Accessibility overlay alternative: what to use instead of a widget

Why a floating accessibility button does not stop ADA lawsuits, and what does: the corrected code, tested, plus the manual checks.

Facts checked on Sep 16, 2026

What accessibility overlays is

An accessibility overlay is a script (accessiBe, UserWay, AudioEye, EqualWeb and others) that adds a floating button to your site and changes how the page looks in the visitor's browser.

What accessibility overlays does not do

• It does not change your site's code. The script runs in the visitor's browser; the HTML your developer sees, and a lawsuit cites, stays the same.
• Screen-reader users typically already have their own settings; a second layer of "profiles" can conflict with them.
• It cannot write a description for a product photo it has never seen, or fix a checkout button that the keyboard cannot reach.
• Lawsuit trackers (UsableNet, yearly reports) count hundreds of ADA web lawsuits per year filed against sites that had an overlay installed.

Where it is fair to say it helps

Over 800 accessibility practitioners and users have signed the Overlay Fact Sheet asking site owners not to rely on overlays. Some display adjustments do help some people; the problem is selling them as compliance.

What changes with Rampa

• Scans every page that matters (up to 100 per site), on desktop and on a phone, with axe-core in a real Chromium browser.
• Writes the corrected HTML for each failure, tests it in an isolated browser, and gives it to your developer with a copy button. Your code changes; the visitor's browser does not have to.
• Explains every finding twice: for the owner, in plain words, and for the developer, with the WCAG criterion and the fix.
• Gives you the manual half of WCAG as 7 one-minute tests with a pass criterion, and re-scans every week so a new plugin or theme does not undo the work.

Questions people ask

Does accessibility overlays protect me from an ADA lawsuit?

No tool can promise that. What lawyers look for is whether the code fails WCAG and whether you are fixing it. An overlay leaves the code as it was; lawsuit trackers count hundreds of cases per year against sites with an overlay installed.

Can I keep accessibility overlays and use Rampa too?

Yes. Rampa audits the underlying code, not the widget. Many sites remove the widget once the code is fixed because the fixes make it redundant.

Is Rampa a widget?

No. Rampa does not add anything to your page. It gives you a report, the corrected code and a public accessibility statement. There is an optional temporary patch that applies only the fixes we verified, element by element, while your developer moves them into the source.