W3C user agent accessibility guidelines 1.0 for graphical Web browsers

Web browsers and multimedia players play a critical role in making Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Access to Web content requires that Web browsers provide users with final control over the styling of rendered content, the type of content rendered and the execution of automated behaviors. The features available in Web browsers determine the extent to which users can orient themselves and navigate the structure of Web resources. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) User Agent Guidelines are part of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, the guidelines provide a comprehensive resource to Web browser and multimedia developers on the features needed to render Web content more accessibly to people with disabilities. UAAG 1.0 was developed over a period of four years and included extensive reviews to demonstrate that the proposed requirements can be implemented.     

Providing RIA user interfaces with accessibility properties

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) technologies are challenging the way in which the Web is being developed. However, from the UI accessibility point of view, these technologies pose new challenges that the Web Accessibility Initiative of the W3C is trying to solve through the use of a standard specification for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA). Currently, the introduction of properties defined in WAI-ARIA is being done in an ad-hoc manner due to the lack of models, methodologies and tools to support the design of accessible RIA UIs. In this paper we propose a semantic approach to deal with this modeling issue by extending the RUX-Method, a model-based method to build RIA UIs. The approach includes the validation process of the accessibility issues at two different levels: the UI structure and the interactions behavior.     

A design-and-play approach to accessible user interface development in Ambient Intelligence environments

User interface development in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environments is anticipated to be a particularly complex and programming intensive endeavor. Additionally, AmI environments should ensure accessibility and usability of interactive technologies by users with different characteristics and requirements in a mainstream fashion. Therefore, appropriate user interface development methods and tools are required, capable of both reducing development efforts and ‘injecting’ accessibility issues into AmI applications from the early design stages. This paper introduces two tools, named AmIDesigner and AmIPlayer, which have been specifically developed to address the above challenges through automatic generation of accessible Graphical User Interfaces in AmI environments. The combination of these two tools offers a simple and rapid design-and-play approach, and the running user interfaces produced integrate non-visual feedback and a scanning mechanism to support accessibility. AmIDesigner and AmIPlayer have been evaluated to assess their usability by designers, and have been put to practice in the redevelopment of a light control application in a smart environment as a case study demonstrating the viability of the design-and-play approach. The results confirm the usefulness and usability of the tools themselves. Overall, the proposed approach has the potential to contribute significantly to the development, up-take and user acceptance of AmI technologies in the home environment.     

Contributions of Dichotomic View of plasticity to seamlessly embed accessibility and adaptivity support in user interfaces

Recent legal changes have increased the need for developing accessible user interfaces in computer-based systems. In this sense, previously existing user interfaces are intended to be modified and new user interfaces are intended to be designed taking accessibility guidelines into account. Typically, model-based approaches have been used when developing accessible user interfaces or redefining existing ones. But the use of static models leads to the development of not dynamically adaptable user interfaces. Dynamic adaptation in accessible user interfaces is important due to the fact that interaction difficulties on people with disabilities may change through use. In this paper, we present some contributions that can be obtained from the application of the Dichotomic View of plasticity in the personalization of user interfaces. With the double perspective defined in this approach, it is intended to go further from a mere adaptation to certain user stereotypes, offering also a dynamic support to real limitations or difficulties users can encounter during the use of the UI. This goal is achieved analyzing user logs by an inference engine that dynamically infers modifications in the user interface to adjust it to varying user needs. A case study is presented in order to show how the guidelines and software support defined in the Dichotomic View of plasticity can be applied to develop a component for a particular system aimed at performing dynamic user interface adaptations with accessibility purposes. This approach includes some innovations that make it different from conventional adaptable mechanisms applied to accessibility in some important aspects.     

A user experience-based approach to home atmosphere control

The complex control problem of creating home atmospheres using light, music, and projected wall-art can be reduced by focusing on desired experience, rather than product functions and features. A case study is described in which subjective interpretations of living room atmospheres were measured and embedded into a prototype display system. A personalization mechanism is proposed to manage individual differences in atmosphere ratings, enabling a user model to evolve over time. To create a meaningful and simple control mechanism for a wide range of users, three interfaces were developed and studied, ranging from concrete to abstract control and from structured to exploratory navigation.

Evaluating a modified Google user interface via screen reader

This paper describes the progress of a research project aimed at improving the usability of web search tools for blind users who interact via screen readers and voice synthesizers. In the first stage of research, specific guidelines were proposed for simplifying the interaction with search engines for the blind. To evaluate these criteria, they were applied to Google user interfaces, by re-implementing the search form as well as the results page. Finally, the redesigned interfaces were evaluated through remote testing with 12 totally blind users. The results highlighted how Google, although already accessible, may be further improved in order to simplify interaction for people with impaired vision.

