SaIL: Saliency-Driven Injection of ARIA Landmarks.

People who are blind use screen readers for browsing web pages. Since screen readers read out content serially, a naive readout tends to mix irrelevant and relevant content thereby disrupting the coherency of the material being read out and confusing the listener. To address this problem we can partition web pages into coherent segments and narrate each such piece separately. Extant methods to do segmentation use visual and structural cues without taking the semantics into account and consequently create segments containing irrelevant material. In this paper, we describe a new technique for creating coherent segments by tightly coupling visual, structural, and linguistic features present in the content. A notable aspect of the technique is that it produces segments with little irrelevant content. Preliminary experiments indicate that the technique is effective in creating highly coherent segments and the experiences of an early adopter who is blind suggest that it enriches the overall browsing experience.

Once simple and static, many web pages have now evolved into complex web applications. Hundreds of web development libraries provide ready-to-use custom widgets, which can be further customized to fit the needs of individual web applications. Web developers are supposed to use ARIA specifications to make widgets accessible to screen readers; however, ARIA markup is often used incorrectly and inconsistently, and sometimes even missing in webpages altogether. Given a wide selection of widgets and a lack of proper ARIA support, accessing content of custom widgets in web pages with screen readers has been a challenge for blind users. As a result, blind users cannot benefit from the convenience of using these widgets or, even worse, get stuck on inaccessible content. In our previous work, we showed that custom dynamic widgets could be automatically detected and classified as soon as they appear in web pages. In this paper, we propose to make such widgets accessible by providing generic interfaces for widgets of a particular class. We show how this can be accomplished on the example of Web Chat widget. To demonstrate the usability of the resulting chat interface, we report on the results of a user study with 18 blind screen-reader users.

In previous research, the computer frustrations of student and workplace users have been documented. However, the challenges faced by blind users on the Web have not been previously examined. In this study, 100 blind users, using time diaries, recorded their frustrations using the Web. The top causes of frustration reported were (a) page layout causing confusing screen reader feedback; (b) conflict between screen reader and application; (c) poorly designed/unlabeled forms; (d) no alt text for pictures; and (e) 3-way tie between misleading links, inaccessible PDF, and a screen reader crash. Most of the causes of frustration, such as inappropriate form and graphic labels and confusing page layout, are relatively simple to solve if Webmasters and Web designers focus on this effort. In addition, the more technically challenging frustrations, such as screen reader crashes and conflicts, need to be addressed by the screen reader developers. Blind users in this study were likely to repeatedly attempt to solve a frustration, not give up, and not reboot the computer. In this study, the blind users reported losing, on average, 30.4% of time due to these frustrating situations. Implications for Web developers, screen reader developers, and screen reader users are discussed in this article.

Screen reader software is a vital assistive technology (AT) that enables computer access for people who are blind or have low vision, but we know little about its use in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to learn about computer screen reader use among a group of legally blind workers, including type and number of screen readers used, factors associated with multiple screen reader use, and how multiple screen reader users select one for different tasks. Participants were 274 employed people in the U.S. who completed online or phone surveys and used screen readers on the job. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression were used to analyze quantitative data, and content analysis was utilized with qualitative data. We found that JAWS was the predominant screen reader used, and most people utilized multiple screen readers. People who used multiple screen readers were less likely to report a challenge with working efficiently compared to sighted peers. Experiencing a problem while using a screen reader was the most common reason for deciding to use a different screen reader, followed by deciding based on knowledge that one screen reader works better than others for specific tasks. Several factors, in addition to having an AT or accessibility-related job, were associated with multiple screen reader use. Our findings suggest that using multiple screen readers can benefit workers in terms of efficiency and ability to troubleshoot problems experienced when using a screen reader, such as the inaccessibility or poor usability of digital content.

