Criterion 508 Review
Criterion is an industry-leading website accessibility service that can help your business connect with countless internet users with disabilities. Founded by Anna Bradey in the early 2000s, Criterion was created to help those with disabilities succeed in an online world. Accessibility compliance is an important step in not only growing your business by reaching new customers but also creating an open, inclusive internet for everyone.
Planning your site to be accessible is one thing, but making it happen is another. Without a dedicated accessibility service like the team at Criterion, your site can quickly fall behind the competition. Featuring a wide range of in-depth accessibility audits and resolutions, your site can become compliant in no time.
In our thorough Criterion review, we’ll discuss their accessibility services, features, and how you can partner with them to make your site the best it can be.
Pricing and Value
Criterion works independently with each business, creating a custom plan and pricing structure for your exact needs. It all starts with a completely free consultation to understand your business, your goals, and how your current site compares to accessibility compliance standards. Simply submit an easy to use form online to get started with an accessibility expert. You’ll get a one on one, no-obligation consultation where you’ll develop a custom accessibility compliance plan for your business.
Although Criterion doesn’t publish their pricing structure online, Criterion does have a long list of clients and businesses, which is a good indication that the services are very affordable. In fact, Criterion has helped over 2,000 Fortune 500 companies in the last two decades.
Looking at what you’ll get when you sign up for Criterion, which we will review in-depth in our Features section, you’re truly getting a lot when you partner with Criterion on your accessibility services. Considering the incredibly high potential for a solid return on your investment, not to mention simply being a good corporate citizen, accessibility services from Criterion provides a lot of value for your business.
Features
Criterion has a lot of services and features available. When you sign up for your free one on one accessibility consultation, you’ll be able to select which features and services are right for your business goals and objectives. Criterion has the option for full ADA compliance, and using both automated and manual audits and updates, your site will always remain compliant.
WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines are typically considered the minimum standards for ADA compliance. Criterion ensures that your entire site is ADA compliant, and by providing your business with the tools and training it needs, your site can stay that way.
Criterion can also assist with your entire site’s Section 508 compliance. By following strict guidelines and testing protocols, your site will be audited and revised to meet Section 508 accessibility standards. Just as you’ll see with ADA compliance services, Criterion uses both manual and automated testing to ensure your site is Section 508 compliant.
In addition to two rigorous standards of accessibility, Criterion also provides WCAG support, mobile accessibility services, website accessibility training services, and PDF accessibility remediation.
You can take advantage of Criterion’s extensive accessibility training by purchasing these courses separately through the site. In fact, you don’t have to sign up for web accessibility services in order to get access to these courses. The courses come with all the videos and supplemental materials that your team needs to succeed.
Criterion’s PDF accessibility remediation services ensure that all of your PDFs remain fully compliant. If you’re using automated accessibility testing software from Microsoft or Adobe, it may not detect a significant number of issues that need to be resolved in order for your PDF documents to be considered compliant. Criterion will perform both automated and manual testing and remediation on all of your documents.
Setup Process
The setup process is extremely simple, and your dedicated project manager at Criterion can help you set up the service on the back end. Much of the automation is driven by a few lines of code that are inserted into your website’s HTML. Once inserted, Criterion’s services begin working automatically, scanning and auditing your entire website for accessibility compliance issues and opportunities.
During manual audits, the team at Criterion will review your pages and documents for additional accessibility compliance standards. If in-depth changes are needed, certain pages may need to be offline during the remediation process. Having an accessibility compliant website is extremely important for modern businesses, and when you partner with Criterion, you can leave the accessibility compliance checks to them while you focus on other areas of your business.
Customer Support
Unlike some popular accessibility services, Criterion doesn’t have a native central dashboard that you can use to log in and make changes on your own. However, where Criterion lacks in a dedicated dashboard, they more than make up for in the customization options available to you. With a host of accessibility tools, plugins, and development technologies at your fingertips, you can truly make your site’s accessibility experience your own.
You’ll also be partnered with a dedicated project manager, meaning you’ll have a single point of contact for all your accessibility questions, concerns, and ideas. They can help you with your site audits, remediations, and customization options, making it extremely easy to get exactly what your business needs.
Customization and Design
Customer support is not Criterion’s strong suit. While there are multiple ways to reach live representatives at Criterion, there is not an online self-help database. Speaking with a live person often preferred, but there are times when a quick how-to article is really all you need. Without a dedicated knowledge base of articles and guides, users with issues and questions have to contact the team at Criterion for a resolution.
Those that do need to contact the team at Criterion can reach the team by phone or email. Email questions and concerns may take a few days to resolve, so if it’s something urgent, we definitely recommend you call. Criterion customers may also have a way to connect with their support partners, although that may not always be an option. If we had one piece of advice for Criterion, it’s to create a dedicated self-help resource on the site.
Summary
When it comes to accessibility services, Criterion is always a great option. You’ll need to set up a free one on one consultation with an accessibility expert in order to receive customized pricing, but considering the host of features and customization options, we know that Criterion provides solid value for businesses around the world.
Whether you need help with PDF accessibility remediation or an entire lineup of automated and manual accessibility checks, Criterion has just what you need. The customer support could use some work, especially when it comes to guides, how-to information, and informative articles. However, the ease of use, dedicated live support team, and various customization options certainly make up for it.
Criterion is pushing the boundaries of accessibility standards, taking what once considered difficult standards to reach and making those standards the norm.
Do you have experience with Criterion’s web accessibility services? Let us know about it in the comments below!
