accessiBe is proud to have taken part in The International Surface Event, the biggest event in the flooring industry, which took place from the 27th to the 30th of January 2020 in Las Vegas, with attendees from 78 countries worldwide, and representatives from over 800 businesses.
Rafael Glantz, our Strategic Partnership Manager, was there to support our partner Carole Cross and unveil Enable, powered by accessiBe, a new accessibility solution directed at flooring companies to make their websites accessible to users with all kinds of disabilities. Enable is a joint project between accessiBe and Cross’ marketing agency Mobile Marketing LLC.
Presenting Enable
Enable is the same reliable,efficient and ast-acting accessiBe accessibility solution, rebranded for use by flooring businesses. Just like the core accessiBe tool, Enable is an automated AI-powered accessibility solution that transforms every type of website and online store to be compliant with ADA Title III, WCAG 2.0, and other accessibility legislation around the world.
That includes:
- Adding ARIA attributes and alt tags to support screen readers used by blind users
- Adapting websites to full keyboard-only navigability for customers with motor disabilities or muscle weakness who use a keyboard;
- Integrating an accessibility toolbar to enable instant adjustments to text color, contrast, spacing, sizing, font choices, and more to make web texts readable by visitors with low vision
- Ensuring intuitive navigation around the website
Implementing Enable on your flooring website is simple and quick, requiring you to paste a JavaScript code into your website source code. There’s nothing to configure and nothing to code. Enable makes your website accessible within 48 hours, and rescans your site every 24 hours to ensure ongoing compliance.
Growing Interest from the Flooring Industry
During the 3-day event, Glantz and Cross had the opportunity to present Enable to several groups and sessions and gave interviews to several news outlets. Following the splash of this successful announcement at one of the world’s most important flooring events, we believe that over half of the NFA members will be using Enable in the near future. Enable received a great deal of interest and attention from attendees, flooring business owners, and journalists.
Throughout the event, the question we were asked the most often was “Is this a real problem for flooring industry companies?" At one of the largest presentations, an NFA board member in the audience revealed that last year, a colleague of his had settled a web accessibility claim under ADA title III for $600,000. Immediately, other participants were concerned about their own exposure to web accessibility suits.
It’s a very reasonable concern when small businesses of all kinds are getting hit with web accessibility lawsuits. 2018 saw a rise of 300% over the previous year in ADA Title III lawsuits, most of which settled out of court. The average small to medium business can’t afford to pay for a lawsuit of this type, but until now they have also been priced out of effective, but expensive, accessibility solutions.
Quote from Carole Cross, accessiBe partner, and owner of Mobile Marketing LLC:
“We’re excited to partner with accessiBe to enable web accessibility for the flooring industry. (EnableMySite.com). We’ve been thrilled with the reactions from retailers, manufacturers, and tech partners to the introduction of this incredibly important innovation. We’re confident it’s going to have a powerful impact on the entire industry.”
Quote from Rafi Glantz, Strategic Partnership Manager at accessiBe:
“accessiBe is delighted to work with Mobile Marketing and very proud of bringing this important new development to the flooring industry to open doors to floors for all. We see this as another step towards our vision to make the entire website accessible by 2025.”