ANALYSIS OF THE USABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF WEBSITES IN VIEW OF THEIR UNIVERSAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Universal design is a strategic approach for planning and designing both the products and their environment, aimed at making a given product available to the widest number of possible users. It ensures equality for all of them and the opportunity to participate in the society. This concept is also crucial in the process of designing and developing software. The research was conducted with the use of four services, three of them were implemented for the purpose of this study. Two of them took into consideration the principles of universal design, while the others did not. The aim of the study was verification of the level of usability and accessibility of services by means of three independent methods: the LUT (Lublin University of Technology) checklist, an assessment taking into account WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards using the automatic WAVE evaluation tool (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) and a device allowing to track the movement of the eye while performing various tasks on websites. The websites were assessed by twenty experts in the field of creating web application interfaces, using the LUT checklist. The time to the first fixation (TTFF) that it took respondents to look at  specific website elements was measured using the eye tracker device and iMotions software. All websites were checked by means of the WAVE tool to detect irregularities and non-compliance with universal design standards. The analysis performed clearly indicated that websites that follow the universal design guidelines were more useful, intuitive and accessible for users. It might be concluded that interfaces allow to find necessary information and perform desired actions in a shorter time when prepared in accordance with the principles of universal design

A Universal Design Resource for Rich Internet Applications based on Design Patterns

3noRich internet applications have removed most of the constraints of Web 1.0 while giving users more responsiveness and advanced browsing and interaction experiences. These new horizons, however, raise many challenges for people with disabilities or using limited hardware and software technologies, who risk to be excluded from the benefits deriving from advanced web applications. To address this problem, WCAG 2.0 guidelines have been released as the newest World Wide Web Consortium recommendation for accessible web content, and WAI-ARIA is a candidate recommendation which provides reference specifications for accessible rich internet applications. However, both specifications contain a huge amount of information that often discourages most web designers from dealing with accessibility issues. Moreover, guidelines are suitable and usually adopted to judge a design solution a posteriori, but they do not suggest how to face a design problem constructively. This paper proposes a design pattern language for accessibility. The language can be regarded as a universal design resource for helping web designers create accessible rich internet applications compliant with the most recent standards. Knowledge representation through design patterns reflects the problem-solving approach usually followed by software and web designers, while pattern organization in a structured language aims to guide web designers throughout the design process. The language has been implemented as an accessible rich internet application itself, thus allowing designers with disabilities to participate in web design. In order to evaluate the design pattern language, a three-step process was carried out including: i) a heuristic analysis with a group of human-computer interaction experts, ii) a survey study with a group of web designers, and iii) a validation on the field with two designers who have been requested to apply the language in real design cases.reservedmixedFogli D.; Parasiliti Provenza L.; Bernareggi C.Fogli, Daniela; Parasiliti Provenza, L.; Bernareggi, C

Notação Visual para Representação de Linguagens de Padrões Ontológicos

Embora, atualmente, engenheiros de ontologias possam contar com vários métodos e ferramentas de apoio à engenharia de ontologias, o desenvolvimento de ontologias ainda não é uma tarefa fácil, mesmo para especialistas. Nesse contexto, reúso tem sido apontado como uma abordagem promissora para a engenharia de ontologias. Reutilização em ontologias permite acelerar o processo de desenvolvimento, além de melhorar a qualidade das ontologias resultantes, uma vez que promove a aplicação de boas práticas. O uso de padrões como abordagem para favorecer o reúso tem sido bastante explorado em Engenharia de Software, no entanto, o tema é consideravelmente recente em Engenharia de Ontologias. Um padrão (pattern) pode ser definido como uma solução bem-sucedida para um problema recorrente. Assim, padrões ontológicos (PO) apresentam soluções para problemas recorrentes de modelagem. Tipicamente, POs são disponibilizados em catálogos, porém essa abordagem não favorece reúso, uma vez que em um catálogo convencional perde-se o senso de conexão entre os POs. Padrões podem ser organizados em uma Linguagem de Padrões (LP), que representa os padrões e suas relações em uma rede e define um processo para seleção e utilização dos padrões para resolução sistemática de problemas. Nesse sentido, Linguagem de Padrões Ontológicos (LPO) fornecem, além dos padrões, diretrizes para sua seleção, incluindo a sequência em que podem ser usados, as variações existentes e os caminhos possíveis, entre outros. Para facilitar o uso de uma LPO, o processo e as relações entre os padrões devem ser representados de forma clara, não ambígua e completa. Notações visuais podem ser utilizadas para prover uma representação visual da LPO e são um importante meio de comunicação entre stakeholders, uma vez que se acredita que elas transmitam informações de forma mais eficaz do que texto. Para facilitar o entendimento e potencializar o uso de uma LPO, sua notação visual deve ser cognitivamente rica. Este trabalho propõe uma notação visual para representação de LPOs. Como bases para a proposta, foram utilizados os resultados de um mapeamento sistemático que investigou notações visuais em Linguagens de Padrões de Software e resultados de um estudo experimental em que se avaliou uma notação utilizada para representar LPOs. Buscando-se obter uma notação cognitivamente rica, os princípios de PoN (Physics of Notation) foram considerados no desenvolvimento da notação. Como prova de conceito, a notação visual proposta foi utilizada na reengenharia de LPO

Transforming our World through Universal Design for Human Development

An environment, or any building product or service in it, should ideally be designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to use it. Universal Design is the design and composition of environments, products, and services so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. It creates products, services and environments that meet people’s needs. In short, Universal Design is good design. This book presents the proceedings of UD2022, the 6th International Conference on Universal Design, held from 7 - 9 September 2022 in Brescia, Italy.The conference is targeted at professionals and academics interested in the theme of universal design as related to the built environment and the wellbeing of users, but also covers mobility and urban environments, knowledge, and information transfer, bringing together research knowledge and best practice from all over the world. The book contains 72 papers from 13 countries, grouped into 8 sections and covering topics including the design of inclusive natural environments and urban spaces, communities, neighborhoods and cities; housing; healthcare; mobility and transport systems; and universally- designed learning environments, work places, cultural and recreational spaces. One section is devoted to universal design and cultural heritage, which had a particular focus at this edition of the conference. The book reflects the professional and disciplinary diversity represented in the UD movement, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves inclusive design