This article critically examines the promise of Internet-based digital technology to open up the world to people with disabilities, and the parallel danger that the social construction of disability in the digital environment will simply come to mirror pre-existing analogue discrimination. This paper explores how technologies and innovations designed to improve access by the disabled actually enhance access for all users. The first part of the paper focuses on ‘Web 2.0’ and digital access for people with disability, particularly those with vision impairment. The online software that drives the iPod and iPhone and exclusively delivers content to these devices is iTunes. While iTunes seems on the surface to provide enormous opportunity for the vision impaired to access a broad selection of audio content, its design actually works to inhibit access to the platform for this group. Apple promotes the use of iTunes in educational settings through the iTunes U channel, and this potentially excludes those who have difficulty with access to the technology. Critically, it is these excluded people who, potentially, could benefit the most from the new technology. We consider the difficulty experienced by users of screen readers and braille tablets in relation to iTunes and highlight the potential problems for universities who seek to utilise iTunes U. In the second part of the paper we reframe disability accessibility as a principle of universal access and design and outline how changes made to assist users with disability can enhance the learning experience of all students using the Lectopia lecture recording and distribution system as an example. The third section of the paper situates these digital developments within the continuum of disability theory deploying Finkelstein’s three stages of disability development. The focus then shifts to the potential of online virtual worlds such as Second Life to act as a place where the promise of technology to mediate for disability might be realised. Goggin and Newell suggest that the Internet will not be fully accessible until disability is considered a cultural identity in the same way that class, gender and sexuality are. This article argues that accessibility must be addressed through the context of design and shared open standards for digital platforms.

Two recent events induced me to think about accessibility to the World Wide Web: A student in a Web research and publishing class I was teaching had a vision problem that made viewing material on a computer screen difficult, and I learned that the U.S. government has directed that soon Web pages of government agencies must comply with federal regulations regarding accessibility. The first problem was solved by increasing the font size in the browser, but what if the student had been totally blind? My instructional Web page containing material used in the class had not been created with visual impairments in mind. How can we make instructional Web pages accessible to all people? Do we not have an obligation, absent government mandates, to make our Web pages accessible? This exploratory study examined the accessibility of Web sites belonging to 80 colleges of communications and schools of journalism in the United States and Canada by subjecting them to a computer-generated test (the Bobby test) that examines the hypertext markup language (HTML) used to format the pages. This paper suggests ways to revise the markup of pages to make them more accessible to students with vision, hearing, and mobility problems. Additionally, it lists resources for keeping abreast of the latest developments in accessibility standards and tools. Instruction via the Internet and through Web pages to enhance face-toface classes is becoming more common. Some scholars compare the magnitude of increased dependence on computerbased instruction to the effect created by the introduction of the textbook during the Middle Ages (Gibbons & Fairweather, 1998). However, to blind students, it's not necessarily good news that more universities are putting course materials online these days. For them, the Web threatens to become the equivalent of a classroom building without an access ramp (Young, 1998). The National Federation of the Blind (1999) estimates that about 750,000 people in the United States are blind, and each year 50,000 more will become blind. Institutions are using the Web to market themselves. Increasing numbers of journalism and mass communication faculties are embracing new technology (Sutherland & Stewart, 1999). Many of us are enhancing our courses with Webbased syllabuses and other course materials, and we probably are doing this without considering that some students may have difficulty retrieving this information. The blind, for example, use screen readers and special software to decipher the visual display of a Web page into an aural or Braille version. As more and more audio files are placed on the Web, another group is getting locked out - the hearing-impaired. A problem arises when Web page creators are not aware of the pitfalls they are throwing in the way of those with impairments. Kirsanov (1997), who provides advice on creating Web pages, said there are precious few situations that pose really tough challenges to accessibility. He concluded, In the great majority of cases, inaccessible Web pages are a result not of the technologies applied, but of their incor rect implementation and lack of proper care (paragraph three). It is time to examine how we can make our Web pages more accessible to those with visual problems, hearing problems and motor and cognitive disabilities. Waddell (1998) said, Unless a Web site is designed in an accessible format, significant populations will be locked out as the World Wide Web rapidly advances from a text-based communication format to a robust, graphical format. Background Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. 794) prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap in federally assisted programs and activities. Most activities of state and local governments, because they receive federal funding, are covered by this Act. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law on July 26, 1990, (http://www. …

Blind users browse the web using screen readers. Screen readers read the content on a web page sequentially via synthesized speech. The linear nature of this process makes it difficult to obtain an overview of the web page, which creates navigation challenges. To alleviate this problem, we have developed ScreenTrack, a browser extension that summarizes a web page's accessibility features into a short, dynamically generated soundtrack. Users can quickly gain an overview of the presence of web elements useful for navigation on a web page. Here we describe ScreenTrack and discuss future research plans.