Capability survey of user agents with the UAAG 1.0 test suite and its impact on Web accessibility

To determine how well user agents conform to UAAG 1.0, capabilities of user agents were investigated with UAAG 1.0 Test Suite. It was found that 20 Priority 1 checkpoints were met by all the user agents, while 12 Priority 1 checkpoints, relating to multimedia control and time-dependent interactions, were failed by all of them. The results showed that two major Japanese user agents did not have enough functions to navigate through the Web, whereas the latest ones did have those functions. These results show that there are user agents which meet many requirements of UAAG 1.0 but Web authors still have to pay attention to the capability of the user agents that are considered to be used to browse their content.

多平台移动用户界面生成方法的研究

针对多平台移动用户界面开发的各种问题,提出一个模式驱动的多平台移动用户界面生成方法（Pattern-Driven Multi-Platform development of mobile user interface）,以下简称PDMP,来加快目前多个平台的用户界面开发流程的开发效率。使用PDMP,开发者可使用高等抽象层次的开发语言来进行界面开发并以此减少劳动力成本,并使用多平台或跨平台（Android & iOS）的转换技术来为每个平台自动生成纯粹的原生用户界面。提出一个虚拟平台的概念,开发者可以在虚拟平台上构建抽象用户界面并依据转换规则转换到相应的具体平台。     

Applying Web accessibility to Internet portals

Internet portals are becoming a very popular entry point to the Web. Users utilise them because of the large amount of information available. This paper aims to highlight the major hurdles disabled and/or older users encounter in Web portals, and to issue recommendations for portals layout and structure, based upon the results of a user requirements collection carried out by the authors. The findings point out that provision of a powerful search engine is essential for successful information retrieval. Moreover, due to the diverse and sometimes contradictory needs of the user groups under consideration, the customisation of information presentation plays an important role in ensuring accessibility and usability of Internet portals. The paper also includes a brief overview of the results in relation to the actual working draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.

Design patterns for user interface for mobile applications

The topic of this paper is a collection of user interface (UI) design patterns for mobile applications. In the paper we present the structure of the patterns collection – the patterns are suggested solutions to problems that are grouped into a set of problem areas that are further grouped into three main problem areas – a structure which is valuable both as an index to identifying patterns to use, and it gives a fairly comprehensive overview of issues when designing user interfaces for mobile applications. To show the breadth of the patterns collection we present six individual problems with connected design patterns in some detail – each coming from different problem areas. They represent important and relevant problems, and are on different levels of abstraction, thus showing how patterns may be used to present problems and solutions on different levels of detail. To show the relevance and usefulness of the patterns collection for usability professionals with a mixed background, we present some relevant findings from a validation of the patterns collection. In addition to verifying the relevance and usefulness of the patterns collection, it also shows both expected and surprising correlations between background and perceived relevance and usefulness. One important finding from the validation is an indication that the patterns collection is best suited for experienced UI developers wanting to start developing mobile UIs. Using a patterns collection for documenting design knowledge and experience has been a mixed experience, so we discuss pros and cons of this. Finally, we present related work and future research.     

基于界面设计模式的界面开发工具综述*

良设计的界面可为用户提供方便易用的服务,增强应用在市场上的竞争力。使用可复用的界面设计模式,旨在提高设计的可用性和效率。界面开发的复杂性需要有工具支持。针对现有基于模式的界面开发工具,本文根据它们对不同开发阶段的支持进行分类,然后对各类工具进行探讨,从形式、功能、可用性等特征展开分析和比较,最后,本文讨论了目前工具存在的不足及未来的研究方向。     

Adjustable typography: an approach to enhancing low vision text accessibility

Millions of people have low vision, a disability condition caused by uncorrectable or partially correctable disorders of the eye. The primary goal of low vision rehabilitation is increasing access to printed material. This paper describes how adjustable typography, a computer graphic approach to enhancing text accessibility, can play a role in this process, by allowing visually-impaired users to customize fonts to maximize legibility according to their own visual needs. Prototype software and initial testing of the concept is described. The results show that visually-impaired users tend to produce a variety of very distinct fonts, and that the adjustment process results in greatly enhanced legibility. But this initial testing has not yet demonstrated increases in legibility over and above the legibility of highly legible standard fonts such as Times New Roman.     

Enabling user interface developers to experience accessibility limitations through visual,hearing, physical and cognitive impairment simulation

His paper presents a tool facilitating developers of user interfaces (UIs) to experience accessibility limitations that can be posed from various disabilities during the interaction of impaired users with their developments. In this respect, various aspects of visual, hearing, physical and cognitive impairments have been modelled through filters providing approximate, yet, realistic simulations over them. These filters have formed the basis for the developed tool, which can be used either on its own (as a standalone application), or be embedded in the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment. The tool, named DIAS, allows for impairment simulations to be performed over Java, mobile and web applications. Moreover, it integrates two of the most common assistive technologies (ATs), namely a screen reader and a magnifier. As a result, developers of UIs can not only experience how interaction would be affected from various impairments, but they can also understand how their developments would be perceived by impaired users through an AT. This work aims to provide an integrated, practical solution for impairment simulation, which could be easily adopted by developers, thus realistically increasing the possibilities for the future development of interactive applications that are more accessible to users with disabilities.     

