Building a More Accessible Foreversite for Every Patient

The Work Phoenix Dental Agency is Doing Behind the Scenes to Improve Website Accessibility

A patient’s experience with a dental practice often begins long before they enter the office. These days, potential patients tend to visit the practice website to learn about the doctor, explore treatment options, complete a form, or schedule an appointment.

For patients with disabilities, that experience depends on details most website visitors never have to consider. Can someone navigate the website without using a mouse? Will a screen reader accurately describe an image? Is the text easy to distinguish from its background? Can a visitor clearly see which link or button they have selected?

Phoenix Dental Agency recently completed an accessibility initiative across our clients’ Foreversites as part of the continuing care included with the service. Our team reviewed the websites, updated accessibility information, identified areas that could create barriers, made adjustments to site content and functionality, and added tools that give visitors more control over how they experience each site.

Why Website Accessibility Deserves Attention

The Americans with Disabilities Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination, including in places of public accommodation such as dental offices. Accessibility requirements also extend to online services, with additional federal standards applying to certain healthcare organizations that receive federal financial assistance.

Although specific legal obligations vary by practice, the goal is to give every patient a meaningful opportunity to access online information and services. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, known as WCAG, provide an internationally recognized framework for making websites easier to perceive, navigate, understand, and use with assistive technology.

Phoenix Dental Agency used WCAG 2.1 Level AA principles to guide its initial review of our Foreversites.

What We Reviewed

Website accessibility touches the words, images, colors, navigation, forms, buttons, and technology people use throughout the site. As part of this initiative, our team reviewed several major areas.

Text and Color Contrast

Words become difficult to read when there is too little contrast between the text and its background. This is especially important when light-colored text appears over photographs, videos, buttons, or other changing backgrounds.

Our team examined Foreversites for potential contrast issues and adjusted colors or backgrounds where concerns were identified. These changes can make information easier to read for people with low vision, color-vision deficiencies, or sensitivity to certain visual presentations.

Images and Alternative Text

A screen reader converts the content displayed on a website into speech or another accessible format. When it encounters an image, it relies on alternative text (aka: “alt text) to explain what the image shows.

A file name such as “IMG_1234” provides little useful information. A description such as “woman brushing her teeth with an electric toothbrush” gives the visitor the context conveyed by the image. 

Our review included checking images for meaningful, descriptive alt text and identifying situations where image labels needed to be improved. Decorative images can also be coded so screen readers know they may be skipped, allowing users to move through a page without unnecessary interruptions.

Keyboard Navigation

Some website visitors cannot use a mouse or touchpad. They may navigate using a keyboard, assistive switch, or similar device.

Our team reviewed how visitors move through Foreversite pages using the Tab and arrow keys. This includes checking that links, menus, buttons, and other interactive features can be reached in a logical order. We also looked for visible focus indicators that help users recognize which item is currently selected.

The goal is to give a keyboard user a clear path through the website, from the primary navigation to the information and actions available on each page.

Screen-Reader Compatibility

Screen readers interpret a website through its structure, labels, links, headings, and coded elements. Proper heading structure, descriptive links, labeled buttons, semantic page organization, and accurately coded graphics all help assistive technology interpret a page. Our team reviewed site content and underlying elements for potential problems that could prevent information from being announced or understood correctly.

Forms, Buttons, and Calls to Action

Accessible website forms pair every field with a clear label that assistive technology can associate with the information being requested. Required fields and error messages should use clear text or other cues that assistive technology can recognize.

We evaluated patient-facing forms, links, buttons, and calls to action for common accessibility concerns. These elements are especially important on dental websites because they often lead patients toward scheduling an appointment, contacting the office, or requesting care.

Accessibility Statements

An accessibility statement communicates the practice’s commitment to providing an inclusive website experience. It can also explain how visitors may report a difficulty so the practice and its website team can investigate it.

Phoenix Dental Agency reviewed and updated accessibility pages across our Foreversites to reflect more current accessibility practices and the continuing work being performed on the sites.

A contact option gives visitors another way to report an issue and receive assistance while the practice and its website team continue improving the accessibility of the website itself. The larger objective is to help visitors use the website and access its information as independently as possible.

Third-Party Website Tools

Dental websites frequently connect patients with outside services, including online scheduling platforms, payment portals, patient forms, chat tools, and financing applications.

Those services may be operated by third-party companies, which means their underlying systems are not always within the direct control of the practice or Phoenix Dental Agency. Even so, identifying them is an important part of understanding the complete patient journey. Our reviews note these integrations so practices can remain aware of accessibility considerations that may extend beyond the Foreversite itself.

An Additional Accessibility Tool for Visitors

Phoenix Dental Agency also installed the UserWay accessibility widget on Foreversites. Visitors can open the tool by selecting the accessibility icon displayed on the website.

UserWay provides options that allow an individual to adjust the site according to personal needs or preferences. Depending on the available settings, a visitor may be able to increase contrast, enlarge text, highlight links, change spacing, pause animations, or switch to a dyslexia-friendly font.

The widget provides an additional layer of support and gives visitors immediate control over aspects of their experience. It works alongside the broader accessibility effort taking place within the content, design, navigation, and underlying structure of the website.

Accessibility Is Continuing Work

Every website changes. New pages are published, photographs are added, forms are replaced, software is updated, and outside services introduce their own changes. Each update creates another opportunity to consider accessibility.

Automated and AI-assisted scans can help identify common problems, but they cannot detect every barrier or reproduce every person’s experience. Thorough accessibility evaluation can also require manual testing by trained specialists using multiple browsers, devices, keyboards, screen readers, and other assistive technologies.

Our current reviews provide a valuable starting point. They help our team identify visible and detectable concerns, make meaningful improvements, and establish stronger accessibility practices for the work that follows. They do not serve as legal certifications or guarantees that every possible accessibility issue has been eliminated.

Phoenix Dental Agency is also examining state-specific accessibility guidance because requirements and legal interpretations can vary by location. What we learn will continue to inform our standards and the way we care for Foreversites moving forward.

Part of the Foreversite Promise

Most patients will never know that an image description was rewritten, a focus indicator was made clearer, or a background color was adjusted to improve readability. They will simply have an easier time finding the information they need.

Most clients will never see every scan, review, discussion, and adjustment involved in maintaining their website, either.

That work is part of Phoenix Dental Agency’s Foreversite promise.

A Foreversite is built to evolve with the practice it represents and adapt as technology and patient expectations change. Phoenix Dental Agency continues paying attention to the details behind the scenes so our clients can focus on caring for the people who discover them online.

Accessibility will continue to evolve, and so will the work we perform to create a more welcoming website experience for every patient.

Is Your Dental Website Accessible?

Website accessibility is an ongoing process. Phoenix Dental Agency continues to review and improve Foreversites to help make dental websites easier for more people to navigate, understand, and use.

Want to learn more about what’s happening behind the scenes of your Foreversite? Contact Phoenix Dental Agency to learn how we’re continuing to improve website accessibility for your practice.

 

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or a guarantee of ADA or WCAG compliance. Accessibility requirements vary, and ongoing improvements do not guarantee that every potential barrier has been identified or resolved.