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 and Web accessibility. We measured accessibility in two ways: the perceived accessibility as reported by participants and accessibility in terms of conformance to guidelines. Findings uncover that perceived Web accessibility is significantly correlated with 27 of the 35 UX attributes analysed, suggesting these two qualities are closely related. The relationship between UX and conformance to WCAG 2.0 is more elusive: we only found significant correlations between the hedonic attributes original, innovative and exciting.     

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.     

Effects of accessible website design on nondisabled users: age and device as moderating factors

This study examined how implementing recommendations from Web accessibility guidelines affects nondisabled people in different age groups using different technical devices. While recent research showed positive effects of implementing such recommendations for nondisabled users, it remains unclear whether such effects would apply to different age groups and kind of devices. A 2 × 2 × 2 design was employed with website accessibility (high accessibility vs. very low accessibility), age (younger adults vs. older adults) and type of device (laptop vs. tablet) as independent variables. 110 nondisabled participants took part in a usability test, in which performance and satisfaction were measured as dependent variables. The results showed that higher accessibility increased task completion rate, task completion time and satisfaction ratings of nondisabled users. While user age did not have any effects, users showed faster task completion time under high accessibility when using a tablet rather than a laptop. The findings confirmed previous findings, which showed benefits of accessible websites for nondisabled users. These beneficial effects may now be generalised to a wide age range and across different devices.

Practitioner Summary: This work is relevant to the design of websites since it emphasises the need to consider the characteristics of different user groups. Accessible website design (aimed at users with disabilities) leads to benefits for nondisabled users across different ages. These findings provide further encouragement for practitioners to apply WCAG 2.0.     

Website accessibility: a survey of local e-government websites and legislation in Northern Ireland

The provision of accessible websites is a legal requirement under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which applies throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Equality (disability, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 2000. A survey of local e-government websites indicated that few local councils in the devolved administration of Northern Ireland offered websites which were adequately usable by people with a disability, yet most citizen-government transactions occur at the local level. Design for all has obvious commercial benefits, but it has also become a legal obligation, and application of accessible design principles should improve the online experience of all users.     

Exploring perceptions of web accessibility: a survey approach

The equality of access – accessibility – is difficult to quantify, define, or agree upon. Our previous work analysed the responses of web accessibility specialists in regard to a number of pre-defined definitions of accessibility. While uncovering much, this analysis did not allow us to quantify the communities’ understanding of the relationship accessibility has with other domains and assess how the community scopes accessibility. In this case, we asked over 300 people, with an interest in accessibility, to answer 33 questions surrounding the relationship between accessibility, user experience (UX), and usability; inclusion and exclusion; and evaluation, in an attempt to harmonise our understanding of web accessibility. We found that respondents think that accessibility and usability are highly related and also think that accessibility is applicable to everyone and not just people with disabilities. Respondents strongly agree that accessibility must be grounded on user-centred practices and that accessibility evaluation is more than just inspecting source code; however, they are divided as to whether training in ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ is necessary or not to assess accessibility. These perceptions are important for usability and UX professionals, developers of automated evaluation tools, and those practitioners running website evaluations.     

A Heuristic Evaluation for Deaf Web User Experience (HE4DWUX)

Websites that are usable and accessible can have a positive impact on the overall user experience. Usability Inspection Methods (UIMs) can be applied to evaluate and measure the usability. The current research in the fields of Web Accessibility and Human –Computer Interaction (HCI) is in need of additional UIMs that can be applied to also measure the accessibility, in addition to the usability alone. In this article, a novel UIM in the form of a heuristic evaluation is presented. The heuristic evaluation aims to support HCI experts and Web developers in designing and evaluating websites that provide positive user experiences to users who are deaf. This article discusses the development of the Heuristic Evaluation for Deaf Web User Experience (HE4DWUX). Following an iteration cycle, version 2 of the HE4DWUX is presented in Appendix A. An existing three-phase process to develop heuristics for specific application domains was applied to construct the HE4DWUX. The outcome of this research is 12 heuristics, with each containing its own set of checklist items to operationalize its applicability in measuring the Web user experience for users who are deaf. The heuristics and their checklist items can identify important aspects of design that will impact the Web user experience for this particular user group.     

Developing inclusive e-learning systems

The requirement for e-inclusion relates to the employment of appropriate development strategies for software applications and services so as to accomplish accessibility and increased interaction quality at deployment time. Inclusive e-learning is the outcome from the application of e-inclusion design and implementation methods in the context of e-learning systems. This paper reports consolidated development experience from the construction of the following e-learning systems: (a) training applications for hand-motor impaired users and for people with cognitive disabilities; (b) learner-adapted courseware and (c) a universally accessible educational computer game. In this context, the primary emphasis is placed on the reporting of the design and implementation aspects to accommodate the inclusive system characteristics, rather than on the typical e-learning software engineering approaches.     

