Amaia Aizpurua
Simon Harper
ABSTRACT
User testing is considered a key part of web accessibility evaluation. However, little is known about how effective is for identifying accessibility problems. Our experience, informed by a series of studies with blind users, corroborates that a website with a significant number of guideline violations can be perceived as accessible, and on the contrary, some participants may not perceive a highly accessible website as accessible. Accessibility guidelines are often criticised by their partial coverage and questionable validity. However, we should be very careful about making categorical statements in this regard as there are a number of variables that may introduce biases in user tests. We identify sources of bias related to user expertise, the experimental setting, employed language and reporting that, if not adequately controlled, may influence on the validity and reliability of the evaluation results. We discuss the limitations and practical implications of user testing with blind users for web accessibility evaluation.
- A. Aizpurua, M. Arrue, and M. Vigo. Uncovering the role of expectations on perceived web accessibility. In Proc. of ASSETS, 2013. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- G. Brajnik, Y. Yesilada, and S. Harper. Is accessibility conformance an elusive property? a study of validity and reliability of WCAG 2.0. ACM Transactions of Accessible Computing, 4(2):8:1--8:28, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Mankoff, H. Fait, and T. Tran. Is your web page accessible?: A comparative study of methods for assessing web page accessibility for the blind. In Proc. of CHI, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- A. Sears and V. Hanson. Representing users in accessibility research. In Proc. of CHI, 2013. Google ScholarDigital Library
- D. Sloan. The Effectiveness of the Web Accessibility Audit as a Motivational and Educational Tool in Inclusive Web Design. PhD thesis, University of Dundee, 2006.Google Scholar
- E. Velleman and S. Abou-Zahra. Website accessibility conformance evaluation methodology (WCAG-EM) 1.0. W3C Working Draft, 2014. http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/WD--WCAG--EM--20140130/.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Are users the gold standard for accessibility evaluation?
Recommendations
Exploring the relationship between web accessibility and user experience
Understanding the interplay between the user experience (UX) and Web accessibility is key to design Web sites that, beyond access, could provide a better UX for people with disabilities. In this paper we examine the relationship between UX attributes ...
Why read if you can skim: towards enabling faster screen reading
W4A '12: Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web AccessibilitySkimming broadly refers to different speed-reading methods that aim to enhance the rate of reading without unduly compromising on comprehension and retention of information. Skimming of content could be particularly useful for people with vision ...
Prejudices, memories, expectations and confidence influence experienced accessibility on the Web
We uncover how past experiences and preconceptions build user expectations.We identify subjective aspects that influence the experienced Web accessibility.We discuss the consequences of these aspects on the experienced Web accessibility.We explore the ...
Comments