Your Shopify Store Ada Complient, check out this video tutorial:

How to Make Your Shopify Store ADA Compliant

Here is how to make your Shopify store ADA compliant:

  1. Understand what ADA compliant means. It means making your Shopify store compliant so that people with disabilities can also access your Shopify store in an easier way.
  2. Be aware of the risks associated with not being ADA compliant. As a Shopify website owner, it’s your social responsibility to ensure that all users, including those living with disabilities, can access your website, products, and digital content you publish. You can get around a $5,000 fine and go to court if your Shopify store is not ADA compliant.
  3. Use Shopify’s built-in accessibility features and tools to help you with your ADA compliancy. Making your Shopify website ADA compliant doesn’t need to be complicated. Shopify already has several built-in accessibility features and tools to help you with your ADA compliancy.
  4. Follow policies and guidelines applicable to your Shopify store. Shopify has policies and guidelines for text accessibility, alternative text, and slideshow and video accessibility.
  5. Text Accessibility: Use the correct text formatting to make a big difference for customers with visual impairments. Some of the Shopify’s guidelines include using the correct color contrast, headers, text size, and alignment. Text links should also be identified using an underline or a visual differentiator.
  6. Alternative Text: Make images accessible to all users regardless of their abilities or disabilities. To achieve this, you can add alt text to the images on your site. Alt text works with screen readers to ensure a user knows and understands what’s on your site.
  7. Slideshow and Video Accessibility: Make sure that your videos are accessible to all customers with disabilities by considering their needs. Some customers rely on text-to-speech while others are deaf or have hearing difficulties and require closed captioning.

These are really simple things that you can improve on your store. You can obviously Google and go in depth on each of those, but these are basically three things you need to do to make your Shopify store ADA compliant. If you have any questions or concerns about this, comment down below.

Can’t Make Your Shopify Store ADA Compliant – How to Fix It?

If you’re a Shopify website owner, it’s your social responsibility to ensure that all users, including those living with disabilities, can access your website, products, and digital content you publish. Failure to comply with ADA regulations can result in fines up to $5,000 and even legal action. Fortunately, making your Shopify store ADA compliant doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some guidelines and policies you can follow:

Text Accessibility

Using the correct text formatting can make a big difference for customers with visual impairments. Shopify’s guidelines include using the correct color contrast, headers, text size, and alignment. Text links should also be identified using an underline or a visual differentiator.

Alternative Text

It’s important to make images accessible to all users regardless of their abilities or disabilities. To achieve this, you can add alt text to the images on your site. Alt text works with screen readers to ensure a user knows and understands what’s on your site.

Slideshow and Video Accessibility

Make sure that your videos are accessible to all customers with disabilities by considering their needs. Some customers rely on text-to-speech while others are deaf or have hearing difficulties and require closed captioning. Ensure that your videos include closed captions and that they are accessible to all customers with disabilities.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your Shopify store is ADA compliant and accessible to all users. If you have any questions or concerns about this, comment down below and we’ll see you in the next video.

Why and When Should You Make Your Shopify Store ADA Compliant?

As a Shopify website owner, it is your social responsibility to ensure that all users, including those living with disabilities, can access your website, products, and digital content you publish. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it is also beneficial to both you and your customers to make your website accessible. Here are some reasons why and when you should make your Shopify store ADA compliant:

  • Risks associated with non-compliance: If you are not ADA compliant, you could face fines of up to $5,000 and even go to court.
  • Social responsibility: Making your website accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, is the right thing to do.
  • Better user experience: By making your website accessible, you are providing a better user experience for all customers.

Now that you understand why and when you should make your Shopify store ADA compliant, here are some things you can do to achieve compliance:

  • Text accessibility: Use the correct text formatting, including color contrast, headers, text size, and alignment. Text links should also be identified using an underline or a visual differentiator.
  • Alternative text: Add alt text to the images on your site to make them accessible to all users regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
  • Slideshow and video accessibility: Consider the needs of all customers with disabilities by providing closed captioning for videos and text-to-speech for those who rely on it.

By implementing these simple changes on your Shopify store, you can make it ADA compliant and provide a better user experience for all customers.

Conclusion – Make Your Shopify Store Ada Complient

Ensuring that your Shopify store is ADA compliant is not only a social responsibility but also a legal requirement.

Failure to comply with ADA regulations can result in fines up to $5,000 and even legal action.

However, making your Shopify store ADA compliant doesn’t have to be complicated.

By following the guidelines and policies provided by Shopify, you can make your store accessible to all users.

These guidelines include text accessibility, alternative text, and slideshow and video accessibility.

By implementing these simple changes on your Shopify store, you can make it ADA compliant and provide a better user experience for all customers.

Remember, it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s also beneficial for both you and your customers.

For more Shopify tutorials, check out our website.

Mark Coleman - HowTOBuildWebsites
Written by Mark Coleman


Mark Coleman is the founder of HowToBuildWebsites.org, which provides comprehensive tutorials on website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Shopify. He graduated from the University of North Texas with a business degree, developing an interest in web design's changing landscape and website builders' potential.

Mark enjoys experimenting with new web technologies, refining his web development skills, and actively participating in web design and development communities.

Learn more about him and read his articles here on HowToBuildWebsites.org.

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