skip to main content
10.1145/1526709.1526820acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesthewebconfConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

Web 2.0: blind to an accessible new world

Published: 20 April 2009 Publication History

Abstract

With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, websites have evolved from static pages to dynamic, interactive Web-based applications with the ability to replicate common desktop functionality. However, for blind and visually impaired individuals who rely upon screen readers, Web 2.0 applications force them to adapt to an inaccessible use model. Many technologies, including WAI-ARIA, AJAX, and improved screen reader support, are rapidly evolving to improve this situation. However, simply combining them does not solve the problems of screen reader users. The main contributions of this paper are two models of interaction for screen reader users, for both traditional websites and Web 2.0 applications. Further contributions are a discussion of accessibility difficulties screen reader users encounter when interacting with Web 2.0 applications, a user workflow design model for improving Web 2.0 accessibility, and a set of design requirements for developers to ease the user's burden and increase accessibility. These models, accessibility difficulties, and design implications are based directly on responses and lessons learned from usability research focusing on Web 2.0 usage and screen reader users. Without the conscious effort of Web engineers and designers, most blind and visually impaired users will shy away from using new Web 2.0 technology in favor of desktop based applications.

References

[1]
American Foundation for the Blind. Facts and Figures on Americans with Vision Loss. http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15&DocumentID=4398
[2]
Becker, J. V., Becker, D. A., Hinton, D. E. and Hugh G. Anderson, J.Braille computer monitor(6700553). Unites States Patent Office, USA 2004.
[3]
Bigham, J., Cavender, A., Brudvik, J. and Wobbrock, J. WebinSitu: A Comparative Analysis of Blind and Sighted Browsing Behavior. Proceedings of ASSETS 2007 (Tempe, AZ), 2007.
[4]
Bigham, J. P. and Ladner, R. E. Accessmonkey: a collaborative scripting framework for Web users and developers. Proceedings of W4A. Bamf, Canada). ACM, 2007.
[5]
Borodin, Y., Bigham, J. P., Raman, R. and Ramakrishnan, I. V. What's New? - Making Web Page Updates Accessible. In Proceedings of ASSETS 2008 (Halifax, Nova Scotia), 2008.
[6]
Boyden, C. and Greco, L. C21. Web Usability for Assistive Technology. Procedings of CHI 2007 (San Jose, CA), 2007.
[7]
Caldwell, B., Cooper, M., Reid, L. G. and Vanderheiden, G. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. 2008.
[8]
Chen, C. L. and Raman, T. V. AxsJAX: a talking translation bot using google IM: bringing Web-2.0 applications to life. In Proceedings of W4A (Beijing, China). ACM, 2008.
[9]
Freedom Scientific. JAWS. 2007
[10]
Freedom Scientific. JAWS for Windows ® Screen Reading Software. http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp
[11]
Fukuda, K., Saito, S., Takagi, H. and Asakawa, C. Proposing new metrics to evaluate Web usability for the blind. In CHI '05 extended abstracts (Portland, OR). ACM, 2005.
[12]
Garrett, J. J. Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications. adaptive path, February 18, 2005. http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000385.php, 2005.
[13]
Google. Keyboard shortcuts - Gmail Help Center. http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6594
[14]
GW Micro. Window-Eyes. 2007
[15]
Hailpern, J., Guarino Reid, L. and Boardman, R. DTorial: An interactive tutorial framework for blind users in a Web 2.0 world. UIUC Technical Report #UIUCDCS-R-2009-3029.
[16]
Harkin, T. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990. U. S. Senate, 1990.
[17]
Juicy Studio. Improving Ajax applications for JAWS users. http://juicystudio.com/article/improving-ajax-applications-for-jaws-users.php
[18]
Kim, J. W., Candan, K. S. and Mehmet E. Dnderler. Topic segmentation of message hierarchies for indexing and navigation support. Proceedings of WWW 2005 (Chiba, Japan). ACM, 2005.
[19]
Lemon, G. WAI-ARIA Live Regions. http://juicystudio.com/article/wai-aria-live-regions.php
[20]
McKeon, H. P. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments (Section 508). U. S. Congress, 1998.
[21]
Miyashita, H., Sato, D., Takagi, H. and Asakawa, C. Making multimedia content accessible for screen reader users. In Proceedings of the W4A Conference (Banff, Canada, 2007). ACM, 2007.
[22]
O'Reilly, T. What is Web 2.0 (2005). http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-Web-20.html
[23]
Takagi, H., Asakawa, C., Fukuda, K. and Maeda, J. Accessibility designer: visualizing usability for the blind. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGACCESS conference (Atlanta, GA). ACM, 2004.
[24]
Thatcher, J. SAID (Synthetic Audio Interface Driver). 1984
[25]
Thatcher, J. Screen reader/2: access to OS/2 and the graphical user interface. Proceedings of Assets '94 (Marina Del Rey, CA). ACM, 1994.
[26]
W3C. HTML 4.01 Specification - IFRAME. http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/present/frames.html#h-16.5
[27]
W3C and Editor: Schwerdtfeger, R. Roadmap for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA Roadmap). http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria-roadmap/
[28]
W3C - Web Accessibility Initiative and Editor: Henry, S. L. WAI-ARIA Overview. http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria
[29]
World Health Organization. WHO | Magnitude and causes of visual impairment. wttp://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Developing a blind user mental model (BlUMM) for web browsingUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-01035-523:3(1343-1367)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
  • (2023)Enhancing Email Accessibility for Visually Impaired IndividualsJournal of Computers, Mechanical and Management10.57159/gadl.jcmm.2.4.230692:4(01-08)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2023
  • (2023)The Accessibility of Data Visualizations on the Web for Screen Reader Users: Practices and Experiences During COVID-19ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/355789916:1(1-29)Online publication date: 29-Mar-2023
  • Show More Cited By

