Optimizing the User Environment: Leading Towards an Accessible and Usable Experience

Abstract

Although standards and legislation such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 have come into place, the inaccessibility of web content still exists. This paper presents the Essentiality and Proficiency Tool. The tool is a proxy service that will enable the user to view web content in accordance with their individual needs. A prototype has been developed and tested, highlighting insights into user patterns. The paper will explore the importance of universal design in making the Internet more accessible. It will further explore how user profiles endorse universal design, leading to a more usable experience. Although the emphasis is on a universal tool we start by concentrating on users with visual impairments as this is identified as the largest disability group.

Opening up access to online documents using essentiality tracks

“…The Disability Rights Commission Report [9] shows that websites are 35% easier to use for everyone if they are accessible 1 . This tells us that accessibility is a valid metric by which we can estimate the usability of websites for all people.…”

“…To solve the problems discussed above, work carried out by Dhiensa [1] lead to the creation of the "Essentiality and Proficiency Tool". The basic concepts of this tool are:…”

“…The system then retrieves and transforms that page, finally presenting it to the user. For more information, please consult the previous work [1].…”

“…A significant amount of research has been carried out into providing access to websites for computer users with disabilities (such as sight loss). Some of this research [1,2] focuses on finding ways to provide the user with only the information they need, in the format that is most suitable for them. This "universal design" [3,4] is applicable to providing access for non-disabled users who are, for example, using embedded devices or simply do not have time to view anything but the essential information a website has to offer.…”