scholarly journals Pautas, métodos y herramientas de evaluación de accesibilidad web [Guidelines, methods and tools for web accessibility evaluation]

Author(s):  
Cinthia De Oleo Moreta ◽  
Luis Rodríguez Baena

Resumen El siguiente artículo presenta un análisis sobre pautas, métodos y herramientas de evaluación de accesibilidad web, tomando como referencia las WCAG 2.0, estándar de la W3C. Además, se estudian los diferentes tipos de discapacidad y limitaciones de acceso. También se muestran los principales beneficios de la accesibilidad, los siete principios del diseño web para todos que comprenden la base de la accesibilidad y un breve análisis sobre las WCAG 2.0 y sus niveles y criterios de conformidad. Finalmente, se considera los métodos de evaluación manual y automática, con algunos ejemplos de herramientas de validación basadas en la normativa de la W3C. Este análisis tiene el objetivo de ayudar a concientizar sobre la necesidad del diseño y desarrollo de sitios web accesibles, y a la vez promover las recomendaciones de la W3C para tales fines. Palabras claveaccesibilidad web, discapacidad, diseño universal, pautas WCAG 2.0.   Abstract The following paper presents an analysis on guidelines, methods and evaluation tools of web accessibility, taking the WCAG 2.0, standard of the W3C as a reference. In addition, it studies the different types of disability and access limitations. It also shows the main benefits of the accessibility, the seven web design for all principles that contain the base of accessibility and also presents an analysis about the WCAG 2.0 guidelines and his conformity levels and success criteria. Finally, both evaluation methods, manual and automatic are considered, and some examples of validation tools based on the W3C regulation. This analysis has the goal to help to create conscience on the need to design and develop accessible web sites, and simultaneously to announce the W3C recommendations to achieve it.Keywordsweb accessibility, disability, universal design, WCAG 2.0 guidelines

Author(s):  
Julio Abascal ◽  
Myriam Arrue ◽  
Markel Vigo

Web design and evaluation are currently framed by legal restrictions and social demands for full accessibility. The main reason is that currently most web sites are not accessible for people with physical, sensory or cognitive restrictions due to diverse causes, such as disability, use of non-standard equipment or special work conditions. Accessibility awareness has advanced considerably in recent years, but designers are still having difficulties in updating or creating new accessible pages. Even though useful tools and sound evaluation methodologies are being designed, they are of no use if they are not integrated into the standard web design lifecycle, interacting naturally with common design and authoring tools. This chapter introduces the basic concepts related to web accessibility and proposes a method for including accessibility in standard web engineering methodologies. The key phases, accessibility, evaluation and maintenance, are described in detail. Finally, a model is proposed for implementing accessibility policy in organizations.


Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Alsaeedi

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.


Author(s):  
Julio Abascal ◽  
Myriam Arrue ◽  
Markel Vigo

Web design and evaluation are currently framed by legal restrictions and social demands for full accessibility. The main reason is that currently most web sites are not accessible for people with physical, sensory or cognitive restrictions due to diverse causes, such as disability, use of non-standard equipment or special work conditions. Accessibility awareness has advanced considerably in recent years, but designers are still having difficulties in updating or creating new accessible pages. Even though useful tools and sound evaluation methodologies are being designed, they are of no use if they are not integrated into the standard web design lifecycle, interacting naturally with common design and authoring tools. This chapter introduces the basic concepts related to web accessibility and proposes a method for including accessibility in standard web engineering methodologies. The key phases, accessibility, evaluation and maintenance, are described in detail. Finally, a model is proposed for implementing accessibility policy in organizations.


Author(s):  
Holly Yu

Through a series of federal and state laws and standards, the legal foundation concerning Web accessibility that impact people with disabilities and their ability to fully overcome digital barriers and participate in the Web environment has been established. Currently, the concept of accessible design or universal design is increasingly becoming an important component of Web design. However, the unanswered questions in laws, the absence of the obligation in fulfilling legal requirements, and the general unawareness of the need to make Web pages accessible have created barriers in implementing the Americans with disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998, and others. In many cases, the absence of obligations is due to unfamiliarity with legal responsibility of creating accessible Web sites. As a result, the response to Web accessibility concerns frequently comes about only on an ad hoc basis. Identifying these barriers is the first step toward solutions. There are legal and practical approaches for addressing Web accessibility issues in policies, education, research and development, and technology and tools.


