About Us
Why Upgrading Your Site Is A Necessity
Choosing Modern Web Solutions for revamping your website is a strategic decision that goes beyond design – it shapes your organisation’s legal standing, inclusivity, and user reach. Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), strengthened in 2021, requires websites to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards. While enforcement initially focused on larger organisations, the province is now shifting its approach to strict enforcement across all sectors.
Penalties for non-compliance can be severe – and recent updates are tightening the screws. For corporations (including non-profits and private businesses with 50 or more employees), fines can reach up to $100,000 per day. Directors or officers may also face personal fines of up to $50,000 per day. Moreover, unincorporated organisations and individuals – including small business owners – can face penalties of up to $50,000 per day. In contrast, more minor infractions can incur daily penalties ranging from $200 to $500 or $500 to $2,000 for minor versus moderate offences.
Specifically, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not exempt from this requirement. Although some exemptions apply to reporting requirements, the legal and design standards remain the same – and so do the fines: up to $100,000 per day for corporations, $50,000 per day for individuals and unincorporated entities, and scaled penalties for less severe violations, starting as low as $200 per day. For a small business owner, even a daily fine of $500 or $1,000 can quickly eat into margins – tens of thousands of dollars over weeks, let alone months.
Modern Web Solutions proactively integrate accessibility at every stage, including semantic HTML, keyboard navigation, screen reader support, clear labels, and responsive design. By embedding accessibility from the outset, you’re not only ensuring legal compliance but also preventing potentially crippling daily fines, safeguarding your brand reputation, and expanding your customer base to include the estimated 15–20% of Ontarians living with disabilities.
In essence, revamping your website with a modern, standards-driven approach is an investment in risk management, inclusivity, and long-term resilience. It ensures you avoid escalating penalties – whether as high as six figures daily or more minor, yet still harmful fees – and positions your business as forward-thinking and accessible to all.
Why chose Modern Web Solutions
Modern Web Solutions is a strong choice for web design because we blend creativity with functionality to build engaging, user-friendly websites tailored to each client’s brand and goals. Our team prioritizes clean layouts, responsive design, and fast loading speeds to ensure your site looks and performs well across all devices. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refreshing an existing site, we work closely with you to bring your vision to life while optimizing for performance and visual impact.
Beyond design, Modern Web Solutions provides reliable website maintenance services to keep your site running smoothly long after launch. We handle updates, security monitoring, bug fixes, and backups so you can focus on your business without worrying about technical issues. Our proactive approach helps prevent downtime and keeps your site compatible with evolving web standards and technologies.
Accessibility is also a central component of our process. We design with inclusivity in mind, following AODA and WCAG guidelines to ensure your website is usable by everyone, including those with disabilities. From readable fonts and colour contrast to keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, we ensure your site is not only compliant but also welcoming to a broader audience. With Modern Web Solutions, your website will be modern, well-maintained, and accessible to everyone.
What Do We Prevent
At Modern Web Solutions, we specialise in crafting clean, modern websites that not only don’t look good but also protect your business by ensuring compliance with accessibility regulations. In today’s digital world, having a beautiful website is no longer enough. Increasingly, governments are enforcing web accessibility standards to ensure that everyone, including individuals with disabilities, can navigate and interact with your site.
For businesses, this means failing to meet these standards can lead to heavy fines, lawsuits, or loss of public trust. That’s where we come in. We combine sleek, professional web design with built-in AODA and WCAG accessibility practices. So your site isn’t just compliant; it’s inclusive and user-friendly. We simplify the process and handle the technical details, allowing you to focus on your business. At the same time, we protect it behind the scenes. Whether you’re starting from scratch or updating an existing site, we ensure your digital presence works for everyone – and keeps you ahead of regulatory changes before they become legal or financial headaches. Our Services actively prevent:
- AODA fines (up to $100,000/day for corporations in Ontario)
- Human Rights complaints or lawsuits for digital discrimination
- Lost government contracts or funding due to non-compliant websites
- Bad press or public backlash for inaccessible content
- Exclusion of customers with disabilities, losing a large potential market
- Failed audits when working with public institutions or accessibility consultants
- Outdated design that makes your site confusing or frustrating to navigate
- Slow website load times that harm SEO and drive customers away
- Mobile usability issues that alienate smartphone users
- Overcomplicated designs that overwhelm users and reduce conversions
At Modern Web Solutions, we aim to empower small businesses with websites that are not only visually compelling but legally compliant, accessible, and easy to use. We believe that simplicity drives results — and compliance shouldn’t be complicated or costly. By partnering with us, you’re not just investing in a website; you’re investing in long-term protection, broader customer reach, and peace of mind. Let us take care of the technicalities so you can focus on what you do best — running your business