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How to make an electronic library accessible

How to make an electronic library accessible PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify important principles which should be applied to electronic library websites to make them usable for all people.Design/methodology/approachThe goal of this paper was to make the simplified user interface of Hungarian Electronic Library (VMEK) more accessible and usable by leveraging the latest technologies, standards and recommendations. Vision-impaired and motor-disabled people were also involved in brainstorming and collecting ideas during the design phase and in testing the implemented website.FindingsThis paper showed that the perspicuity of the Web page is greatly improved by semantically correct HTML codes, clearly defined links and alt attributes, hotkeys and typographic principles.Practical implicationsThe paper presents the design principles of electronic library Web pages which can be applied by Web developers and content managers. The paper identifies design principles, which improve the perspicuity of user interfaces to a great extent (especially in the case of blind users); draws attention to the typographic principles, which promote reading and understanding documents; and recommends guidelines for developing electronic library home pages and managing the content of these home pages.Originality/valueThis paper bridges the gap between the information and library science field and the Web accessibility and usability field. Based on brainstorming results where people with various kinds of disabilities were involved, the paper gives 11 recommendations which should be taken into account while designing and developing electronic library websites to ensure equal access to their services and documents. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Electronic Library Emerald Publishing

How to make an electronic library accessible

Kosztyánné Mátrai, Rita
The Electronic Library , Volume 36 (4): 13 – Aug 6, 2018
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13 pages

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0264-0473
DOI
10.1108/EL-07-2017-0143
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify important principles which should be applied to electronic library websites to make them usable for all people.Design/methodology/approachThe goal of this paper was to make the simplified user interface of Hungarian Electronic Library (VMEK) more accessible and usable by leveraging the latest technologies, standards and recommendations. Vision-impaired and motor-disabled people were also involved in brainstorming and collecting ideas during the design phase and in testing the implemented website.FindingsThis paper showed that the perspicuity of the Web page is greatly improved by semantically correct HTML codes, clearly defined links and alt attributes, hotkeys and typographic principles.Practical implicationsThe paper presents the design principles of electronic library Web pages which can be applied by Web developers and content managers. The paper identifies design principles, which improve the perspicuity of user interfaces to a great extent (especially in the case of blind users); draws attention to the typographic principles, which promote reading and understanding documents; and recommends guidelines for developing electronic library home pages and managing the content of these home pages.Originality/valueThis paper bridges the gap between the information and library science field and the Web accessibility and usability field. Based on brainstorming results where people with various kinds of disabilities were involved, the paper gives 11 recommendations which should be taken into account while designing and developing electronic library websites to ensure equal access to their services and documents.

Journal

The Electronic Library – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 6, 2018

References

  • Methods and tools to analyse the web-based user interface usability, and the appearance of the topic in education