43,109 research outputs found

    Utilising IGV approach to identify factors affecting web usability

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    Due to the changing nature of Internet technology and user needs,continuous web evaluation has become very important in determining the usability of web sites. However, web designers often face problems in identifying the right criteria for evaluation. Despite the growing number of guidelines and other literature on web design and evaluation,each of them varies in terms of quality, coverage, relevancy, and suitability. With this in mind, a study using IGV approach was carried out to identify key generic criteria that need to be taken into consideration by designers or others when assessing the overall usability of web sites. The results of the study include a comprehensive list of the identified usability criteria that were grouped into 7 major factors - screen appearance, content, accessibility, navigation, media use, interactivity, and consistenc

    An Exploration into Two Solutions to Propagating Web Accessibility for Blind Computer Users

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    A model is presented depicting the driving forces (Web industry, consumers, U.S. federal government, and technology) promoting an accessible Web and potential solutions within those forces. This project examines two distinct solutions, lawsuits (a consumer-driven solution) and AcceSS 2.1 transcoder (a technology-driven solution) to provide more information on two under-researched methods that could have far-reaching impacts on Web accessibility for the blind. First, an evaluation of the intraclass correlation (ICC) between homepage Web Accessibility Barrier (WAB) scores and WAB scores of levels 1-3 found that the homepage is not sufficient to detect the accessibility of the website. ICC of the homepage and average of levels 1-3 is 0.250 (p=0.062) and ICC of levels 1, 2, & 3 is 0.784 (p < 0.0001). Evaluating the homepage and first-level pages gives more accurate results of entire site accessibility. Second, an evaluation of the WAB scores of the homepage and first-level pages of websites of five companies sued for alleged inaccessible websites found mixed results: lawsuits worked in two cases, but didn't in three. This is seen through an examination of accessibility and complexity of the websites for years surrounding the lawsuits. Each sued website is compared to a control website within the same industry and to a random group of websites representing the general Web. Third, a usability study of the AcceSS 2.1 transcoding intermediary found that technology can increase users' efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction in Web interaction, regardless of universal design. The study entails a within-subject cross-over design wherein 15 users performed tasks on three websites: one universally designed, one non-universally designed, and one reference site. Paired t-tests examine the effect of AcceSS 2.1 on time, errors, and subjective satisfaction and mixed-model analysis examines the effect of study design on outcomes. Results show that users perform tasks faster, with fewer errors, and with greater satisfaction when accessing pages via AcceSS 2.1, but users where less satisfied with the universally designed website and significant differences were found in the universally designed website and not the non-universally designed website. Website usability and ease of navigation are more important to users than simple accessibility

    Measuring and comparing the reliability of the structured walkthrough evaluation method with novices and experts

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    Effective evaluation of websites for accessibility remains problematic. Automated evaluation tools still require a significant manual element. There is also a significant expertise and evaluator effect. The Structured Walkthrough method is the translation of a manual, expert accessibility evaluation process adapted for use by novices. The method is embedded in the Accessibility Evaluation Assistant (AEA), a web accessibility knowledge management tool. Previous trials examined the pedagogical potential of the tool when incorporated into an undergraduate computing curriculum. The results of the evaluations carried out by novices yielded promising, consistent levels of validity and reliability. This paper presents the results of an empirical study that compares the reliability of accessibility evaluations produced by two groups (novices and experts). The main results of this study indicate that overall reliability of expert evaluations was 76% compared to 65% for evaluations produced by novices. The potential of the Structured Walkthrough method as a useful and viable tool for expert evaluators is also examined. Copyright 2014 ACM

    SEMA4A: An ontology for emergency notification systems accessibility

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    This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Expert Systems with Applications. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.Providing alert communication in emergency situations is vital to reduce the number of victims. Reaching this goal is challenging due to users’ diversity: people with disabilities, elderly and children, and other vulnerable groups. Notifications are critical when an emergency scenario is going to happen (e.g. a typhoon approaching) so the ability to transmit notifications to different kind of users is a crucial feature for such systems. In this work an ontology was developed by investigating different sources: accessibility guidelines, emergency response systems, communication devices and technologies, taking into account the different abilities of people to react to different alarms (e.g. mobile phone vibration as an alarm for deafblind people). We think that the proposed ontology addresses the information needs for sharing and integrating emergency notification messages over distinct emergency response information systems providing accessibility under different conditions and for different kind of users.Ministerio de Educación y Cienci

    Developing an understanding of the nature of accessibility and usability problems blind students face in web-enhanced instruction environments

