Elevating Accessibility for a Shopify-Based Online Italian Leather Atelier: Manual WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance audit, remediation, and VPAT report!

About Client

The Shopify Luxury Italian Leather Atelier offers a luxurious range of Italian fashion and lifestyle products, blending contemporary style with timeless craftsmanship. Their collection includes tailored clothing, handbags, shoes, and accessories, each handcrafted in Florence with meticulous attention to detail. Known for their uniqueness, customizable designs, their products provide a sophisticated blend of elegance and personalization. The brand captures the essence of Italian elegance, ensuring each item reflects a refined, artisanal approach to modern fashion.

The client partnered with us to perform a comprehensive manual accessibility audit and remediation for their website. This initiative aimed to enhance the site's usability, improving its accessibility with web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 level AA standards and provides an inclusive experience for all users, including those with disabilities. Our team of accessibility experts conducted an in-depth evaluation and implemented necessary fixes to improve the website’s accessibility, allowing them to reach a broader audience while complying with digital accessibility standards.

Challenges

The client’s website featured a visually rich and interactive interface, showcasing high-quality images, product descriptions, and custom design options. These elements posed specific accessibility challenges:

ADA Accessible Visual Design and Interactive Features

• The high-contrast and visually detailed elements required careful adaptation to be screen reader-friendly without compromising aesthetics.
• Handling accessibility issues in dynamic or interactive components like carousels, pop-ups, and product filters is usually challenging.

Multilingual Content

• As a global site, the website does not support multiple languages, necessitating adjustments for screen reader compatibility and language-specific accessibility practices.

Quick Turnaround for audit and remediation

• We aim to provide manual accessibility audit and remediation services within the client's required timeframe, ensuring their specific needs are met promptly and effectively.

Limited Control

• The client had implemented a third-party overlay that impacted screen reader compatibility.
• Some third-party apps have inaccessible components that we cannot directly modify.
• Theme Restrictions: It's challenging to customize certain aspects of Shopify’s default or purchased themes to meet accessibility standards.
• Liquid Templates: Working within Shopify’s Liquid code framework, which might not always be straightforward for remediation.

Testing Challenges

User Testing: Incorporating feedback from users can be time-intensive but critical for validation.

Ongoing Website Accessibility Compliance Maintenance:

• After completing website accessibility remediation, they have a challenge to maintain accessibility compliance on an ongoing basis.