A lightweight methodology to improve web accessibility

Information, 2020

With the growth of e-services in the past two decades, the concept of web accessibility has been given attention to ensure that every individual can benefit from these services without any barriers. Web accessibility is considered one of the main factors that should be taken into consideration while developing webpages. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) have been developed to guide web developers to ensure that web contents are accessible for all users, especially disabled users. Many automatic tools have been developed to check the compliance of websites with accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 2.0 and to help web developers and content creators with designing webpages without barriers for disabled people. Despite the popularity of accessibility evaluation tools in practice, there is no systematic way to compare the performance of web accessibility evaluators. This paper first presents two novel frameworks. The first one is proposed to compare the performance of...

Electronic notes in …, 2006

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from W3C consist of a set of 65 checkpoints or specifications that Web pages should accomplish in order to be accessible to people with disabilities or using alternative browsers. Many of these 65 checkpoints can only be checked by a human operator, thus implying a very high cost for full evaluation. However, some checkpoints can be automatically evaluated, thus spotting accessibility barriers in a very effective manner. Well known tools like Bobby, Tawdis or WebXACT evaluate Web ...

2016

In many countries, it is mandatory that Web information systems are accessible so that people with disabilities can use them. The developers of web information systems must ensure that their systems are accessible, and for this it can help the use of automatic evaluation tools. This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the performance of online accessibility evaluation tools. This analysis can be useful for developers of information systems, as it provides information that can be taken into account when deciding the tool or tools of this type that they will use in their projects. The paper also includes a proposal for classification of different types of tools that evaluate software accessibility, considering two dimensions: its usage and functionality.

This paper investigates the support given by currently available tools for taking care of accessibility at different phases of the development process. At first, we provide a detailed classification of accessibility guidelines according to several levels of automation. Then we analyze which kind of automated inspection is supported by currently available tools for building Web sites. Lately, by the means of a case study we try to assess the possibility of fixing accessibility problems at early phases of the development process. Our results provide insights for improving current available tools towards taking accessibility into account at all phases of development process of Web sites.

2010

Abstract The current set of tools and specifications for ensuring web accessibility require expert knowledge and often have a highly technical orientation, with the consequence that it is not very clear how, or even when, to make use of them. In an attempt to tackle this problem, this paper reviews the types of tools and specifications available and proposes a simple and practical methodology for web accessibility evaluation that demonstrates how these tools and specifications could be used.

2007

Abstract This paper presents a framework and system to evaluate the accessibility of web pages according to the individual requirements of users with disabilities. These requirements not only consist of users' abilities, but also users' assistive technologies and the delivery context. In order to ascertain interoperability with other software components, user requirements are specified taking advantage of the extensibility of the W3C CC/PP recommendation and other feature-specification vocabularies.

Work (Reading, Mass.), 2012

It is essential that access to information must to be universal given the importance of having a truly global Internet. This study proposes to evaluate a government website with two semiautomatic accessibility evaluation tools. The results have demonstrated that the use of more than one semi-automatic assessment tool can provide enhanced results. The differences in results and presentation in the reports generated by the two tools indicate that there is more complete results by combining tests with different accessibility evaluation tools.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

This paper provides an introduction to automatic and manual evaluation methods for analysis of web accessibility. The first topic examines the recent results in advances in authoring, including modifications to existing CMS systems and new development toolkits. Next, the session explores the accessibility of specialized content such as graphics and interface components. The last topic in the session covers the results of the Web Accessibility Benchmarking Cluster of European Union supported projects (WAB-Cluster). Authors discuss technologies needed for automatic as well as manual evaluation.

Accessibility in Web Design - Evaluating Current Practices and Technologies, 2024

This dissertation examines the current state of web accessibility, focusing on the evaluation of existing practices and technologies in meeting the needs of all users, including those with disabilities. Despite significant advancements in web technologies, many websites still fall short of providing truly inclusive experiences. This study aims to bridge the gap between current accessibility implementations and the actual requirements of users with diverse abilities. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining automated accessibility testing tools, manual expert evaluations, and user testing with individuals with disabilities. A comprehensive analysis of various websites across different industries is conducted, using evaluation criteria based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Key findings reveal discrepancies between automated and manual testing results, highlighting the limitations of purely technological solutions. The study also identifies industry-specific trends in accessibility implementation and explores the effectiveness of various assistive technologies, including screen readers, alternative input devices, and emerging AI-powered tools. Based on these findings, the dissertation provides recommendations for best practices in accessible web design, strategies for improving existing websites, and suggestions for enhancing accessibility standards and guidelines. Additionally, it proposes new approaches and technologies to address identified gaps in current practices. This research contributes to the field of web accessibility by offering a comprehensive evaluation of current practices and technologies, while also providing practical insights for web designers, developers, and policymakers to create more inclusive digital experiences.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Technology & Systems (ICITS 2018), 2018

Checking the accessibility of a website is a significant challenge for accessibility experts. Users who suffer from age-related changes, such as low vision, poor hearing, and diminishing motor skills, among others, have problems accessing the services offered by the web. Currently, there are qualitative and quantitative methods to check if a website is accessible. Most methods apply automatic tools because they are low cost, but they do not present an ideal solution. Instead, heuristic methods require manual support that will help the expert to assess accessibility by establishing severity ranges. This research used a modification of the Barrier Walkthrough method proposed by Giorgio Brajnik considering the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1. The modification consisted of including persistence to determine the severity of an accessibility barrier. This method enabled the measurement of the accessibility of websites to test a new heuristic process and to obtain sample data for analysis. The method was applied to 40 websites, including those of 30 universities in Latin America, according to the Webometrics ranking, and 10 websites among the most visited, according to Alexa ranking. With this heuristic method, the evaluators concluded that although a website is in a high-ranking position, this does not imply that it is accessible and inclusive. However, the manual method takes too long, and it is therefore too costly to solve accessibility problems. This research can serve as a starting point for future studies related to web accessibility heuristics. INDEX TERMS Accessibility, assessment, barrier walkthrough, evaluation, heuristic method, low vision, website, web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.