Screen reader plugins are small pieces of code that blind users can download and install to enhance the capabilities of their screen readers. In this paper, we aim to understand the user experience of screen readers’ plugins, as well as their developers, distribution model, and maintenance. To this end, we conducted a study with 14 blind screen reader users. Our study revealed that screen reader users rely on plugins for various reasons, e.g., to improve the usability of both screen readers and application software, to make partially accessible applications accessible, and to enable custom shortcuts and commands. Furthermore, installing plugins is easy; uninstalling them is unlikely; and finding them online is ad hoc, challenging, and poses security threats. In addition, developing screen reader plugins is technically demanding; only a handful of people develop plugins, and they are well-recognized in the community. Finally, there is no central repository for plugins for most screen readers, and most plugins do not receive updates from their developers and become obsolete. The lack of financial incentives plays in the slow growth of the plugin ecosystem. Based on our findings, we recommend creating a central repository for all plugins, engaging third-party developers, and raising general awareness about the benefits and dangers of plugins. We believe our findings will inspire researchers to embrace the plugin-based distribution model as an effective way to combat application-level accessibility issues.

Equal access to resources is a central tenet of American democracy. As the United States moves toward an information-based economy, the concept of public resource has expanded to include information resources such as the Internet. Equality in Internet access is important because of the effects that Internet usage has on both the individual and societal level. Individuals with Internet access have advantages over those without access in several important areas: economic (e.g., the ability to purchase goods for better prices in a wide range of categories; the ability to electronically manage and enact financial transactions); health (e.g., the ability to instantly obtain detailed information on a wide range of health-related topics; the ability to research and better understand illness conditions); and lifestyle (e.g., the ability to participate in online support and discussion groups). On a societal level, Internet use has been linked to increases in civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and life contentment (Shah, Kwak, & Holbert, 2001). The effects of the Internet in these areas are even greater for some individuals than the influences of traditional media (Shah, McLeod, & Yoon, 2001). Beyond the advantages presented by Internet access in general, equality in online news access is of specific importance. One of the most important uses of the Internet is obtaining current events and news information; nearly half of online users say that visiting newspaper Web sites is their top online activity (CyberAtlas, 2003). It is estimated that 61% of Internet users go online for news at least once a week and 27% obtain online news everyday (Pastore, 2000). Individuals' preferences for online news reflects perceptions that these news sources provide benefits unobtainable through traditional news outlets. Among such benefits: information unavailable elsewhere, the ability to find topics of interest through search features, greater convenience, and information that is more up-to-date and in-depth (Pew Research Center, 2000). Early analyses of equality in Internet access focused on demographic variables. However, as Internet access has become more universal (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002), discussions of equality in access have moved beyond demographics to address the disabled population (Bush, 2001), with particular emphasis on the visually impaired (Schloss, 2001; Ranen, 2002). Since near-universal Internet connectivity suggests that most visually-impaired individuals can electronically connect to online news sites, the question remains as to the extent to which this connection results in meaningful, and thus equal, access. The visually impaired have meaningful access only if Internet-based information is presented in a way that lets web page content be clearly decoded, processed, and read aloud by assistive technologies such as automated screen readers, the most common way by which the visually impaired access Internet-based information (Held, 2000). Screen readers have the potential to speak all text and to orally describe all of the graphics on a particular Web page--that is, to put into words what is written in text and/or shown in a particular picture or diagram. However, only when designers provide descriptive labels for graphics and clear descriptions of link options do screen readers work well to communicate page content (Lescher, 2000). This study evaluates the extent to which online news is accessible to the visually impaired. Method The accessibility of online news content was evaluated through the use of an artificial intelligence expert system and a content analysis. The expert system determined whether the underlying code used on an online news Web page was sufficient for an automated screen reader to make sense of the content. The result of this evaluation was pass or fail. A content analysis of failing sites determined the extent of problems. …

Blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals utilize systems called “Screen Readers” to navigate the World Wide Web. These systems retrieve the text information from the web pages accessed by a browser and convert this text to speech. However, typical screen readers process only one channel of audio and, therefore, convey the information from the web page in single-track, linearized format, stripping from it the two-dimensional spatial information available to sighted users of the same web page. There is an interest in presenting the sound from screen readers in multiple “virtual auditory columns,” aiming to restore the perception of two-dimensional placement of items on contemporary web pages. In this paper, we explore alternative methods to spatialize sound over five horizontal positions, in front of a computer user. An experimental comparison of two of these sound spatialization methods was statistically evaluated. The results indicate that there is not a statistically significant difference in accuracy achieved by application of the Vector-Based Amplitude Panning (VBAP) or the Linear Panning (LP) methods.

