Distiller Accessibility Audit
Web Accessibility Remediation for Distiller website to make it conforms with the WCAG technical standards and comply with the ADA.
This Distiller accessibility audit and WCAG 2.1 AA remediation covered a United States platform and community for discovering, rating and reviewing spirits and whisky.
A discovery-and-community platform runs on search, ratings, reviews and accounts — all interactive. For an enthusiast using a screen reader or a keyboard, the accessibility of those features decides whether they can take part in the community.
Table of Contents
Why accessibility is critical for a community platform
Software and SaaS companies are not exempt from accessibility expectations. In the United States a company’s digital services are treated as a place of public accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III, and WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the standard, and for a product company it applies twice over — to the public marketing site and to the application itself. A sign-up or demo form a screen-reader user cannot complete, or a product UI a keyboard user cannot operate, shuts paying customers and their own users out.
Scope and standard
Our Distiller accessibility audit assessed the platform against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, mapped to ADA Title III, across the journeys that matter: discovery and search, spirit and review pages, rating and account flows, recommendations, and navigation.
How we ran the Distiller accessibility audit
- Screen-reader testing with JAWS and NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, and TalkBack on Android
- Automated audits with Deque axe, Google Lighthouse and WAVE
- Keyboard-only operation of every step, with attention to focus order and a clearly visible focus indicator
- Colour-contrast analysis, plus 400% zoom and reflow testing for low-vision users
What accessibility means on each part of the site
Because Distiller is a product-led site, our Distiller accessibility audit focused on the marketing site and the path into the product:
- Feature, solution and pricing pages need a clear heading structure and readable text, so a screen-reader user can evaluate the product.
- Sign-up, login and demo-request forms need programmatic labels, clear instructions and announced errors, so getting started never depends on sight or a mouse.
- Any interactive demo or product UI needs keyboard operability, managed focus and names and states that assistive technology can read.
- Documentation and support content needs correct heading levels, readable code or examples, and link names that make sense out of context.
- Navigation and content need visible focus, sufficient colour contrast and clean reflow at 400% zoom.
Outcome
This Distiller accessibility audit, combining manual and automated testing with remediation, brought the site into line with WCAG 2.1 AA expectations, so people using a screen reader or a keyboard can use it without barriers. Every fix was verified with assistive technology rather than assumed from an automated pass, so the result holds up in real use.