Literature Reviews — A11y Paradise

Accessibility of Internet Websites through Time

Stephanie Hackett, Bambang Parmanto, Xiaoming Zeng (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

This paper presents a longitudinal analysis of web accessibility from 1997 to 2002 using archived snapshots from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The researchers evaluated 240 archived instances of random websites (40 per year from the Alexa t…

Middleware to Expand Context and Preview in Hypertext

Simon Harper, Carole Goble, Robert Stevens, Yeliz Yesilada (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

This paper presents a middleware tool that automatically annotates web pages with expanded context and preview information for hypertext links, addressing a core navigation problem for visually impaired web users. The authors draw an analogy between …

A Web Accessibility Service: Update and Findings

Vicki L. Hanson, John T. Richards (2004) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04)

This paper reports on the evolution of IBM's Web Accessibility Service from a proxy server prototype (presented at Assets 2002) to a client-side architecture that transforms web pages on the fly to meet the needs of older adults and people with disab…

Accessibility Designer: Visualizing Usability for the Blind

Hironobu Takagi, Chieko Asakawa, Kentarou Fukuda, Junji Maeda (2003) — Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '04)

This paper from IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory presents Accessibility Designer (aDesigner), a tool that goes beyond conventional accessibility checkers by visualising the usability of web pages for blind screen reader users rather than merely checki…

Designing for Dynamic Diversity: Interfaces for Older People

Peter Gregor, Alan F. Newell, Mary Zajicek (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '02)

This paper argues that mainstream interface design fails older people by assuming a static, "typical" user who is young, fit, and male. The authors identify three broad groups of older computer users: fit older people who do not consider themselves d…

Improving the Accessibility of Aurally Rendered HTML Tables

Robert Filepp, James Challenger, Daniela Rosu (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

This paper from IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center proposes TTPML (Table To Prose Markup Language), an XML-compliant markup language designed to transform HTML tables into intelligible prose descriptions for blind and visually impaired users. The auth…

Web Accessibility for Low Bandwidth Input

Jennifer Mankoff, Anind Dey, Udit Batra, Melody Moore (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

This paper addresses web accessibility for users with severe motor and speech impairments who can only produce one to four input signals when interacting with a computer — termed "low bandwidth" users. These include people with locked-in syndrome usi…

Auditory and Tactile Interfaces for Representing the Visual Effects on the Web

Chieko Asakawa, Hironobu Takagi, Shuichi Ino, Tohru Ifukube (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

This paper from IBM Japan and Hokkaido University explores how blind users can perceive the visual structure and emphasis effects of web pages through auditory and tactile interfaces. The researchers identified a critical gap: modern web pages increa…

Navigation of HTML Tables, Frames, and XML Fragments

Enrico Pontelli, Douglas Gillan, Weiqiang Xiong, Elham Saad, Gopal Gupta, Arthur I. Karshmer (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

This paper provides a progress report on a multi-institution project developing technology to support non-visual navigation of complex HTML tables, frames, and XML structures. The authors identify tables, frames, and forms as the most difficult areas…

From Assistive Technology to a Web Accessibility Service

Peter G. Fairweather, Vicki L. Hanson, Sam R. Detweiler, Richard S. Schwerdtfeger (2002) — Proceedings of the Fifth International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets 02)

This paper from IBM Research examines the challenge of making the increasingly complex World Wide Web accessible to people with sensory, cognitive, and motor disabilities. The authors argue that while evolving web architectures — moving from simple H…