Introduction Equal access to web content is long overdue. Publishers must ensure that content is accessible to people who are blind, deaf, neurodivergent, color blind, lack contrast sensitivity, or who use tools other than a mouse to operate their computer. I am a user experience designer and a former web developer. As a developer, I spent years coding accessible content for U.S. government websites. This article will identify some coding conventions that will make websites more accessible. Publishers can begin to address the needs of all users with coding conventions that make websites more accessible. These efforts will be furthered by an understanding of how people navigate the web with screen readers, and an awareness of how different people view color. This article will focus on strategies around color and for screen readers. Test Your Site Without Using a Mouse As a first step in reviewing a website for accessibility, consider that some people navigate websites without a mouse. A customer with quadriplegia may use a mouth-operated controller, and a reader with a broken arm may tab through a website. It’s easy to test a website without a mouse and it’s critically important to do so. Tab through all of the elements and make sure that all parts of the navigation, all form fields, and all other elements can be accessed without a mouse. Elements that cannot be accessed without a mouse should be recoded to make them accessible. Screen Readers A screen reader is a software program that reads […]

Blind people rely on screen readers to interact with the Web. Since screen readers narrate the digital content serially, blind users can only form a one-dimensional mental model of the web page and, hence, cannot enjoy the benefits inherently offered by the 2-D layout; e.g., understanding the spatial relations between objects in a webpage or their locations on the screen helps navigate webpages. Haptic interfaces could provide blind people with a tactile feel for the 2-D layout and help them navigate web pages more efficiently. Haptic Displays, capable of high resolution tactile feedback, could render any webpage in a tactile form enabling blind people to exploit the aforementioned spatial relations and focus screen reading on specific parts of the webpage. In this paper, I report on the preliminary work toward the development of FeelX -- a haptic gloves system that will enable tactile web browsing. FeelX will be used alongside regular screen readers, and will provide blind screen-reader users with the ability explore web pages by touch and audio.

There are a growing number of jobs related to web development, yet there is little formal literature about the accessibility of web development with a screen reader. This article describes research to explore (1) web development accessibility issues and their impact on blind learners and programmers; (2) tools and strategies used to address issues; and (3) opportunities for creating inclusive web development curriculum and supportive tools. We conducted a Comprehensive Literature Review (CLR) to formulate accessibility issue categories, then interviewed 12 blind programmers to validate and expand on both issues in education and practice. The CLR yielded five issue categories: (1) visual information without an accessible equivalent, (2) orienting, (3) navigating, (4) lack of support, and (5) knowledge and use of supportive technologies. Our interview findings validated the use of CLR-derived categories and revealed nuances specific to learning and practicing web development. Blind web developers grapple with the inaccessibility of demonstrations and explanations of web design concepts, wireframing software, independent verification of computed Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and navigating browser-based developer tool interfaces. Tools and strategies include seeking out alternative education materials to learn independently, use of CSS frameworks, collaboration with sighted colleagues, and avoidance of design and front-end development. This work contributes to our understanding of accessibility issues specific to web development and the strategies that blind web developers employ in both educational and applied contexts. We identify areas in which greater awareness and application of accessibility best practices are required in Web education, a need to disseminate existing screen reader strategies and accessible tools, and to develop new tools that support Web design and validation of CSS. Finally, this research signals future directions for the development of accessible web curriculum and supportive tools, including solutions that leverage artificial intelligence, tactile graphics, and supportive-online communities of practice.

As a step toward distinguishing problems with a screen reader (JAWS), web pages, and users, we tested two blind university students with our Usability Proficiency Assessment Tool (UPAT). We then tested their understanding of web-based software that they often used with JAWS in their education. One student had advanced skills and the other had intermediate skills in using tables, headings, forms, images, links, and combinations of these web features. Despite their more than adequate skills they had many problems using software that was in high compliance with World Wide Web consortium (W3C) standards (Ryan, 2008). The problems stemmed from gaps between JAWS and web pages. We review these gaps and make recommendations for closing them. Implementing our recommendations will require a dialogue among developers of screen readers and applications as well as users and trainers.

Bridging the Web Accessibility Divide