SADIe: Semantic Annotation for Accessibility

Abstract

Abstract. Visually impaired users are hindered in their efforts to access the largest repository of electronic information in the world -the World Wide Web (Web). The web is visually-centric with regard to presentation and information order / layout, this can (and does) hinder users who need presentation-agnostic access to information. Transcoding can help to make information more accessible via a restructuring of pages. We describe an approach based on annotation of web pages, encoding semantic information that can then be used by tools in order to manipulate and present web pages in a form that provides easier access to content. Annotations are made directly to style sheet information, allowing the annotation of large numbers of similar pages with little effort.

A user evaluation of the SADIe transcoder

“…Previously we have evaluated SADIe from a technical viewpoint and demonstrated that our approach is capable of applying transcodes to a wide variety of pages [2]. In this paper we have progressed the evaluations from a technical perspective to a user-centred perspective.…”

“…In previous works, we have demonstrated that annotating the CSS of a Website through an ontology can provide enough information for the page to be transcoded [2]. While these previous demonstrations have validated our approach on a technical level, they have not provided evidence that the adaptations applied to pages are of use to visually impaired users.…”

“…This allows users to easily find the menu when they wish to navigate to other news stories. For further discussion of the SADIe method and architecture, the reader is directed to [2,6]. …”

Investigating sighted users' browsing behaviour to assist web accessibility

“…We suggest to use the above points as guidelines to transcode a Web page into one with less visual clutter but also in a way that can be rendered for visually impaired users as sighted users tend to browse. We aim to use these suggestions and incorporate them into a transcoding approach that is currently proven to provide Web pages that are easier to access by visually impaired users (see [3]). …”

“…However, these guidelines and regulations are not always followed leading to the need for new approaches of creating accessible Websites. Transcoding is such an approach, where the content of the Web page is reformatted so that it is better suited to assistive technologies [2,3]. Transcoding is usually achieved through heuristics or semantics.…”