Researchers have learned much about how sighted individuals seek information on Web sites - for example, users follow "information scent" as they move from page to page, and individual differences may impact successful information seeking on the Web. While it is possible that individuals with disabilities, especially those with severe visual impairments, perform information-seeking activities in a similar manner, little is known about how individuals who use screen readers to navigate actually seek information on the Web. In this study, we used both qualitative and quantitative measures to investigate the Web navigation techniques of four screen-reader users and how a user’s experience affects these navigation techniques and his or her ability to successfully complete an information-finding task. We compared metrics for between-page and within-page navigation to studies of sighted users. We also considered how a Web site’s compliance with Section 508 guidelines affects the overall information-finding experience of a visually-impaired individual. We discovered that among the four individuals in this study, user experience was not necessarily indicative of a successful information-finding experience. As individuals, the participants' navigation techniques varied widely; as a group, they generally searched more frequently and used the back button less frequently than has been reported for sighted individuals. Screen-reader users in this study followed a more flimsy, linear navigation style and generally used scrolling actions rather than searching actions. When using a Web site that has a Section 508 compliant home page, we found that the screen-reader users in this study completed information-finding tasks significantly more quickly, used significantly fewer actions, and reported a more satisfying information-finding experience. They were also more successful at finding the information goal and encountered fewer impasses. Using both quantitative and qualitative measures was critical in this study. The quantitative metrics allowed us to compare values and the qualitative data provided additional insight into individual differences as well as allowing a deeper understanding of the quantitative data. The information from this study contributes to the growing body of research knowledge about screen-reader users. It also contributes a new understanding of screen-reader users that can be used by the worldwide community of Web developers, designers, and users. / text

Workshop Mensch-Computer-Vernetzung Web Accessibility Gestaltung von Webseiten um eine Nutzung mit vielen verschiedenen Zugangsmgeräten (Scrennreader, Bildschirmlupe) und unter verschiedenen technischen Bedingungen (langsame Anbindung, veraltete Software, keine Farbe) weitestgehend uneingeschränkt zu ermöglichen.

Workshop Mensch-Computer-Vernetzung Web Accessibility Gestaltung von Webseiten um eine Nutzung mit vielen verschiedenen Zugangsmgeräten (Scrennreader, Bildschirmlupe) und unter verschiedenen technischen Bedingungen (langsame Anbindung, veraltete Software, keine Farbe) weitestgehend uneingeschränkt zu ermöglichen.

A acessibilidade, como um conceito geral, se refere à capacidade de produtos, meios, serviços e dispositivos em alcançar o uso por pessoas com deficiência. A acessibilidade naWeb diz respeito à capacidade destas pessoas em utilizá-la, acessar os conteúdos e poder participar ativamente dela, interagindo e gerando novos conteúdos. A Web de hoje em dia oferece ricas experiências aos usuários, porém muitas barreiras são enfrentadas por usuários com deficiências visuais, devido à falta de atenção dada pelos desenvolvedores às questões de acessibilidade das páginas. A construção de uma página que atenda adequadamente aos requisitos de acessibilidade é uma tarefa técnica complicada. Diversos padrões e recomendações foram criadas para tal, mas o domínio desses padrões e a compreensão de como eles ajudarão na experiência de usuários com deficiências não é simples. Ferramentas existentes validam detalhes técnicos da implementação das páginas, geralmente seguindo uma lista de itens ou recomendações a serem verificadas, mas essas ferramentas não expõem ao desenvolvedor o efeito final na experiência que um usuário cego terá ao visitá-la, ou evidenciam a importância relativa de cada problema encontrado. Neste trabalho, estudou-se a viabilidade e o potencial de um simulador de leitor de tela, cujo público alvo são os próprios desenvolvedores, de forma a auxiliar a análise de acessibilidade de uma página para usuários com deficiência visual. Dois protótipos foram desenvolvidos e avaliados, buscando verificar as lacunas existentes em outras abordagens que ele possa alcançar. / Accessibility, as a general concept, refers to the capacity of products, services and environments to be used by people with disabilities. Web accessibility, therefore, constitutes the ability of the web to be any person, including people with disabilities. The web nowadays offers rich experiences to its users, but there are many barriers that a person with visual disabilities faces while browsing the web. Building a web page that is well adapted to accessibility requirements is a complicated technical task. Several standards and guidelines have been created to achieve this, but mastering these standards and understanding how they will help these users experiences isnt simple. There are existing tools to validate technical details of a web pages implementation, usually referring back to the standards or a list of items to be verified, but these tools dont tell the web developer the effects that each problem will have in the final experience, or the relative importance of each existing problem. In this research, we studied the viability and potential of a screen reader simulator, targeting web developers as its main user group, in order to support the accessibility analysis of a webpage for blind users. Two prototype versions were developed and evaluated, in order to verify the gaps from other types of tools that this approach can reach.

