ADA-compliant websites, built that way by default
Every site SOSEI generates is built to WCAG 2.1 AA — the standard US courts and DOJ settlements measure a website against, and the level the European Accessibility Act reaches through EN 301 549. One build, both markets, no widget bolted on afterwards.
What ADA web compliance actually means
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires places of public accommodation to be accessible, but the Act itself contains no technical specification for websites. In practice, US courts, DOJ settlement agreements and state attorneys general have measured websites against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at level AA. So “ADA compliance” for a website means, in operational terms, meeting WCAG — a testable standard with specific success criteria — rather than satisfying a checklist published by the government, because no such checklist exists.
That is why this page argues WCAG and not the acronym. A standard can be measured on a live page; a legal outcome cannot be sold in advance by anyone.
Overlay widget vs. a native rebuild
An accessibility overlay is a script added on top of a page it cannot change. A rebuild changes the page. The difference shows up row by row.
| Capability | Overlay widget | SOSEI rebuild | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contrast in the page's own CSS | Partial | Yes | An overlay can offer the visitor a high-contrast mode. The palette the other 99% of visitors see is unchanged. SOSEI enforces the ratios in the tokens before a page is written. |
| Semantic heading structure | No | Yes | Headings that are visually large but structurally plain text cannot be repaired from outside the document. The rebuild writes real heading levels. |
| Alternative text on images | Partial | Yes | Some overlays auto-generate alt text from image recognition, which produces a description of the picture rather than of its purpose on the page. |
| Labelled form controls | No | Yes | A form whose inputs have no associated labels is unusable with a screen reader; the fix is in the markup. |
| Keyboard-reachable navigation | No | Yes | Focus order and reachability come from the document. An overlay adds another layer to tab through. |
| Works with JavaScript blocked or failing | No | Yes | An overlay is a script. If it does not load, the page is exactly as inaccessible as it was underneath. |
| Ships nothing extra to the visitor | No | Yes | Overlays load from the vendor's servers on every page view. A rebuild adds no widget and no third-party call. |
The record bears this out. Overlay-equipped sites have been defendants in hundreds of US accessibility cases; the presence of a widget has not prevented claims, and the National Federation of the Blind has publicly asked businesses to stop using one of the best-known ones.
How SOSEI builds to WCAG 2.1 AA
Contrast is enforced, not suggested
The token normalizer runs before any page is authored and rewrites a palette that would fail: AAA 7:1 on body text, AA 4.5:1 on muted text and on accent-on-surface. A build cannot emit a failing combination.
Structure comes from the generator, not from the model's goodwill
Heading levels, landmark regions, labelled controls and alternative text are part of what the pipeline validates on every page it writes, and a page that omits them is rejected and rewritten rather than published.
Fonts and assets are self-hosted
Typefaces, images and favicons are served from our own storage. Nothing about the page depends on a third-party CDN staying up, and nothing leaks visitor data to one.
Every site ships an accessibility statement
A public statement naming the standard the site is built to, alongside the privacy policy, terms, cookie policy and a 404 — generated in the site's own language with every rebuild.
The level moves when the standard does
WCAG 2.2 is published and 3.0 is in draft. SOSEI tracks the level the pipeline builds to, so a rebuild picks up the current standard instead of the one that applied the day the site launched.
Selling into US federal or state government? Section 508 lands on the same standard.
ADA and web accessibility FAQ
- Is my website ADA compliant?
- No website can be certified against the ADA — the Act itself sets no technical specification for websites. What US courts, DOJ settlements and state attorneys general have consistently measured against is WCAG, at level AA. So the answerable version of the question is whether a site meets WCAG 2.1 AA, which is a testable standard rather than a legal opinion, and which is the level SOSEI builds every page to.
- Does an accessibility overlay widget make my site ADA compliant?
- Overlay widgets are JavaScript layers added on top of an inaccessible page. They have been named in hundreds of US accessibility lawsuits, and the National Federation of the Blind has publicly asked businesses to stop using one of the best-known ones. An overlay cannot fix contrast baked into the CSS, headings that are visual rather than structural, images with no alternative text, or a form with no labels — it can only try to describe the page to assistive technology after the fact. SOSEI closes those in the markup instead: the rebuilt page is the accessible artifact, with no widget to load.
- What is WCAG 2.1 AA, and why that level?
- WCAG is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C. Level AA is the middle of its three conformance levels and the one written into law and settlement agreements almost everywhere it appears: US DOJ settlements, Section 508 through its incorporation of WCAG, and the European Accessibility Act through EN 301 549. Building to AA is what lets one rebuild answer the US and EU questions at the same time.
- What does SOSEI actually enforce, as opposed to recommend?
- Contrast is enforced by code on every generated site: AAA 7:1 on body text, AA 4.5:1 on muted and accent text, applied by the token normalizer before a page can be written. Every rebuild also ships semantic headings, labelled form controls, alternative text on content images, keyboard-reachable navigation, self-hosted fonts, and a public accessibility statement. None of that is a setting the owner has to find.
- Can my site stop being accessible after launch?
- Yes, and this is the part most vendors leave out. Accessibility describes the content on a page, so anything published after launch — an uploaded image with no alternative text, a pasted table, an embedded third-party widget — can undo it. SOSEI builds and hosts the site to WCAG 2.1 AA and re-checks it as standards move, but nobody can promise a permanent state on someone else's behalf.
A compliant starting point, not legal advice. SOSEI builds and hosts the site to WCAG 2.1 AA and keeps the technical side current as the standard moves. Accessibility describes the content on a page, so what is published after launch can change it, and no vendor can certify a business against the ADA on its behalf. Nothing on this page is legal advice — if a claim has been made against you, talk to a lawyer.
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