Literature Reviews

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

• SADIe: exposing implicit information to improve accessibility

  Darren Lunn (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  Darren Lunn's Assets '07 demonstration paper introduces SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence), a transcoding system from the University of Manchester that uses Semantic Web ontologies to expose the implicit visual str…

  • web accessibility
  • transcoding
  • semantic web
  • ontology
  • CSS
  • screen readers
  • visual impairment
  • accessibility evaluation
  • randomisation test
  • single-subject design

• SADIe: Transcoding Based on CSS

  Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer, Darren Lunn (2006) — Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper introduces SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence), a system that improves web accessibility for visually impaired users by leveraging semantic information already encoded in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The…

  • visual impairment
  • web accessibility
  • transcoding
  • CSS
  • screen readers
  • semantic web
  • document engineering

• A user evaluation of the SADIe transcoder

  Darren Lunn, Sean Bechhofer, Simon Harper (2008) — Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents a user evaluation of SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence), a system that uses Semantic Web technologies to make web pages more accessible to screen reader users. The core problem SADIe addresses i…

  • web accessibility
  • screen readers
  • semantic web
  • transcoding
  • visual impairment
  • ontology
  • web content transformation
  • CSS
  • assistive technology

• Web Accessibility as a Side Effect

  John T. Richards, Kyle Montague, Vicki L. Hanson (2012) — Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper investigates the conjecture that improvements in web accessibility have arisen partly as unintentional side effects of changes in web technology and design practices, rather than from deliberate accessibility efforts. Building on a prior 1…

  • web accessibility
  • WCAG
  • CSS
  • semantic markup
  • search engine optimization
  • responsive design
  • web standards
  • longitudinal study
  • curb cut effect
  • accessibility trends

• How Accessible is the Process of Web Interface Design?

  Kirk Norman, Yevgeniy Arber, Ravi Kuber (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '13)

  This short paper investigates the accessibility challenges faced by blind web interface developers through interviews with six legally blind participants (all male, aged 29-48) who had experience building websites and online applications. Five used J…

  • blind developers
  • web development
  • screen readers
  • programming accessibility
  • JAWS
  • collaborative design
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • workplace accessibility
  • developer tools

• Accessible Web Development: Opportunities to Improve the Education and Practice of web Development with a Screen Reader

  Claire Ferrari, Amy Hurst (2021) — ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper investigates accessibility barriers faced by blind web developers in both educational and professional contexts. The researchers employed a Comprehensive Literature Review (CLR) methodology—synthesizing academic literature, blog posts by b…

  • blind programmers
  • screen readers
  • web development
  • CSS
  • accessible education
  • IDE accessibility
  • visual impairment
  • inclusive curriculum
  • developer tools

• 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

• 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

• Is accessible design a myth?

  Eric A. Meyer (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  In this position paper, prominent CSS expert Eric Meyer (of Complex Spiral Consulting) examines the tensions between rich visual web design and accessibility, asking whether the two can truly coexist. Meyer traces the history of CSS image replacement…

  • screen readers
  • CSS
  • image replacement
  • skip links
  • web design
  • assistive technology
  • visual design
  • user education

• The SADIe Transcoding Platform

  Darren Lunn, Sean Bechhofer, Simon Harper (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This short paper presents the SADIe (Structural-Semantics for Accessibility and Device Independence) transcoding platform, developed at the University of Manchester. SADIe addresses a fundamental challenge for visually impaired screen reader users: w…

  • web accessibility
  • transcoding
  • screen readers
  • visual impairment
  • semantic web
  • CSS
  • ontology
  • assistive technology