A PLA-based privacy-enhancing user modeling framework and its evaluation

Reconciling personalization with privacy has been a continuing interest in user modeling research. This aim has computational, legal and behavioral/attitudinal ramifications. We present a dynamic privacy-enhancing user modeling framework that supports compliance with users’ individual privacy preferences and with the privacy laws and regulations that apply to each user. The framework is based on a software product line architecture. It dynamically selects personalization methods during runtime that meet the current privacy constraints. Since dynamic architectural reconfiguration is typically resource-intensive, we conducted a performance evaluation with four implementations of our system that vary two factors. The results demonstrate that at least one implementation of our approach is technically feasible with comparatively modest additional resources, even for websites with the highest traffic today. To gauge user reactions to privacy controls that our framework enables, we also conducted a controlled experiment that allowed one group of users to specify privacy preferences and view the resulting effects on employed personalization methods. We found that users in this treatment group utilized this feature, deemed it useful, and had fewer privacy concerns as measured by higher disclosure of their personal data.     

Usability and user experience of medical devices: An overview of the current state,analysis methodologies,and future challenges

Improvements to the reliability and safety of medical devices are vital for healthcare systems. It is necessary to consider the user experience (UX) of patients and healthcare professionals at all the development stages of medical devices. Ergonomic design principles can also reduce the cost of medical device production. This study is a multilateral analytical literature review of UX and usability issues in healthcare and medical device design. The total number of literature sources presented is n = 88. The literature sources are classified according to the difference between UX and usability for various target products and services, including healthcare. The literature is reviewed with a focus on human-oriented aspects. This includes medical technology and device design, which are dependent on the user type, medical device scope, and area of use. A review of key medical device standards and regulation documents is presented. The main analysis methodologies for the UX and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The future challenges in healthcare and medical ergonomics are briefly highlighted. Above all, this study tried to examine the difference between usability and UX of general products and those of medical devices through the review of existing literature. Even standards do not reflect this well and need to be considered based on further research in academia and industry.Relevance to industryThe obtained results will help medical-device designers and healthcare professionals understand the main medical-research trends and improve the design process. Additionally, they will be helpful for increasing the satisfaction level among medical-device users and reducing user risks.     

Moving towards inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI

Most people acknowledge that personal computers have enormously enhanced the autonomy and communication capacity of people with special needs. The key factor for accessibility to these opportunities is the adequate design of the user interface which, consequently, has a high impact on the social lives of users with disabilities.The design of universally accessible interfaces has a positive effect over the socialisation of people with disabilities. People with sensory disabilities can profit from computers as a way of personal direct and remote communication. Personal computers can also assist people with severe motor impairments to manipulate their environment and to enhance their mobility by means of, for example, smart wheelchairs. In this way they can become more socially active and productive. Accessible interfaces have become so indispensable for personal autonomy and social inclusion that in several countries special legislation protects people from ‘digital exclusion’.To apply this legislation, inexperienced HCI designers can experience difficulties. They would greatly benefit from inclusive design guidelines in order to be able to implement the ‘design for all’ philosophy. In addition, they need clear criteria to avoid negative social and ethical impact on users. This paper analyses the benefits of the use of inclusive design guidelines in order to facilitate a universal design focus so that social exclusion is avoided. In addition, the need for ethical and social guidelines in order to avoid undesirable side effects for users is discussed. Finally, some preliminary examples of socially and ethically aware guidelines are proposed.     

Investigating the problems faced by older adults and people with disabilities in online environments

Irresponsible and inaccessible web design causes unnecessary problems to certain website users. By applying the web content accessibility guidelines to a website the amount of possible users who can successfully view the content of that site will increase especially for those who are in the disabled and older adult categories of online users. We present the results of assessing the compliance of a selection of websites with guidelines set out by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). It was found that most sites evaluated were inaccessible to those with disabilities. Only one of the selected sites passed all three priority levels set out by the WAI. In many cases, minor modifications to sites will make them accessible to people with disabilities. Therefore it can only be speculated that the reasons for lack of conformance may vary from lack of awareness of the issue, time constraints or the general stress of having to keep up with new technologies. Companies who overlook users with disabilities however may be doing so at long-term risk to their legal position, public image and ultimately business success.     

Investigating the problems faced by older adults and people with disabilities in online environments

Irresponsible and inaccessible web design causes unnecessary problems to certain website users. By applying the web content accessibility guidelines to a website the amount of possible users who can successfully view the content of that site will increase especially for those who are in the disabled and older adult categories of online users. We present the results of assessing the compliance of a selection of websites with guidelines set out by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). It was found that most sites evaluated were inaccessible to those with disabilities. Only one of the selected sites passed all three priority levels set out by the WAI. In many cases, minor modifications to sites will make them accessible to people with disabilities. Therefore it can only be speculated that the reasons for lack of conformance may vary from lack of awareness of the issue, time constraints or the general stress of having to keep up with new technologies. Companies who overlook users with disabilities however may be doing so at long-term risk to their legal position, public image and ultimately business success.     