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    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 instruction (WEI). Therefore, BVI students cannot participate effectively in WEI. Extant literature recognizes that non-visual Web interaction is inherently challenging. However, it does not explain where, how and why BVI students face accessibility and usability problems in performing academic tasks in WEI. This knowledge is necessary to adequately inform the development of interventions that improve the functional and academic outcomes of BVI students in WEI. The purpose of this doctoral research is to understand the nature of accessibility and usability problems BVI students face in WEI environments. It adopts a novel user-centered, task-oriented, cognitive approach to develop an in-depth, contextually-situated, observational and experiential knowledge of these problems. The context of WEI experience under investigation is an online exam over a typical course management system. Research design is a qualitative field study that involves a multimethod evaluation of the WEI environment. The core component of this multimethod evaluation is BVI students' assessment of the WEI environment. This is triangulated through assessments made by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and Web developers. The BVI student assessment employs an integrated problem solving model, in combination with verbal protocol analysis, to identify and understand where, how and why BVI students face a problem in completing the exam. The WCAG assessment employs automated accessibility testing and WCAG textual analysis to identify interface objects that violate accessibility standards and characterizes a problem. The Web developer assessment involves open-ended interviews to identify the source of a problem. Results show that the WEI environment consisted of innumerable interface objects that violated WCAG's standards on Web accessibility and usability. BVI participants faced many accessibility and usability problems that posed significant challenges completing the online exam. These problems fall into six major problem types as described below: 1. Confusion while navigating across WEI environment due to its frame-based page structure without unique frame names; 2. Susceptibility to submitting incomplete work when a new question page does not provide location and contextual information; 3. Difficulty understanding how to submit work when the selection controls for multiple option questions lack a consistent keyboard navigation procedure; 4. Inability to negotiate security information pop-up when the WEI environment uses an alert dialogue box; 5. Ambiguity in essay-type question page that lack meaningful labels for interface objects, including text area and text formatting toolbar; 6. Vulnerability of losing work when Backspace behaves as browser's Back button inside text area. This doctoral research contributes in three ways. It fills the knowledge gap about the nature of problems BVI students face in Web interactions for academic tasks. This kind of knowledge is necessary to determine accessibility and usability requirements for WEI. Another contribution is a set of mental model representations that explicate the thought processes of BVI students. Such representations are useful in developing user instruction and design of more accessible and usable Web sites. A third contribution is a user-centered, task-based, cognitive and multi-method approach to evaluate Web accessibility and usability

    A Review of Selected E-Recruiting Websites: Disability Accessibility Considerations

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    Ten job boards1 and 31 corporate E-recruiting websites were evaluated for accessibility for people with disabilities. The examination was performed using both an automated accessibility testing software (Bobby v3.2) and an examination of a sub-sample of the sites through a “simulated” application process. The simulated application process was performed utilizing only the information available to a screen reader and navigating the site using only keyboard commands, duplicating how a blind individual would typically navigate the web. The purpose of this second method was to see if it would be possible to successfully proceed through the entire multi-step job search and application process. None of the job board pages (home, job search, signup, or resumĂ© submittal pages) evaluated by Bobby were found to be accessible. The vast majority of corporate E-recruiting sites also failed Bobby’s tests. The simulated application process evaluation was slightly more promising, but still only three of the nine job boards and three of the twelve corporate sites evaluated were accessible enough to work through the entire process of registration, job searching, resumĂ© submittal, and application for a position. Many of the issues encountered could easily be corrected through the consistent use of alternative text for essential submit image buttons (i.e. “apply,” “post resumĂ©â€)

    Accessible user interface support for multi-device ubiquitous applications: architectural modifiability considerations

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    The market for personal computing devices is rapidly expanding from PC, to mobile, home entertainment systems, and even the automotive industry. When developing software targeting such ubiquitous devices, the balance between development costs and market coverage has turned out to be a challenging issue. With the rise of Web technology and the Internet of things, ubiquitous applications have become a reality. Nonetheless, the diversity of presentation and interaction modalities still drastically limit the number of targetable devices and the accessibility toward end users. This paper presents webinos, a multi-device application middleware platform founded on the Future Internet infrastructure. Hereto, the platform's architectural modifiability considerations are described and evaluated as a generic enabler for supporting applications, which are executed in ubiquitous computing environments

    The evaluation of educational service integration in integrated virtual courses

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    The effectiveness of an integrated virtual course is determined by factors such as the navigability of the system. We argue that in a virtual course, which offers different educational services for different learning activities, the integration of services is a good indicator for the effectiveness of a virtual course infrastructure. We develop a set of metrics to measure the degree of integration of a virtual course. We combine structural metrics and an analysis of the student usage of the system in order to measure integration
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