Remapping the Document Object Model using Geometric and Hierarchical Data Structures for Efficient Eye Control

Abstract

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are there to ensure that websites are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust across different user agents and assistive technologies. However, people who rely on eye trackers (ETs) may find that even WCAG-compliant websites are hard to access, and this is further accentuated by designs that offer little to no affordances for ET interaction. Areas with a high density of interactive elements, along with hierarchical navigation menus, such as megamenus or fly-out menus, are just two examples where ET interaction can be problematic. This paper introduces two novel interaction patterns as part of a purpose-built gaze-native web browser (Cactus), namely (a) Quadtree-based Target Selection with Secondary Confirmation and (b) Hierarchical Re-rendering of Navigation Menus. We present results from a between-subject single-blind study with 30 participants and report on metrics such as performance, perceived workload and usability, with demonstrable improvements over the state of the art.