Recommendations

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
WWW '09: Proceedings of the 18th international conference on World wide web
April 2009
1280 pages
ISBN:9781605584874
DOI:10.1145/1526709

Sponsors

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 April 2009

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Check for updates

Author Tags

  1. blind
  2. screen reader
  3. user models
  4. visually impaired
  5. web 2.0

Qualifiers

  • Research-article

Conference

WWW '09
Sponsor:

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,899 of 8,196 submissions, 23%

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)12
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1
Reflects downloads up to 22 Feb 2025

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Developing a blind user mental model (BlUMM) for web browsingUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-01035-523:3(1343-1367)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
  • (2023)Enhancing Email Accessibility for Visually Impaired IndividualsJournal of Computers, Mechanical and Management10.57159/gadl.jcmm.2.4.230692:4(01-08)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2023
  • (2023)The Accessibility of Data Visualizations on the Web for Screen Reader Users: Practices and Experiences During COVID-19ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/355789916:1(1-29)Online publication date: 29-Mar-2023
  • (2019)"Did You Suspect the Post Would be Removed?"Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33592943:CSCW(1-33)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2019
  • (2019)"It doesn't win you friends"Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33592933:CSCW(1-26)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2019
  • (2019)Wander Join and XDBACM Transactions on Database Systems10.1145/328455144:1(1-41)Online publication date: 29-Jan-2019
  • (2018)Animating fluid sediment mixture in particle-laden flowsACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3197517.320130937:4(1-11)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2018
  • (2018)Analytic spherical harmonic coefficients for polygonal area lightsACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3197517.320129137:4(1-11)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2018
  • (2018)FEPRACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/3197517.320127737:4(1-12)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2018
  • (2015)Blind Students' Challenges in Social Media CommunicationInternational Journal of Online Pedagogy and Course Design10.4018/ijopcd.20150101055:1(58-73)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2015
  • Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Figures

Tables

Media

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media