As we welcome in 2024, our team is actively preparing for one of the most significant updates to our business within the past 10 years. In the very near future, we will be launching an entirely new website redesign and brand story to better serve our clients’ web design and development needs. We have been passionately working on this project since 2021 and are excited to share it with our web community over the next several months.
This transitional period has provided us with a valuable opportunity to look back and reflect on the notable differences within our industry since launching our previous site in 2014. Needless to say, much has changed with the web (and the world!) between then and now, but Razorfrog’s dedication to providing our clients with quality web design and development is one thing that remains the same.
Within this article I will review three of the most relevant changes to the web over the past decade that have impacted both business owners and web users alike, particularly those located within the state of California. These additions have, in many ways, substantially shifted the expectations for modern web design and development as a discipline and are thus worthy of our collective attention. I will also mention how Razorfrog has incorporated these changes within our firm’s services and deliverables to provide the best-in-class product for our clients. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get to it!
1. Web accessibility
Since 2019, web accessibility has become a rising concern for online businesses. When Domino’s Pizza was successfully sued for their website not being screen-reader friendly, a clear message was broadcast to all business owners: adapt or risk being a potential target. Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. Approaching accessibility as a layperson can often feel intimidating and confusing as the lines (and language) aren’t necessarily clearly defined. The topic has presented a steep learning curve which may account for its relatively slow adoption by the larger web community. In October 2022, Fast Company reported that 98% of the world’s top one million websites do not offer a legally conformant level of accessibility.
The ADA requires websites to be conformant but does not specify which standard to use. Thankfully, W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) has been widely adopted as the most prominent technical standard that has been upheld by the US federal court system. WCAG 2.2 was released on October 5, 2023 and is the current standard for accessibility conformance used by experts globally.
How we’ve evolved
Razorfrog is passionate about making the web a more accessible place for people of all backgrounds and capabilities. With an annual uptick in lawsuits filed across all industries within the state of California, web accessibility conformance is now an essential service that we provide for our clients. Our team is on call and ready to assist with your company or organization’s accessibility conformance goals and remediation efforts.
Razorfrog has assembled a novel checklist for auditing the accessibility of our clients’ websites. Our process targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance and checks for the most prominent criteria violations. Following our manual auditing process, WCAG conformance is independently validated by reputable third party services including Google Lighthouse, Siteimprove and AccessibilyChecker.org. Copies of scans are included within our documentation as supplemental proof of conformance.
Additionally, we have partnered with Auditzy, a dedicated monitoring service which allows us to provide accessibility audits on request and maintain access to historical audits. We’ve also stepped up our alt text game with AltText.ai. This is an automated AI-powered tool that analyzes images and generates descriptive alt text to improve a website’s SEO and accessibility. It is especially helpful for sites with large media libraries. Both services are available to our clients on our standard or advanced care plans.
Our workflow has allowed us to successfully steer our clients towards WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance. All of our newer websites are built with accessibility best practices in mind as accessible design is the leading indicator of a site’s overall performance, quality and craftsmanship. We avoid overlays and adhere to responsible WCAG conformant design and development practices. Please visit our new web accessibility conformance page for a more comprehensive overview.
2. Privacy laws
Privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have been enacted in order to protect the sensitive personal information (SPI) of consumers within the state of California and in Europe. This is great for users who wish to have more control over how their data is collected, used, disclosed and sold.
How we’ve evolved
In order to stay ahead of the curve, Razorfrog has partnered with Termageddon to create privacy policies and terms of service policies that automatically update as the laws change. This is an essential service in the information age. We have also begun to implement web forms within privacy policies for users to contact companies with questions or requests that they have regarding their SPI.
Razorfrog offers the creation of these legal policies as an add-on service for our projects. However, all web design projects bundled with our standard or advanced care plans include a Termageddon subscription, providing our clients with additional value.
3. Cookie consent
By now you’ve probably visited many sites with cookie policies that are displayed via a popup modal. This is also related to privacy laws. The CCPA and the CPRA do not require opt-in consent for website cookies. However, the GDPR requires websites to obtain opt-in consent from visitors to store or retrieve any information on a computer. It specifies that consent to cookies must be freely given, specific, informed and explicit, meaning it must be provided via a clear affirmative action.
Any company that is using cookies and online tracking for visitors located in the EU is required to follow this law. The GDPR has become more relevant to our firm as more businesses within the US have begun operating on a global scale. It is important to note that, by default, consent is not given. It requires opting in. We recommend avoiding automatic opt-in to build credibility and trust with your audience.
How we’ve evolved
To comply with the GDPR, we have begun to switch our cookie notice plugin to GDPR Cookie Compliance in order to request opt-in consent for delivering cookies. This includes granular consent for the most common tracking services such as Google Analytics (GA4), Google Tag Manager (GTM), Google Ads, Meta Pixel, and more.
A standout feature about GDPR Cookie Compliance is its flexibility. Visitors may update their opt-in and opt-out choices at any time via the plugin’s settings panel. It is also an accessible solution that allows navigation and settings to be controlled via the keyboard. We are big fans of functional design and this plugin delivers!
Has your company adapted to these changes?
We know change can be intimidating and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Razorfrog has been actively assisting small and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs and industry professionals with their web accessibility conformance and remediation goals since 2019. We have also been implementing policies that comply with the state of California’s rigorous privacy laws as well as configuring advanced cookie consent solutions that are GDPR-friendly. These services will be more prominent within the forthcoming site redesign that will be landing very soon.
Our web design professionals prioritize staying up-to-date with industry best practices to provide our clients with the highest level of service. If your company or organization needs to update your website to conform with modern accessibility and privacy standards, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team. Together we’ll develop an action-oriented plan that will allow your business to proceed with confidence for many years to come.
