Literature Reviews

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

• Affordable Web Accessibility: A Case for Cheaper ARIA

  Yury Puzis, Yevgen Borodin, Andrii Soviak, Valentyn Melnyk, I. V. Ramakrishnan (2015) — Proceedings of the 12th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper argues that the primary barrier to web accessibility is not technical limitations but the high cost of implementing WAI-ARIA, the W3C accessibility specification for rich internet applications. The authors systematically analyze why ARIA i…

  • WAI-ARIA
  • web accessibility
  • screen readers
  • web development
  • accessibility economics
  • web standards
  • accessibility cost

• Development technologies impact in web accessibility

  Carlos Duarte, Inês Matos, João Vicente, Ana Salvado, Carlos M. Duarte, Luís Carriço (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This study investigates whether the choice of web development technologies—programming languages, web frameworks, JavaScript frameworks, and content management systems—has a measurable impact on the accessibility of resulting web pages. The researche…

  • web accessibility
  • automated testing
  • web development
  • content management systems
  • JavaScript frameworks
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility evaluation

• Accessible OzPlayer Video Player

  Matt McLeod, Gian Wild (2016) — Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This extended abstract presents OzPlayer, a web video player built by Australian accessibility consultancy AccessibilityOz specifically to address the widespread inaccessibility of popular video players on the web. The authors, who routinely audited …

  • video accessibility
  • media accessibility
  • keyboard accessibility
  • captions
  • audio description
  • web development
  • multimedia accessibility

• Teaching Accessibility to the Masses

  Greg Gay, Naza Djafarova, Leonora Zefi (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper documents the development and delivery of "Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy," a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) created by Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and funded by the Government of Ont…

  • accessibility education
  • MOOC
  • web development
  • accessibility auditing
  • curriculum
  • training
  • pedagogical culture

• Creating Accessible Local Government: The Process

  Vivienne Conway, Keith Fitzpatrick (2017) — Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This short paper documents the end-to-end process the City of Cockburn, a local government authority in Western Australia, followed to develop an accessible replacement website. The paper provides a practical 9-step roadmap: (1) embed accessibility i…

  • government accessibility
  • WCAG compliance
  • procurement
  • organizational accessibility
  • case study
  • Australia
  • accessibility audit
  • user testing
  • accessibility training
  • project management
  • web development
  • content management
  • policy
  • mobile accessibility

• Web Development Training for Students That Are Blind

  Claire Ferrari (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This doctoral consortium paper outlines a mixed-methods dissertation research plan for developing and evaluating a 10-day web development course specifically designed for students who are blind or have low vision. The author contextualizes the work w…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web development
  • coding education
  • accessible programming
  • self-efficacy
  • participatory design
  • vocational training
  • digital inclusion

• Blind Web Development Training at Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Uganda

  Claire Ferrari, Amy Hurst, Scott Fitzgerald (2019) — Proceedings of the 16th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the development and delivery of a 7-day web development course for 13 blind and low-vision students (ages 18-35, average 24) at the Oysters and Pearls Technology Camp in Gulu, northern Uganda. None of the students had prior exper…

  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • low vision
  • web development
  • coding education
  • developing nations
  • Africa
  • screen reader
  • JAWS
  • tactile learning
  • digital inclusion
  • accessible programming

• Making the Elusive More Tangible: Remote Tools & Techniques for Teaching Web Development to Screen Reader Users

  Claire Ferrari, Chancey Fleet, Keita Ohshiro, Veronica Alfaro Arias, Amy Hurst (2021) — Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a free, remote web development workshop for 12 screen reader users, conducted over nine Saturday sessions between August and October 2020. The workshop was a collaboration between New…

  • education accessibility
  • screen readers
  • web development
  • STEM accessibility
  • blindness
  • tactile graphics
  • inclusive design
  • participatory design

• Accessibility Guidelines and Standards: Analyzing Stack Overflow Posts

  Asmaa Mansour Alghamdi, Wajdi Aljedaani, Marcelo M. Eler, Stephanie Ludi (2024) — Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference (W4A '24)

  This study analyses 5,092 Stack Overflow posts related to web accessibility (from an initial dataset of 8,538 posts tagged with "accessibility" or "WCAG" between 2008 and 2022) to understand the practical challenges developers face when implementing …

  • WCAG
  • web development
  • developer experience
  • accessibility testing
  • screen readers
  • focus management