2008 ◽  
pp. 3410-3429
Author(s):  
Jack S. Cook ◽  
Laura Cook

Web accessibility is really not a technological issue but rather a cultural problem. A Web site is said to be Web accessible if anyone, regardless of capabilities or disabilities, using any kind of Web browsing technology to visit the site has full and complete access to the site’s content and has the ability to interact with the site if required. If properly planned from the start, a Web site can be functional, accessible and aesthetically pleasing. This chapter focuses on ensuring access to information available on the Internet. The overall objective is to increase awareness of Web accessibility issues by providing rationale for why Web designers should be interested in creating accessible sites. Specifically, this chapter identifies some of the emerging digital barriers to accessibility encountered by those with disabilities. Current efforts to address these barriers legally are identified and their effectiveness for breaking down barriers is discussed. The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C’s) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is discussed, followed by a study of the 50 most visited Web sites. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the importance of this topic and future developments.


2011 ◽  
pp. 522-540
Author(s):  
Rui Lopes ◽  
Konstantinos Votis ◽  
Luís Carriço ◽  
Spiridon Likothanassis ◽  
Dimitrios Tzovaras

The Web serves as the principal mediator for information sharing and communication on a worldwide scale. Its highly decentralized nature affords a scale free growth, where each endpoint (i.e., Web site) is created and maintained independently. Web designers and developers have the onus of making sure that users can interact without accessibility problems. However, coping with users with disabilities poses challenges on how to ensure that a Web site is accessible for any kind of user. When (and if) this is done, designers and developers do it in a post-hoc way, (i.e., verify and tweak Web sites according to guidelines such as WCAG). In this Chapter the authors present SWAF, the Semantic Web Accessibility Framework, a base framework for supporting the integration of accessibility services into Web design and development processes. SWAF affords both tailoring accessibility to user needs and specifying the semantic validation of accessibility guidelines in different application situations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 157 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Luque Centeno ◽  
Carlos Delgado Kloos ◽  
Jesús Arias Fisteus ◽  
Luis Álvarez Álvarez

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maytham Hammood

The huge development in the websites and continuous exchange of the information led to more consideration of the websites accessibility. There are many accessibility-based on studies conducted throughout the world. However, the existing literature lacks a study on the assessment of accessibility to the Iraqi universities websites. Accordingly, this study measured the accessibility to websites of 36 Iraqi public universities listed in the official webpage of the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education. Furthermore, it explored the relationships among three free web accessibility tools, namely Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator, EIII Page Checker and Access Monitor, to test their agreement in terms of the accessibility results. These three free tools were used to evaluate the accessibility of the Iraqi universities websites. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyze the results. The results of the three tools showed that the issue of accessibility is ignored by the webmasters of websites under the study. In addition, this study presented agreement among the three tools in terms of results.   http://dx.doi.org/10.25130/tjps.24.2019.060  


Author(s):  
Sven Schmutz ◽  
Andreas Sonderegger ◽  
Juergen Sauer

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.


2008 ◽  
pp. 3805-3823
Author(s):  
Jack S. Cook ◽  
Laura Cook

Web accessibility is really not a technological issue but rather a cultural problem. A Web site is said to be Web accessible if anyone, regardless of capabilities or disabilities, using any kind of Web browsing technology to visit the site has full and complete access to the site’s content and has the ability to interact with the site if required. If properly planned from the start, a Web site can be functional, accessible and aesthetically pleasing. This chapter focuses on ensuring access to information available on the Internet. The overall objective is to increase awareness of Web accessibility issues by providing rationale for why Web designers should be interested in creating accessible sites. Specifically, this chapter identifies some of the emerging digital barriers to accessibility encountered by those with disabilities. Current efforts to address these barriers legally are identified and their effectiveness for breaking down barriers is discussed. The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C’s) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is discussed, followed by a study of the 50 most visited Web sites. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the importance of this topic and future developments.


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