Proposing new metrics to evaluate web usability for the blind

Abstract

Accessibility-related regulations and guidelines are contributing to the steady improvement of Web accessibility. There are various accessibility evaluation tools, and they also help Web authors make their pages compliant with guidelines. As a result, an increasing number of Web pages are compliant with the evaluation tools. These days, however, blind people face the serious problem that reading Web pages is quite difficult. Improvements in information density by using visual effects such as two-dimensional layouts are making it difficult for blind people to understand the page structure. Also, inappropriate alternative texts mislead or confuse blind users.In this paper, to evaluate these kinds of usability problems, we introduce two metrics: navigability and listenability. Navigability evaluates how well structured the Web content is by using headings, intra-page links, labels, etc. Listenability denotes how appropriate the alternative texts are. By using these metrics, we summarize the historical transition of Web usability for blind people.

Usability and Accessibility of eBay by Screen Reader

“…Unfortunately these websites have complex layouts, crowded with active elements that are often difficult to navigate via screen reader. Indeed, it has been acknowledged that blind people face the serious problem that reading certain Web pages is quite difficult [7,14,17,18].…”

Web 1.0 to Web 2.0: an observational study and empirical evidence for the historical r(evolution) of the social web

“…It is hence acknowledged, that its validity is only indicative and is a particular limitation of this study; however, given previous successful studies using the WM (e.g. Fukuda et al 2005, Hackett and Parmanto 2005, it was deemed the WM archive would be suitable for an exploratory empirical analysis looking at Web 2.0 related developments over time.…”

Voice Browsing Approach to E-Business Access: A Blind’s Perspective

“…Most of the websites do not meet even the basic standards provided by WCAG 2.0, making the websites inaccessible for blind users. WCAG 2.0 listed seven common barriers to web accessibility for blinds:  images without alternative text  image map hot spots without alternative text  misleading use of structural elements on a webpage  uncaptioned audio or un-described video  lack of alternative information for users who cannot access frames or scripts  tables that are difficult to decipher when linearized  sites with poor color contrast The web developers should understand the practical difficulties faced by blind users, as Asakawa (2005) and Fukuda, Saito, Takagi & Asakawa (2005) believed that web developers try to comply with the web accessibility guidelines without understanding the pragmatic requirements of blind users. The structure of the web pages are complex, and simple accessibility rules are not followed which results in web contents not being accessible by blind and elderly users Rana, Reynolds, Cirstea & Entecott (2007).…”