Structural approach to design user interface

The analysis of the interactive relations among interface elements using a structuralized method can help user interface designers to satisfy the different requirements of design and improve design efficiency. This study develops a three-stage structured user interface design approach for complex information systems consisting of multiple components. First, the Quality Function Development (QFD) approach is used to confirm the user's design demand and its mapping components. Next, the Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) technique is adopted to construct a clear model of a hierarchical structure. Finally, the Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) approach is employed to analyze the effect and dependence among the overall design components, and to consider the relationship network graph of distribution of components in the system. The research approach applies the Web mail system as its case study. Through the empirical study of web-based system, interface designers can effectively grasp a user's differentiated demand that changes rapidly and reflect it in the combination of designed components. This study establishes a strategy for creating an information system design pattern with multiple components is by building a hierarchical structure and analyzing the component distribution.     

Evaluating design guidelines for reducing user disorientation in a desktop virtual environment

Navigation in virtual environments can be difficult. One contributing factor is user disorientation. Two major causes of this are the lack of navigation cues in the environment and problems with navigating too close to or through virtual world objects. Previous work has developed guidelines, informed by cinematography conventions, for the construction of virtual environments to aid user comprehension of virtual space to reduce user disorientation. To validate these guidelines, two user studies have been performed where users of a desktop virtual environment are to complete a navigation task in a virtual maze. In an initial study [12], collision detection with the maze walls was not enabled and the results indicated that the guidelines were effective for reducing disorientation but not for developing the users awareness of the environment space. A second study has been performed where collision detection was enabled. Results suggest that the use of the guidelines can help reduce the incidences of user disorientation and aid navigation tasks. However, the guidelines have little impact on users ability to construct cognitive maps of the desktop virtual environment.

Supporting the use of guidelines and style guides in professional user interface design

The use of user-interface design knowledge such as general guidelines and environment-specific style guides can be valuable, and is increasingly required in professional user-interface design. However, conventional guidelines and style guides ( and ) in the form of documents are consistently found hard to use. We have earlier demonstrated knowledge-based critiquing to be a technically feasible way of delivering relevant and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate the need and acceptability of such techniques for professional user-interface designers.

An experiment was carried out where four professional designers developed user-interface prototypes to a functional specification. The designs were evaluated using our and -based critiquing system, which identified a total of 17 deviations from style-guide requirements or design recommendations. Interviews were conducted with the designers to find the reasons for the deviations and to identify important requirements for a critiquing design-support tool. The deviation analysis points to an existing need for better ways of accessing and knowledge. The interviews indicate that the designers would find a critiquing tool valuable, provided that it leaves them in control of their work and indicates the severity of the detected deviations.     

Shifting knowledge from analysis to design: Requirements for contextual user interface development

There is consensus among the members of the HCI community as well as among software developers that work tasks and user characteristics (i.e. context) should play a leading role in the course of system development. There seems to be less consensus on how the information about users and work tasks should be acquired and subsequently moved to the design process of a development project. Due to the use of unifying methods and concepts--such as object-orientation-- that might be used for analysis, design and implementation, this transition seems to be facilitated. However, few inputs have been provided to guide developers on how to shift knowledge from analysis to design when task- and user knowledge are considered to be inherent parts of the development knowledge. This paper details the interface between analysis and design, reviews existing concepts to bridge the gap between the two phases of development, and enriches these findings with some empirical results from a survey with respect to practical experiences. From these findings, requirements to successfully shift knowledge in the early phases of software development have been derived.     

Shifting knowledge from analysis to design: requirements for contextual user interface development

There is consensus among the members of the HCI community as well as among software developers that work tasks and user characteristics (i.e. context) should play a leading role in the course of system development. There seems to be less consensus on how the information about users and work tasks should be acquired and subsequently moved to the design process of a development project. Due to the use of unifying methods and concepts--such as object-orientation-- that might be used for analysis, design and implementation, this transition seems to be facilitated. However, few inputs have been provided to guide developers on how to shift knowledge from analysis to design when task- and user knowledge are considered to be inherent parts of the development knowledge. This paper details the interface between analysis and design, reviews existing concepts to bridge the gap between the two phases of development, and enriches these findings with some empirical results from a survey with respect to practical experiences. From these findings, requirements to successfully shift knowledge in the early phases of software development have been derived.