Literature Reviews

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

• Improving the outcomes of students with cognitive and learning disabilities: phase I development for a web accessibility tool

  Aaron Andersen, Cyndi Rowland (2007) — Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This poster paper from ASSETS 2007 reports on Phase I of a project to extend the WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator) open-source tool with a new suite of evaluators specifically targeting the cognitive load of web pages. The work, led by Web…

  • cognitive accessibility
  • cognitive disabilities
  • learning disabilities
  • cognitive load
  • evaluation tools
  • WAVE
  • WebAIM
  • web accessibility
  • students
  • education
  • automated testing

• Semantic Web enabled web accessibility evaluation tools

  Shadi Abou-Zahra (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper by Shadi Abou-Zahra of the W3C presents the Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) as a Semantic Web-based solution to fundamental problems in web accessibility evaluation tooling. Abou-Zahra identifies that the accessibility evaluation too…

  • automated testing
  • accessibility testing
  • semantic web
  • EARL
  • evaluation tools
  • quality assurance
  • interoperability
  • W3C

• Evaluating Web Accessibility for Specific Mobile Devices

  Markel Vigo, Amaia Aizpurua, Myriam Arrue, Julio Abascal (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper addresses a fundamental limitation in early mobile web accessibility testing: the reliance on a single Default Delivery Context (DDC) that assumed all mobile devices shared the same baseline capabilities. The W3C mobileOK Basic tests, desi…

  • mobile accessibility
  • automated testing
  • evaluation tools
  • device independence
  • mobile web

• MokE: A Tool for Mobile-ok Evaluation of Web Content

  John Garofalakis, Vassilios Stefanis (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents MokE (Mobile-OK Evaluator), a web-based tool for evaluating whether web content provides an acceptable experience on mobile devices, based on W3C's mobileOK Basic Tests and Mobile Web Best Practices. Written at a time when mobile …

  • mobile accessibility
  • mobile web
  • automated testing
  • web crawling
  • W3C standards
  • evaluation tools
  • hidden web

• Transition of Accessibility Evaluation Tools to New Standards

  Amaia Aizpurua, Myriam Arrue, Markel Vigo, Julio Abascal (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper addresses a practical challenge that faced the web accessibility community following the release of WCAG 2.0 in December 2008: how to update the large ecosystem of existing automated evaluation tools that were built around WCAG 1.0. The au…

  • automated testing
  • web accessibility
  • WCAG transition
  • evaluation tools
  • accessibility guidelines

• Hera-FFX: a Firefox add-on for semi-automatic web accessibility evaluation

  José L. Fuertes, Ricardo González, Emmanuelle Gutiérrez, Loïc Martínez (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper presents Hera-FFX, a Firefox browser add-on for semi-automatic web accessibility evaluation against WCAG 1.0, developed as a complete redesign of the earlier Hera online tool. The authors first establish a comprehensive list of 11 desirabl…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • evaluation tools
  • semi-automatic evaluation
  • browser extensions
  • WCAG 1.0
  • manual evaluation

• Developing Hera-FFX for WCAG 2.0

  José L. Fuertes, Emmanuelle Gutiérrez, Loïc Martínez (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper describes the redesign of Hera-FFX, a Mozilla Firefox extension for semi-automatic web accessibility evaluation, to support WCAG 2.0. The original Hera-FFX was built around WCAG 1.0's simpler two-level structure of guidelines and checkpoin…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • evaluation tools
  • WCAG 2.0
  • semi-automatic evaluation
  • browser extensions
  • manual evaluation

• Accessibility Challenges and Tool Features: An IBM Web Developer Perspective

  Shari Trewin, Brian Cragun, Cal Swart, Jonathan Brezin, John Richards (2010) — Proceedings of the 2010 International Cross Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This highly cited (50 citations) survey of 49 IBM web developers explores the barriers they face in creating accessible rich internet applications and what features they value in accessibility testing tools. IBM mandates accessibility through Corpora…

  • developer awareness
  • accessibility testing
  • evaluation tools
  • software development
  • accessibility training
  • developer experience
  • WCAG compliance
  • assistive technology

• Development and Trial of an Educational Tool to Support the Accessibility Evaluation Process

  Christopher Bailey, Elaine Pearson (2011) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper describes the design, development, and first trial of the Accessibility Evaluation Assistant (AEA), a web-based knowledge management tool created at Teesside University to support novice auditors in conducting accessibility evaluations. Th…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • accessibility education
  • WCAG compliance
  • evaluation tools
  • novice auditors
  • structured walkthrough
  • accessibility training

• Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Tool to Support Novice Auditors

  Christopher Bailey, Elaine Pearson (2012) — Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper evaluates the Accessibility Evaluation Assistant (AEA), a web-based knowledge management tool designed to help novice auditors conduct accessibility evaluations, by comparing it against standard WCAG 2.0 conformance review. The AEA was dev…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • accessibility education
  • WCAG compliance
  • evaluation tools
  • accessibility training
  • novice auditors
  • structured walkthrough