A acessibilidade, como um conceito geral, se refere à capacidade de produtos, meios, serviços e dispositivos em alcançar o uso por pessoas com deficiência. A acessibilidade naWeb diz respeito à capacidade destas pessoas em utilizá-la, acessar os conteúdos e poder participar ativamente dela, interagindo e gerando novos conteúdos. A Web de hoje em dia oferece ricas experiências aos usuários, porém muitas barreiras são enfrentadas por usuários com deficiências visuais, devido à falta de atenção dada pelos desenvolvedores às questões de acessibilidade das páginas. A construção de uma página que atenda adequadamente aos requisitos de acessibilidade é uma tarefa técnica complicada. Diversos padrões e recomendações foram criadas para tal, mas o domínio desses padrões e a compreensão de como eles ajudarão na experiência de usuários com deficiências não é simples. Ferramentas existentes validam detalhes técnicos da implementação das páginas, geralmente seguindo uma lista de itens ou recomendações a serem verificadas, mas essas ferramentas não expõem ao desenvolvedor o efeito final na experiência que um usuário cego terá ao visitá-la, ou evidenciam a importância relativa de cada problema encontrado. Neste trabalho, estudou-se a viabilidade e o potencial de um simulador de leitor de tela, cujo público alvo são os próprios desenvolvedores, de forma a auxiliar a análise de acessibilidade de uma página para usuários com deficiência visual. Dois protótipos foram desenvolvidos e avaliados, buscando verificar as lacunas existentes em outras abordagens que ele possa alcançar. / Accessibility, as a general concept, refers to the capacity of products, services and environments to be used by people with disabilities. Web accessibility, therefore, constitutes the ability of the web to be any person, including people with disabilities. The web nowadays offers rich experiences to its users, but there are many barriers that a person with visual disabilities faces while browsing the web. Building a web page that is well adapted to accessibility requirements is a complicated technical task. Several standards and guidelines have been created to achieve this, but mastering these standards and understanding how they will help these users experiences isnt simple. There are existing tools to validate technical details of a web pages implementation, usually referring back to the standards or a list of items to be verified, but these tools dont tell the web developer the effects that each problem will have in the final experience, or the relative importance of each existing problem. In this research, we studied the viability and potential of a screen reader simulator, targeting web developers as its main user group, in order to support the accessibility analysis of a webpage for blind users. Two prototype versions were developed and evaluated, in order to verify the gaps from other types of tools that this approach can reach.

Nowadays mobile devices are being used by a huge number of users around the world, however, there are many people with different type of disabilities including vision, hearing, mobility, learning problems, and more having no ability to operate the devices properly and yet struggling with inaccessibility of them in their daily life. Assistive technologies are placed between users and mobile devices in order to help user interactions with mobile devices. Although these assistive technologies are absolutely assisting users to access mobile devices but, mobile content is not fully accessible for users yet. In this thesis work, the interactions between visually impaired users and Apple touchscreen iPhone 7 through built-in feature, VoiceOver screen reader was investigated. The purpose of the investigation was to identify the challenges and issues while visually impaired users interacting with mobile devices through VoiceOver. In order to identify accessibility issues of VoiceOver, an evaluation inspection done on a set of five participants in form of a semi-structured interview. The result from collecting participant’s opinions, comments, and feedbacks acknowledged that VoiceOver basically makes the Apple iPhone 7 accessible to visually impaired users, however, there are still some usability issues that impediment full mobile accessibility available for visually impaired users. User perspectives, experiences, and feedbacks are very much valuable for identifying and understanding usability and accessibility issues in order to improve the mobile accessibility. The results from the evaluation showed that it deserves more investigation on mobile accessibility in order to design simple, operable, understandable, and robust mobile hardware and software for fully supporting visually impaired users. / Nu för tiden används mobila enheter av ett stort antal användare runt om i världen, men samtidigt finns det många människor med olika typer av funktionshinder som syn- hörsel- rörlighet- och inlärningsproblem med mera som inte har möjlighet att använda enheterna på ett adekvat sätt, men trots det anstränger de sig med att använda mobila applikationer i sitt dagliga liv. För att råda bot på problemet placeras tekniska hjälpmedel mellan användare och den mobila enheten för att underlätta interaktionen mellan användare och den mobila enheten. Även om dessa hjälpmedel hjälper användare med funktionshinder att komma åt mobila enheten, är mobilt innehåll ännu inte fullt tillgängligt för dessa grupper. I den här avhandlingen undersöktes interaktionen mellan användare med synskada och Apple Touchscreen iPhone 7, genom en förinstallerad VoiceOver-skärmläsare. Syftet med utredningen var att identifiera utmaningar och problem när synskadade interagerar med mobila enheter. För att identifiera VoiceOver-problem, det gjordes en studie på en grupp av fem deltagare i en ostrukturerad och öppen formad intervju. Resultatet från deltagarnas åsikter, kommentarer och feedback visar att VoiceOver ökar i grunden tillgängligheten av Apple iPhone 7 för användare med synskada, även om det fortfarande kvarstår användbarhetsproblem som förhindrar fullgod mobil tillgänglighet för denna grupp. Användarperspektiv, erfarenheter och feedback är mycket värdefull information för att identifiera och förstå användbarhets- och tillgänglighetsfrågor för att förbättra mobil tillgänglighet. Resultat visade att det behövs mer utredning om mobil tillgänglighet för att utforma enkel, operativ, förståelig och robust maskin- och programvara för att ge fullt stöd till användare med synskada.

