Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• An accessible method of hiding HTML content

  Paul Ryan Bohman, Shane Anderson (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from WebAIM researchers at Utah State University presents a CSS technique for visually hiding HTML content while keeping it accessible to screen readers — an early formalization of what became the widely adopted "sr-only" or "visually-hidd…

  • CSS
  • screen readers
  • visually hidden text
  • web development
  • skip navigation
  • form accessibility
  • image replacement

• The semantic web, web accessibility, and device independence

  Lisa Seeman (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by Lisa Seeman of UB Access, this paper argues that Semantic Web technologies — particularly RDF (Resource Description Framework) annotations — can dramatically improve web accessibility beyond what WCAG guidelines alone can achieve, especial…

  • semantic web
  • RDF
  • cognitive accessibility
  • learning disabilities
  • personalization
  • knowledge representation
  • assistive technology

• Proving the validity and accessibility of dynamic web-pages

  R. G. Stone, J. Dhiensa (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Loughborough University proposes a formal verification approach to proving that dynamically generated web pages will always produce valid and accessible output, regardless of which code path executes at runtime. The authors draw a dir…

  • automated testing
  • dynamic web pages
  • formal verification
  • PHP
  • server-side scripting
  • web accessibility evaluation

• Accessibility and design: a failure of the imagination

  Bob Regan (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by Bob Regan of Macromedia (makers of Flash), this paper argues that the poor state of web accessibility represents a "failure of the imagination" — a failure by both the design community to engage with accessibility and by accessibility advo…

  • visual design
  • accessible design
  • Flash accessibility
  • CSS
  • web standards
  • design culture
  • accessibility advocacy

• A no-frills approach for accessible Web-based learning material

  Valeria Mirabella, Stephen Kimani, Tiziana Catarci (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Sapienza University of Rome proposes a methodology for creating accessible web-based learning materials that centres the role of the "didactical expert" (instructional designer/subject matter expert) rather than relying solely on tech…

  • e-learning
  • accessible education
  • learning objects
  • alternative content
  • XML
  • instructional design
  • multimodal content

• Tension, what tension?: Website accessibility and visual design

  Helen Petrie, Fraser Hamilton, Neil King (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from City University London directly challenges the widespread belief among web designers that accessible websites must be visually plain and boring. The researchers conducted a large-scale evaluation of 100 websites, starting with automat…

  • visual design
  • user testing
  • web accessibility
  • usability
  • disability
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility evaluation

• An active step toward a web content accessible society

  Joonho Hyun, Doojin Choi, Sukil Kim (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents the Korean Web Content Accessibility Guideline 1.0 (KWCAG 1.0), enacted in late 2004 as a national standard by Korea's Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA). The authors, from the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and…

  • accessibility standards
  • accessibility policy
  • KWCAG
  • global accessibility
  • web accessibility guidelines
  • South Korea

• Extracting content from accessible web pages

  Suhit Gupta, Gail Kaiser (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from Columbia University presents Crunch, a web proxy tool that applies heuristic-based filters to extract core content from web pages by removing clutter such as advertisements, navigation menus, spacer elements, and extraneous links. Cru…

  • content extraction
  • screen readers
  • web clutter
  • DOM
  • web proxy
  • visual impairment
  • web accessibility

• Automatic accessibility evaluation of dynamic web pages generated through XSLT

  André Pimenta Freire, Renata Pontin de Mattos Fortes (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from researchers at the University of São Paulo addresses a gap in accessibility evaluation tooling: the inability of automated checkers to test dynamically generated web pages. In 2005, tools like Bobby, LIFT, and WAVE could only evaluate…

  • automated testing
  • web accessibility evaluation
  • XML
  • XSLT
  • dynamic web pages
  • accessibility tools

• A conceptual framework for accessibility tools to benefit users with cognitive disabilities

  Paul Ryan Bohman, Shane Anderson (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from WebAIM researchers at Utah State University proposes a conceptual framework to guide the development of accessibility tools that address the needs of users with cognitive disabilities. The authors argue that existing accessibility eva…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • accessibility tools
  • evaluation and repair tools
  • cognitive disabilities
  • scenario-based evaluation
  • web accessibility