Implementing Recommendations From Web Accessibility Guidelines: A Comparative Study of Nondisabled Users and Users With Visual Impairments

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 956-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Schmutz ◽  
Andreas Sonderegger ◽  
Juergen Sauer
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
User Groups ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Perceived Usability ◽  
Content Accessibility

Objective: The present study examined whether implementing recommendations of Web accessibility guidelines would have different effects on nondisabled users than on users with visual impairments. Background: The predominant approach for making Web sites accessible for users with disabilities is to apply accessibility guidelines. However, it has been hardly examined whether this approach has side effects for nondisabled users. A comparison of the effects on both user groups would contribute to a better understanding of possible advantages and drawbacks of applying accessibility guidelines. Method: Participants from two matched samples, comprising 55 participants with visual impairments and 55 without impairments, took part in a synchronous remote testing of a Web site. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of three Web sites, which differed in the level of accessibility (very low, low, and high) according to recommendations of the well-established Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). Performance (i.e., task completion rate and task completion time) and a range of subjective variables (i.e., perceived usability, positive affect, negative affect, perceived aesthetics, perceived workload, and user experience) were measured. Results: Higher conformance to Web accessibility guidelines resulted in increased performance and more positive user ratings (e.g., perceived usability or aesthetics) for both user groups. There was no interaction between user group and accessibility level. Conclusion: Higher conformance to WCAG 2.0 may result in benefits for nondisabled users and users with visual impairments alike. Application: Practitioners may use the present findings as a basis for deciding on whether and how to implement accessibility best.

Code in action: Closing the black box of WCAG 2.0, A Latourian reading of Web accessibility

First Monday ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kreps ◽  
Mhorag Goff
Keyword(s):  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Version 2.0 ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
Web Developers ◽  
The Web

The focus of much academic work on Web accessibility has been concerned with the lack of implementation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. There seems, as yet, however, to have been little critical reflection on the Guidelines themselves — save perhaps some awareness of the heterogeneous nature of the Web, and the difficulties facing Web developers trying to ensure their work displays true to their intentions across a wide range of different browsers and devices, making use of continually evolving and contested code. Yet, as this paper highlights, the long drawn out process by which version 2.0 of the WCAG came into being hides many skeletons, including aspects of the process of developing standards that bear closer scrutiny, and reveal much when viewed through Latourian eyes. The findings of this paper suggest that the WCAG2.0 are almost irrelevant today — to the detriment of those for whom they were made — and that the process of creating them was at fault.

scholarly journals Comparing Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools and Evaluating the Accessibility of Webpages: Proposed Frameworks

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Alsaeedi
Keyword(s):  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Evaluation Tools ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Web Contents ◽  
Accessibility Evaluation ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
Web Developers

With the growth of e-services in the past two decades, the concept of web accessibility has been given attention to ensure that every individual can benefit from these services without any barriers. Web accessibility is considered one of the main factors that should be taken into consideration while developing webpages. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) have been developed to guide web developers to ensure that web contents are accessible for all users, especially disabled users. Many automatic tools have been developed to check the compliance of websites with accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 2.0 and to help web developers and content creators with designing webpages without barriers for disabled people. Despite the popularity of accessibility evaluation tools in practice, there is no systematic way to compare the performance of web accessibility evaluators. This paper first presents two novel frameworks. The first one is proposed to compare the performance of web accessibility evaluation tools in detecting web accessibility issues based on WCAG 2.0. The second framework is utilized to evaluate webpages in meeting these guidelines. Six homepages of Saudi universities were chosen as case studies to substantiate the concept of the proposed frameworks. Furthermore, two popular web accessibility evaluators, Wave and SiteImprove, are selected to compare their performance. The outcomes of studies conducted using the first proposed framework showed that SiteImprove outperformed WAVE. According to the outcomes of the studies conducted, we can conclude that web administrators would benefit from the first framework in selecting an appropriate tool based on its performance to evaluate their websites based on accessibility criteria and guidelines. Moreover, the findings of the studies conducted using the second proposed framework showed that the homepage of Taibah University is more accessible than the homepages of other Saudi universities. Based on the findings of this study, the second framework can be used by web administrators and developers to measure the accessibility of their websites. This paper also discusses the most common accessibility issues reported by WAVE and SiteImprove.

Museum Website Accessibility Examined Using Automatic Diagnostic Tools

2021 ◽  
pp. 218-233
Author(s):  
Celeste Eusébio ◽  
Maria João Carneiro ◽  
Leonor Teixeira ◽  
Diana Lemos
Keyword(s):  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Global Index ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Museum Websites ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
The Web

This chapter examines the website accessibility of museums located in Portugal (N = 575), based on the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0), and on the three type of conformance levels (A, AA, and AAA), using two web diagnostic tools: AccessMonitor and TAW (Test de Accessibilidad Web). The results show that the average accessibility of museum websites is 5.80 on a scale from 1 to 10. However, while according to AccessMonitor, there are 14 websites (2.43% of the total) with a level of accessibility of 10 (excellent web accessibility practices); there are also some websites with a global index lower than 3 (classified as bad practice). The results obtained through TAW show that an average of 58.43 problems were identified in each website analyzed. These results highlight that several improvements should be introduced in the websites of Portuguese museums in order to make information available to all people.