In the last few years, and especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare services have been moving online. Today, patients can book appointments with doctors and read their medical records in apps and web services. It is important that these services are equally accessible to all patients, regardless of for example disability. This study aims to identify opportunities and challenges in adapting these digital healthcare services towards increasing accessibility for screen reader users with visual impairments. Eight people with visual impairments participated in the study, whereof five had complete vision loss and three had low vision. First, the participants were interviewed about their experiences of using screen readers as well as their views on digital healthcare. Secondly, a usability test was conducted on an existing system at the online health service provider Kry. The interviews indicated that screen reader users face a lot of accessibility barriers online, and therefore might be hesitant towards using digital healthcare. Yet, accessible digital healthcare can bring positive consequences such as making people with visual impairments more independent in handling medical documents and communication with clinicians. Many of the common barriers mentioned, such as unlabelled buttons and missing alternative text for images were found in the usability test of the Kry app. Some barriers even caused dead ends, resulting in that only three out or eight tasks in the usability test were completed by all the participants. From the results of the interviews and usability test, this study proposes a set of recommendations for achieving screen reader friendly online services. The recommendations include for example prioritising simple navigation, always providing alternative text and to test with assistive technology. The recommendations are applicable to other types of services as well, although they might be extra important in the digital healthcare sector where accessibility is of extra high importance. / De senaste åren och speciellt sedan COVID-19 tog fart har delar av sjukvården börjat flytta ut på internet. Idag finns det en rad olika appar som patienter kan använda för att träffa läkare och för att läsa sina journaler. Det är väldigt viktigt att dessa tjänster är tillgängliga för alla patienter, oavsett om man till exempel har en funktionsnedsättning. Denna studie undersöker vilka möjligheter och utmaningar den digitala sjukvården står inför vad gäller tillgänglighetsanpassning för personer med synnedsättningar som använder skärmläsare. Åtta personer deltog i studien varav tre hade nedsatt syn och fem helt saknade synperception. Deltagarna blev först intervjuade om sina erfarenheter av att använda skärmläsare samt sin syn på digital vård. Efter det fick de göra ett användbarhetstest av den digitala vårdappen Kry. Intervjuerna visade att personer med synnedsättningar stöter på många olika typer av tillgänglighetsproblem på internet. Därför är vissa personer tveksamma till att använda digitala vårdtjänster. Om digitala vårdtjänster var väl anpassade för skärmläsare skulle de däremot kunna hjälpa personer med synnedsättningar att bli mer självständiga vad gäller till exempel hantering av medicinska dokument och kommunikation med läkare. Många av de vanligaste tillgänglighetsproblemen på internet, så som omärkta knappar och utebliven alternativ text, påträffades under användbarhetstestet av Kry-appen. Vissa av problemen var så pass allvarliga att de ledde till att deltagarna fastnade i appen. Detta gjorde i sin tur att endast tre av de åtta uppgifterna som var del av testet löstes av samtliga deltagare. Baserat på resultaten från intervjuerna och användbarhetstestet föreslår denna studie en rad rekommendationer för att göra digitala tjänster bättre anpassade för skärmläsare. Rekommendationerna innebär bland annat att prioritera enkel navigation, att alltid ha alternativ text till bilder samt att aktivt testa digitala tjänster med skärmläsare. Rekommendationerna är applicerbara på de flesta typer av digitala tjänster, men är extra viktiga att använda inom digital vård eftersom det måste vara tillgängligt för alla.

