A Systematic Review of Web Accessibility Metrics

Abstract

Currently, providing accessible websites for all users is an essential requirement. There are various qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods to assure accessibility. Among these, the quantitative methods show the level of accessibility of the website using web accessibility metrics (WAM), which provide a way to understand, control, and improve these websites. This study was aimed to identify current trends and analyze WAMs through a systematic literature review. Therefore, 30 WAM studies that were published since 2008 were determined and investigated according to attributes defined for the metrics such as guideline set used by the metric, coupling level with the guidelines, type of evaluation, site complexity, and validation with the user. Fourteen recently proposed WAMs were determined since 2008. Recently proposed WAMs have begun to consider more elaborate issues such as rich internet applications, website complexity, usability, or user experience issues and implement some machine learning approaches for the metrics.