Understanding Blind Users’ Web Accessibility and Usability Problems

2009

The central premise of our research is that the Web lacks accessibility and usability, creating problems for blind users in Web interactions. We want to understand the nature of accessibility and usability problems blind users face in a Web-based task. Extant literature recognizes this problem exists, but does not explain its nature. This understanding is needed to determine accessibility and usability requirements of the Web for blind users. Our research takes a task-oriented approach to develop this understanding in the context of ...

2009

We believe that Web lacks accessibility and usability, creating problems for blind user’s in online activities. Literature recognizes this problem exists, but does not explain its nature. This understanding is needed to determine accessibility and usability requirements of the Web for blind users. We examine the question: What is the nature of accessibility and usability problems blind users face in completing online tasks? Adopting a task-oriented approach, we investigate this question in the context of online assessment. Employing verbal protocol analysis, we capture evidence of problems 6 blind participants observe and experience completing online assessment. Analysis reveals two aspects of Web design that present accessibility and usability problems for blind users in performing online tasks. Our study contributes with a deep understanding about blind user’s problems due to lack of Web accessibility and usability. Future research may use this understanding to create blind user p...

2012

Abstract This paper describes an empirical study of the problems encountered by 32 blind users on the Web. Task-based user evaluations were undertaken on 16 websites, yielding 1383 instances of user problems. The results showed that only 50.4% of the problems encountered by users were covered by Success Criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2008

Websites do not become usable just because their content is accessible. For people who are blind, the application of the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) often might not even make a significant difference in terms of efficiency, errors or satisfaction in website usage. This paper documents the development of nine guidelines to construct an enhanced text user interface (ETI) as an alternative to the graphical user interface (GUI). An experimental design with 39 blind participants executing a search and a navigation task on a website showed that with the ETI, blind users executed the search task significantly faster, committing fewer mistakes, rating it significantly better on subjective scales as well as when compared to the GUIs from other websites they had visited. However, performance did not improve with the ETI on the navigation task, the main reason presumed to be labeling problems. We conclude that the ETI is an improvement over the GUI, but that it cannot help in overcoming one major weakness of most websites: If users do not understand navigation labels, even the best user interface cannot help them navigate.

2010

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Considerable research has been done on how to make e-learning systems accessible. But Learners in electronic and hybrid learning environments utilize many Web based systems beyond what the instructor and institution provides and can control such as search engines, news portals and research databases. This paper presents Web design requirements that can improve the accessibility of such websites for PWDs particularly the blind. The requirements were derived from both theoretical and quantitative data gathered from both literature and a case study. It was observed that graphical user interfaces, non-linear navigation, forms, tables, images, lack of key board support, non-standard document formats and acronyms and abbreviations hinder Web accessibility for the blind. Therefore in order to improve Web accessibility for the blind, the following requirements were suggested; a text only version of the website or a combination of design considerations namely: text alternatives for visual elements, meaningful content structure in the source code, skip navigation link(s), orientation during navigation, ensure (tables, frames and forms) are accessible if any is used, test the website with keyboard only access, use or convert documents into standard formats and expand abbreviations and acronyms the first time they appear on a page. Meeting the given requirements in the Web development process improves Web accessibility for all blind Web users including those engaged in hybrid learning.

2011

Abstract: The central premise of this research is that blind and visually impaired (BVI) people cannot use the Internet effectively due to accessibility and usability problems. Use of the Internet is indispensable in today's education system that relies on Web-enhanced ...

2005

Abstract Web access for users with disabilities is an important goal and challenging problem for web content developers and designers. This paper presents a comparison of different methods for finding accessibility problems affecting users who are blind. Our comparison focuses on techniques that might be of use to Web developers without accessibility experience, a large and important group that represents a major source of inaccessible pages.

Work (Reading, Mass.), 2012

At present, it is recognized that the Internet plays key role in universalization of opportunities in society in which we live. For people with disabilities, the content must be accessible in all websites, but the assistive technologies used must be adequate to the specific needs of people with disabilities. Dosvox is a free system developed in the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) specially designed for blind people and used by them in the performance of their tasks with the use of computers. Previously, through exploratory research based on the observation of the interaction of blind students with the Web, usability problems were identified in the Dosvox interface and in the Webvox, the Web browser included in the system, and these problems were related to the fact that the interface is designed in accordance with the mental model of these Information Technology professionals. This study consolidate the problems in earlier phases of the research, link the results with ...

2004

Abstract. Websites were originally conceived for a text-based interface, but very early (from MOSAIC on) they became the epitome of graphic interface applications. A Web page is inherently complex since it simultaneously conveys pieces of content and relationships among them,“links” to other pages, etc. If the core of the communication lies in the content, a lot of additional but often fundamental semantics comes from visual features: ie layout, colors, fonts, spatial relationships, positioning within the page, etc.