ACM SIGCAPH Computers and the Physically Handicapped

Harper, Simon; Yesilada, Yeliz; Goble, Carole

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1037130pmid: N/A

Hanson, Vicki L.

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036402pmid: N/A

Specifications for accessibility of Web pages do not necessarily guarantee a usable or satisfying Web experience for persons with disabilities. The needs of many of these individuals fall outside guidelines for accessible content. Many of these users, for example, wish that they simply could "enlarge" what is on a Web page. They also express the wish that pages would be "less confusing". To meet these needs, Web browsers and various software applications provide for a variety of ways in which page presentations can be altered. The effects of these alterations often have unexpected consequences. Some designs accommodate these alterations better than others. This paper discusses one such application that allows users to control features of Web page presentation and explores design features that facilitate such control.

Petrie, Helen; Hamilton, Fraser; King, Neil

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036403pmid: N/A

It is a widespread belief amongst web designers and implementers that sites that are accessible to users with disabilities must by necessity be uninteresting and simple, particularly visually uninteresting -- plain, vanilla sites. It is tempting to believe that such sites do not pose interesting challenges to web designers and implementers. However, it is our contention that this belief is profoundly misguided. Certainly, a very plain, visually simple site is quite likely to be accessible (although this is not guaranteed). However, the opposite is not necessarily the case -- sites can be visually interesting and sophisticated and still highly accessible. Visual and interesting web design is largely orthogonal to accessibility and these two factors should not be seen as being in opposition to each other. Accessibility should rather be viewed as another challenge to designers and implementers, along with creating a site that is usable, interesting and appealing to mainstream users.

Mirabella, Valeria; Kimani, Stephen; Catarci, Tiziana

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036404pmid: N/A

There exist various efforts for supporting the preparation and delivery of accessible Web-based learning content (e.g., 3, 1, etc). Most of the efforts for supporting the preparation and deployment of accessible Web-based learning material propose guidelines that prevalently address technical accessibility issues. However, little or no consideration is given to the didactical experts, and thus their didactical experience, in the learning material development. Moreover, the aforementioned guidelines tend to provide high-level/generic indications of alternative forms of didactical content for equivalent access to the content. Nonetheless, the provision of equivalent forms alone does not guarantee the retention of desirable user interface aspects such as effectiveness and efficiency. While we do acknowledge the role of such guidelines, we also propose that the didactical experts be provided with a non-technical recourse that can enable them to contribute to the development process of accessible Web-based learning content. In particular, this work proposes tapping into the experience of the didactical experts by providing them with an avenue through which they can appropriately choose relevant and alternative didactical content toward developing and deploying accessible Web-based learning material.

Regan, Bob

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036405pmid: N/A

Web Accessibility and Web Design are two disciplines with a common theory and divergent practices. Both endeavors rely on a standard set of techniques to ensure a consistent experience of data and content across a diverse set of end users. Both rely on creative individuals to build and deliver great sites and great experiences that have an impact on the user. Both seek to extend the reach of the end user and link individuals together to form a stronger collective whole. However, despite the common theory that links them, web accessibility and web design do not share a common set of practices. Sites hailed for their accessibility are rarely noted for their design. Sites hailed for their design are rarely noteworthy as models of accessibility. Few sites are ever held up as models of both great accessibility and great design.

Bohman, Paul Ryan; Anderson, Shane

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036406pmid: N/A

Though somewhat rare, there are occasions when the accessibility needs of screen reader users appear to be at odds with the needs of visual users. This kind of conflict occurs when Web developers put form elements inside of a data table matrix, when they want to use images as headings instead of text, and in other situations. Adding extra text helps screen reader users, but can complicate the visual layout, thus reducing understandability. One solution is to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to hide the text from sighted users in a way that is still accessible to screen readers. The details of this technique are discussed, along with the technical reasoning behind it.

Stone, R. G.; Dhiensa, J.

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036407pmid: N/A

Brewer, Judy

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036408pmid: N/A

This article describes work of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It highlights recent developments, issues, and trends which can affect the progress of Web accessibility.

Leporini, Barbara; Andronico, Patrizia; Buzzi, Marina

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036409pmid: N/A

Search engines are a fundamental tool for retrieving specific and appropriate information on the Internet; for this reason it is essential for any user to be able to interact with simple, clear and accessible interfaces. In this paper we discuss the main differences between a visual layout and aural perception, and propose a set of guidelines for search engine user interface UIs design.

Seeman, Lisa

doi: 10.1145/1036401.1036410pmid: N/A

Over the past several years there has been a significant increase in awareness of the need for Web accessibility and development of policies relating to Web accessibility in Europe. Techniques for implementations have been standardized and benchmark guidelines accepted (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines -- i.e. WCAG). However, as Web protocols and technologies develop, new opportunities become available, and it may be realistic to open Web content to more and more people, and to develop more powerful accessibility solutions.