Accessibility and Usability Evaluation of Rich Internet Applications

Abstract

Popularity of Internet applications has reached significant scales. In consequence, a wide diversity of solutions has been created based on Web features. Rich Internet Application (RIA) is a relevant term adopted for technological advances in software developed for the Web, which refers to Web applications aimed to provide users with a desktop similar experience. RIAs usually have wider capabilities in comparison with traditional hypertext applications, specially regarding to the interactive elements of their interfaces. New possibilities that have emerged from RIA are essential to support relevant aspects of Web 2.0, such as participation and collaboration. As among other applications, developing accessible and usable RIAs is a valuable and fundamental aspect for development teams, since these new interaction features available on the Web are not always accessible for people with disabilities or reduced mobility. For this reason, this mini-course aims to present the main concepts usually used to evaluate accessibility and usability of RIA; it is an overview of perspectives about practices and theoretical references, from Standards for Quality up to the implementation resources of Web applications. The approach of this mini-course covered practices on main RIA coding techniques, and methods of usability and accessibility evaluation as Guidelines Review and Heuristic Evaluation. Moreover, this mini-course was developed aiming newcomers and professionals that want to specialize their skills on the development and evaluation of usable and accessible RIAs.