Is Userway Something We Should Continue Using For Our Clients?

Here are some articles that discuss the use of Userway for accessibility on websites and the potential legal issues that are happening to people that are.

Article:

• https://accessibe.com/blog/...
• Article with Userway's free widget: https://accessibe.com/blog/knowledgebase/using-an-accessibility-plugin-like-userway-you-are-at-risk-of-litigation
• Article with USerway's AI: https://accessibe.com/blog/knowledgebase/userway-ai-widget-can-risk-your-accessibility-compliance

Highlights:

• "UserWay's main website, which obviously uses the full "AI'' plugin and not the free version, has also been manually adjusted to incorporate accessibility features, more specifically on top of the "AI'' widget. Unfortunately, we found dozens of accessibility violations after running the audits. Some can be summed up as just bad practices and incorrect implementations." - https://accessibe.com/blog/knowledgebase/userway-ai-widget-can-risk-your-accessibility-compliance
• "Many plugins are very tempting to use because they are free or very low cost and are simple to install. Also, it is easy to mistake them for a real solution, as their websites are often misleading, claiming to “enhance” accessibility and provide a “framework” for compliance. The problem is, well, they never did and probably never will be able to make your website compliant. Note that they also never vividly state that they will." - https://accessibe.com/blog/knowledgebase/using-an-accessibility-plugin-like-userway-you-are-at-risk-of-litigation

My Thoughts:

• Overall, web accessibility plugins don't/can't make your website 100% compliant, there are a lot of factors that come into consideration and a plugin is not the entire solution. It covers most of the dev portion, but there are still other elements that need to be addressed. (Design elements, keyboard navigations, etc...)
• There are rules and regulations that need to be followed in order to make a website compliant, and that's through WCAG (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/). These guidelines are internationally accepted and are adopted by almost all current legislation, including those in US courts.
• The vast majority of the accessibility requirements, screen reader and keyboard navigation adjustments are just way too complex for a plugin to cover.