The BenToWeb Test Case Suites for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

2008 ◽  
pp. 402-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Strobbe ◽  
Johannes Koch ◽  
Evangelos Vlachogiannis ◽  
Reinhard Ruemer ◽  
Carlos A. Velasco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Test Case ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
The Web

Unified Website Accessibility Assessment Framework

2022 ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Zehra Altuntaş ◽  
Pınar Onay Durdu
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Automated Evaluation ◽  
Accessibility Guideline ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
Automated Tool

In this chapter, a unified web accessibility assessment (UWAA) framework and its software has been proposed. UWAA framework was developed by considering Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.0 to evaluate accessibility of web sites by integrating more than one evaluation approach. Achecker tool as an automated evaluation approach and barrier walkthrough (BW) as an expert-based evaluation approach were integrated in the UWAA framework. The framework also provides suggestions to recover from the problems determined to the evaluators. The websites of three universities were evaluated to determine the framework's accuracy and consistency. It was revealed that the results obtained from automated and expert-based evaluation methods were consistent and complementary with each other. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that problems which cannot be determined by an automated tool but which can be detected by an expert can be identified by BW method.

Accessibility as an integral factor in e-government web site evaluation

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faouzi Kamoun ◽  
Mohamed Basel Almourad
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Web Site ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Evaluation ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Bivariate Correlation ◽  
Government Web Sites ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Site Ranking

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which accessibility is taken into account in the assessment and ranking of e-government web sites through the lens of a specific study related to Dubai e-government. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers a case study related to Dubai e-government and it evaluates the accessibility of each of the 21 Dubai e-government web sites, based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and using an automated accessibility testing tool. A bivariate correlation analysis is performed to assess the correlation between web site ranking and accessibility score. Findings – The research reveals that contrary to common intuition and some earlier studies, there is a weak correlation between e-government web site ranking score and web site accessibility. Research limitations/implications – The paper uses an accessibility metric that is a proxy indicator of web accessibility and is not a real assessment of accessibility as experienced by a person with disability. Practical implications – When re-examined through the lens of Rawls's moral theory, this research suggests that accessibility should be given a higher priority in the general evaluation and ranking of e-government web sites. Social implications – The paper promotes universal accessibility to e-government information and services. Originality/value – The paper uses ethical arguments to highlight the need to comprehensively consider accessibility as a major criterion in the assessment and ranking of e-government web sites.

Accessibility evaluation using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Mohd Isa ◽  
Ahmad Iqbal Hakim Suhaimi ◽  
Nadhirah Ariffrn ◽  
Nurul Fatimah Ishak ◽  
Nadilah Mohd Ralim
Keyword(s):  
Web Content ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Accessibility Evaluation ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility

scholarly journals Improving accessibility of CMS-based websites using automated methods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balázs Csontos ◽  
István Heckl
Keyword(s):  
Data Entry ◽  
Content Management ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Web Content ◽  
New Methods ◽  
User Groups ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility ◽  
Automated Methods

AbstractNew methods of identifying and fixing accessibility issues on websites are presented in this article. The websites taken into consideration by the research are created with content management systems (like WordPress or Joomla!). Our main goal was to develop different methods to improve accessibility that may be used by various user groups (website creators, operators, content editors). Some of our methods are easy to use, some need more proficiency. The three methods we have developed (CSS/SCSS class override, MVC-based extension override, HTML output override) are described in detail. The use of an already existing method (Data entry checking) is also introduced, as well as some development options of this method. Each method is introduced in general, furthermore an example of their usage is also presented. Using the proposed methods, websites can fulfil the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in order to make the content of the websites more accessible.

Determining the Accessibility of e-Government Websites in Sub-Saharan Africa Against WCAG 2.0 Standard

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas Formunyuy Verkijika ◽  
Lizette De Wet
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Active Population ◽  
Wcag 2.0 ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
Corruption Perception ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Content Accessibility

The purpose of this study was to determine the conformance levels of government websites in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and examine which macro factors influenced the accessibility these websites. The findings indicated that the majority of government websites in SSA still had a long way to go to become accessible based on the WCAG 2.0 standards. None of the 217 government websites examined adhered to all the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Cross country analysis showed that there are three macro factors influencing e-government accessibility in SSA, namely Human Development Index (HDI), Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and percentage of the active population (15-64 years). Countries with high HDI levels and low CPI levels tend to have websites with fewer accessibility errors, while those for countries with high percentage of the active population have more accessibility errors.

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