Improving Web accessibility through an enhanced open-source browser

Hanson, Vicki L.; Brezin, Jonathan; Crayne, Susan; Keates, Simeon; Kjeldsen, Rick; Richards, John T.; Swart, Cal; Trewin, Shari

doi:10.1147/sj.443.0573

Cited by 42 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…However, although that study addresses important issues arising from perception of a visual layout in a different manner, they did not provide design guidelines which can be helpful for site and page developers. Lee et al (2003) and Hanson et al (2005) have developed tools which allow enhancing Web browsers capability in order to support a number of interaction techniques, which make user navigation more accessible and usable. This is a useful contribution.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?

Leporini

Paternò

2008

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

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Available accessibility guidelines do not necessarily guarantee usable web sites, in particular when specific groups of users with special needs are considered. We have identified 15 Web design criteria aiming to provide integrated support of accessibility and usability for vision-impaired users. In this paper, we present the results of a study investigating whether the application of such guidelines for vision-impaired users can actually improve their task performance when accessing Web applications. We report on two user tests, both involving vision-impaired users, which aim to provide empirical validation of the design criteria. During each test, users had to access and navigate two versions of a Web site: one version supporting the selected design criteria and one obtained with traditional techniques. Our results indicate that the 15 design criteria improved Web site usability both quantitatively and qualitatively by reducing the navigation time needed to perform the assigned tasks and by making the Web sites easier to navigate for blind and low-vision users.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?

Leporini

Paternò

2008

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

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“…Hanson et al [11] developed a system that could rapidly transform any Web page to make it more usable for people with visual impairments. Initially, they had developed a prototype system in which a proxy server was used to adapt Web pages to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating a modified Google user interface via screen reader

Leporini

Andronico

Buzzi

et al. 2008

Univ Access Inf Soc

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This paper describes the progress of a research project aimed at improving the usability of web search tools for blind users who interact via screen readers and voice synthesizers. In the first stage of research, specific guidelines were proposed for simplifying the interaction with search engines for the blind. To evaluate these criteria, they were applied to Google user interfaces, by re-implementing the search form as well as the results page. Finally, the redesigned interfaces were evaluated through remote testing with 12 totally blind users. The results highlighted how Google, although already accessible, may be further improved in order to simplify interaction for people with impaired vision.

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“…Moreover, it provides ubiquitous services from any node and does not require installation (and therefore, administrator privileges), which makes it particularly useful when accessing the Web from public terminals as well as from mobile terminals. The main goal is to avoid any complex and computationally onerous browser-dependent technology [29] and provide the same set of services to each user, in any context (be it home, workplace or public terminal) with different devices (such as fixed or mobile terminals).…”

Section: Personalizable Accessible Navigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personalizable edge services for Web accessibility

Erra

Iaccarino

Malandrino

et al. 2007

Univ Access Inf Soc

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Web Content Accessibility guidelines by W3C (W3C Recommendation, May 1999. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/) provide several suggestions for Web designers regarding how to author Web pages in order to make them accessible to everyone. In this context, this paper proposes the use of edge services as an efficient and general solution to promote accessibility and breaking down the digital barriers that inhibit users with disabilities to actively participate to any aspect of society. The idea behind edge services mainly affect the advantages of a personalized navigation in which contents are tailored according to different issues, such as client’s devices capabilities, communication systems and network conditions and, finally, preferences and/or abilities of the growing number of users that access the Web. To meet these requirements, Web designers have to efficiently provide content adaptation and personalization functionalities mechanisms in order to guarantee universal access to the Internet content. The so far dominant paradigm of communication on the WWW, due to its simple request/response model, cannot efficiently address such requirements. Therefore, it must be augmented with new components that attempt to enhance the scalability, the performances and the ubiquity of the Web. Edge servers, acting on the HTTP data flow exchanged between client and server, allow on-the-fly content adaptation as well as other complex functionalities beyond the traditional caching and content replication services. These value-added services are called edge services and include personalization and customization, aggregation from multiple sources, geographical personalization of the navigation of pages (with insertion/emphasis of content that can be related to the user’s geographical location), translation services, group navigation and awareness for social navigation, advanced services for bandwidth optimization such as adaptive compression and format transcoding, mobility, and ubiquitous access to Internet content. This paper presents Personalizable Accessible Navigation (Pan) that is a set of edge services designed to improve Web pages accessibility, developed and deployed on top of a programmable intermediary framework. The characteristics and the location of the services, i.e., provided by intermediaries, as well as the personalization and the opportunities to select multiple profiles make Pan a platform that is especially suitable for accessing the Web seamlessly also from mobile terminals

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Improving Web accessibility through an enhanced open-source browser

Cited by 42 publications

References 21 publications

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?

Evaluating a modified Google user interface via screen reader

Personalizable edge services for Web accessibility

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