Adapting the Web for People With Upper Body Motor Impairments Using Touch Screen Tablets Articles uri icon

authors

publication date

  • November 2017

start page

  • 794

end page

  • 812

issue

  • 6

volume

  • 29

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0953-5438

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1873-7951

abstract

  • People with disabilities frequently use the Internet to perform a variety of common activities; however, they may often encounter aggravated accessibility barriers when using mobile devices to access the Web. In order to alleviate the problems faced by this group when using mobile devices, we have extended a previously developed transcoding-based system that adapts non-accessible web pages to the needs of specific users in order to enhance their accessibility. In this version, we included new adaptation techniques gathered from the literature in order to apply transcoding techniques to mobile devices. The enhanced system was evaluated with eight users with reduced mobility using tablets. The exploratory study suggests that alternative interaction methods such as the ones named 'end tap' and 'steady tap' are beneficial for some participants with reduced mobility, dexterity or strength in the upper limbs. Other results show that six of the eight users preferred the adapted version with enlarged interaction elements which required less physical effort, even if this adaptation increases the size of the page with the disadvantages associated with such a change. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Introduction and evaluation of a web transcoding system that adapts web pages for people with motor impairments who use touch screen devices. Tagging the target websites with an extension of the WAI-ARIAmark-up language enabling web transcoding. From the evaluation, transcoded pages were revealed to be the preferred option for most of the participants, as they require less physical effort. Participants were classified in function of the type and size of finger movement for target selection on touch screen devices, in order to evaluate the performance of diverse alternative interaction methods or gestures. Alternative interaction methods were tested by motor impaired users: 'end tap' and 'steady tap' proved to be helpful for people with less finger movement control.

keywords

  • adaptation and personalization; web-based interaction paradigm