Why an overlay doesn't fix your website

What an overlay does

An overlay is a script added to every page. After the page loads in a visitor's browser, the script downloads a list of changes and applies them: alt text for some images, labels for some controls, a skip link. It also adds a toolbar with display settings such as bigger text and higher contrast.

When we ran the best-known widgets on their makers' own websites in October 2026, they loaded between 110 KB and 930 KB on each page. One vendor stored its fixes on its own servers, matched to elements by their position in the page. A redesign moves those positions, and fixes matched that way stop applying without anyone noticing.

Why the problems stay

• The site's code never changes, so anything that reads the page before the script runs, or without it, meets the original barriers.
• The fixes live with the vendor. If the subscription ends, they go with it.
• The toolbar repeats settings that disabled visitors already have in their browser and operating system, and it can conflict with their screen reader.

What has happened since

In 2025 the FTC finalized an order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million, after alleging that its claims that the widget made websites WCAG compliant were false or unsupported. JD Supra summary of the FTC action.

Widgets have not kept sites out of court either. EcomBack counted 2,045 ADA website lawsuits in the first half of 2026, and 496 of them, about 24%, were filed against sites that already had an accessibility widget installed. EcomBack mid-year 2026 report.

What to do instead

Fix the site itself. Alt text belongs in your media library and templates, labels belong in your forms, and colors belong in your theme. Once they are there, every visitor and every assistive technology gets them, with or without a script.

That is the work we do. See how it works.

Sources: EcomBack, 2026 mid-year ADA website lawsuit report; Adrian Roselli, FTC catches up to accessiBe; JD Supra, FTC targets accessibility overlays.