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Orientador: Luiz Cesar Martini / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T10:40:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eberlin_Samer_M.pdf: 1431060 bytes, checksum: 0cd41a07e95c21a6a407e87001437452 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A acelerada difusão do software "livre", tanto no Brasil como no exterior, vem se mostrando cada vez mais evidente nos mais diversos âmbitos (governo, empresas, escolas, etc.). A principal motivação para a transição do software "proprietário" para o "livre" é a redução de custos, mas para efetivar essa migração é necessário que ferramentas compatíveis estejam disponíveis para a manutenção da usabilidade do sistema. Essa é ainda uma barreira para a migração do usuário deficiente visual brasileiro, pois até este momento, nenhuma das tecnologias assistivas desenvolvidas para sistemas operacionais "livres" encontram-se disponíveis no idioma português. Como solução para esse problema, esta dissertação apresenta uma alternativa que efetivará essa migração, habilitando usuários cegos para realização de tarefas como edição de texto, acesso à internet, gerenciamento de arquivos, entre outras. O trabalho baseia-se na implementação de um sintetizador de voz para o português do Brasil e na tradução de uma tecnologia assistiva desenvolvida para sistemas operacionais "livres". Como parte integrante estão documentados também o desenvolvimento de um modelo compacto de computador pessoal e os resultados de testes realizados com usuários voluntários / Abstract: The accelerated diffusion of the "free" software, as much in Brazil as in the foreign, has beem shown more and more evident in the most diverse scopes (government, companies, schools, etc) The main motivation to the transition from "proprietary" software to the "free" one is the costs reduction, but to accomplish this migration compatible tools need to be available for the maintenance of the system usability. This is still a barrier for the migration of the brazilian visually impaired user, because up to this moment, none of the assistive technologies developed to "free" operating systems are available in portuguese language. As solution for this problem, this dissertation presents an alternative that will accomplish this migration, enabling blind users to carrying out tasks like text edition, internet access, file management, among others. The work is based on the implementation of a voice synthesizer for the portuguese from Brazil and on the translation of an assistive technology developed to "free" operating systems. As integrated part are also documented the development of a compact model of personal computer and the results of tests carried out with voluntary users / Mestrado / Telecomunicações e Telemática / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Bakgrund: Offentliga tjänster som 1177 har via ”Lagen om tillgänglighet till digital offentlig service” krav på att de ska vara tillgängliga for alla i Sverige oavsett funktionsvariationer. Men hur bra fungerar en tjänst som 1177 for en målgrupp med grövre synnedsättningar och behov att använda digitala verktyg för att använda 1177? Det här arbetet vill undersöka det med de har två fragorna: Vilka synpunkter har de med synnedsättning om 1177? och Hur är deras upplevelser jämfört med de krav från “Lagen om tillgänglighet till digital offentlig service” som ställs på 1177? via en fallstudie. Metod: Data samlades in via kvalitativa intervjuer och användartester. I testerna utformades ett antal scenarion kring lagkraven och vissa av Jakob Nilsens 10 användbarhetsprinciper för design av användargränssnitt. Även samlades data in från Myndigheten för digital förvaltning in, då i form av klagomål från användare av 1177. Resultat: Resultatet av arbetet är att 1177 är en bra fungerande tjänst när det gäller normal användning av tjänsten. Exempelvis se bokade tider eller meddelanden, men där det blir problem är när användarna ska börja leta reda på funktioner som de ej normalt sett använder. Problematiken då är bland annat att det ej finns en sökfunktion att använda eller att rubriker inte alltid används. Det vanligaste problemet som kom fram var att logga in med BankID då skanna en QR-kod blev mycket problematisk. Slutsatser: 1177 ar en bra tjänst i stort men den har sina problem. Vissa av problemen skulle gå att lösas med en sökfunktion och andra lösas med att användaren själv får välja vad för innehåll som ska visas. / Background: Public services such as 1177 have, via the Swedish law “Lagen om tillgänglighet till digital offentlig service”, a requirement to ensure accessibility of the service to everyone in Sweden. But how well does a service like 1177 work for a group with severe visual impairments and the need to use digital tools to be able to use 1177? This paper wants to examine it with these two questions: What point of views do they with visual impairments have of 1177? and How do their experiences compare to the requirements from the law Lagen om tillgänglighet till digital offentlig service? via a case study. Method: Data were collected via qualitative interviews and user tests. In the test, several scenarios were designed around the legal requirements and some of Jakob Nilsen’s 10 usability heuristics for the design of user interfaces. Data was also collected from the Swedish Ägency for Digital Ädministration, then in the form of complaints from users of 1177. Results: The result of the work is that 1177 is a well functioning service when it comes to normal use of the service. For example, see booked times or messages, but where the problems start is when the users start to look for or use a function they do not normally use. The problem when looking for a function can be that it is not obvious where it is and that there is no search function. But the most common problem is when signing in on a computer with mobile BankID, you must scan a QR code and that is very problematic when the user is visually impaired. Conclusions: 1177 is a good service in large but it has its problems. Some of the problems can be solved by a search function and others can be solved by letting the users decide what information to be shown.