Hefestos: an intelligent system applied to ubiquitous accessibility

This article proposes Hefestos, an intelligent system applied to ubiquitous accessibility. This model uses ubiquitous computing concepts to manage accessibility resources for people with disabilities. Among the concepts employed, context awareness, user profiles and trails management can be highlighted. The paper proposes an ontology for accessibility and delineates scenarios of its application in everyday life of people with disabilities. Moreover, the implementation of a smart wheelchair prototype and its application in a practical experiment is described. Ten users with a range of disability degrees tried the system and filled out a survey based on the technology acceptance model. This experiment demonstrated the main functionalities and the acceptance of the system. The results showed 96 % of acceptance regarding perceived easy of use and 98 % in perceived usefulness. These results were encouraging and show the potential for implementing Hefestos in real life situations.     

UX Curve: A method for evaluating long-term user experience

The goal of user experience design in industry is to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product. So far, user experience studies have mostly focused on short-term evaluations and consequently on aspects relating to the initial adoption of new product designs. Nevertheless, the relationship between the user and the product evolves over long periods of time and the relevance of prolonged use for market success has been recently highlighted. In this paper, we argue for the cost-effective elicitation of longitudinal user experience data. We propose a method called the “UX Curve” which aims at assisting users in retrospectively reporting how and why their experience with a product has changed over time. The usefulness of the UX Curve method was assessed in a qualitative study with 20 mobile phone users. In particular, we investigated how users’ specific memories of their experiences with their mobile phones guide their behavior and their willingness to recommend the product to others. The results suggest that the UX Curve method enables users and researchers to determine the quality of long-term user experience and the influences that improve user experience over time or cause it to deteriorate. The method provided rich qualitative data and we found that an improving trend of perceived attractiveness of mobile phones was related to user satisfaction and willingness to recommend their phone to friends. This highlights that sustaining perceived attractiveness can be a differentiating factor in the user acceptance of personal interactive products such as mobile phones. The study suggests that the proposed method can be used as a straightforward tool for understanding the reasons why user experience improves or worsens in long-term product use and how these reasons relate to customer loyalty.     

Factors that affect visually impaired users' acceptance of audio and music websites

The number of users with visual impairments is on the rise. Companies have an opportunity to increase their reach and revenue by ensuring their websites are accessible to these users. Developing websites around the needs of those with visual impairments is especially critical as the affluent Baby Boomer generation ages and is faced with a multitude of vision problems. Despite this fast growing, web-reliant population, little work has been done to develop a behavioral model that addresses its needs. Grounded in accessibility and acceptance theories, this research proposes a model that predicts Web usage behavior of blind and low-vision users. Our results show that one of the most widely used acceptance models does not predict the adoption behavior of visually impaired users as effectively as a modified model that includes information accessibility. Those with visual impairments decide to revisit a website based, in part, on its accessibility as well as its ease of use and usefulness. These results suggest that traditional acceptance models may predict the behavior of users with visual impairments better when reliability and convenience of access to Information are also considered.     

Product attributes and user experience design: how to convey product information through user-centered service

The user experience (UX) is a critical issue in both the product design and service sector. Ensuring that customers can easily understand a product or service and thus ensuring higher satisfaction with the customer–product (service) interaction process is essential for survival among competitive industries. However, few studies have attempted to integrate all relevant factors into a comprehensive model of UX. The present study addresses this need by proposing a conceptual UX interaction model that incorporates the characteristics of usability and user interaction level based on quality of experience. A method to apply the model and the steps to implement the data collection and analysis are also proposed. The UX interaction model requires a systematic approach to: (1) decompose the product or service characteristics during a UX interaction process; (2) determine typology of UX items of each characteristic; and (3) select appropriate and feasible strategies to improve these UX items. A quantitative survey for mobile phone users was developed to investigate differences among types of UX and product characteristics. This study provides valuable empirical evidence on the UX interaction model for particular industries where superior quality service experiences are to be achieved.     

Design-inclusive UX research: design as a part of doing user experience research

Since the third wave in human–computer interaction (HCI), research on user experience (UX) has gained momentum within the HCI community. The focus has shifted from systematic usability requirements and measures towards guidance on designing for experiences. This is a big change, since design has traditionally not played a large role in HCI research. Yet, the literature addressing this shift in focus is very limited. We believe that the field of UX research can learn from a field where design and experiential aspects have always been important: design research. In this article, we discuss why design is needed in UX research and how research that includes design as a part of research can support and advance UX design practice. We do this by investigating types of design-inclusive UX research and by learning from real-life cases of UX-related design research. We report the results of an interview study with 41 researchers in three academic research units where design research meets UX research. Based on our interview findings, and building on existing literature, we describe the different roles design can play in research projects. We also report how design research results can inform designing for experience methodologically or by providing new knowledge on UX. The results are presented in a structured palette that can help UX researchers reflect and focus more on design in their research projects, thereby tackling experience design challenges in their own research.