Enriching Web Information Scent for Blind Users

Markel Vigo, Barbara Leporini and Fabio Paternò

Eleventh International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2009)
Pittsburgh, PA, USA, October 26-28, 2009

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Abstract

One novel technique for supporting disabled users in Web navigation is the use of hyperlink annotation indicating the accessibility level of the target Web page. This paper discusses how blind users behave when these scores are provided. Web accessibility is measured by quantitative metrics that indicate the accessibility level of Web pages. Metrics are automatically computed by exploiting not only accessibility evaluation reports but also usability reports. Two tools that automatically evaluate Web accessibility and usability for the Blind have been put together to obtain a single accessibility score for the Blind. A user test with 16 blind users was conducted in order to observe the strategies users follow when links are annotated. We conclude that annotated links are useful when users browse freely in a homogeneous scenario where links are related to a similar topic.