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Web User Interface Adaptation for Low Vision People: An Exploratory Study Based on a Grounded Theory Review Method

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Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Novel Design Approaches and Technologies (HCII 2022)

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Abstract

People with visual impairments (PVI) are characterized as a diverse population of users due to multiple vision impairments like visual acuity, light and glare sensitivity, contrast sensitivity, limited field of vision, color blindness. In that context, adaptation is a key element for coping with diversity in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This study explores the adaptation to provide accessible web user interfaces for low vision people. To do so, we relied on Grounded Theory (GT) as a review method to cover academics and mainstream web perspectives. In the spirit of all is data, we collected a set of scientific publications, initiatives led by leading actors in Information and Communication Technology, and PVI organizations over the past ten years. Our findings show that academics followed particularist, user-centered, and proactive principles, but rarely included PVI in the early project stage. While most solutions are based on adaptivity, adaptation is still under investigation. Regarding the mainstream web perspective, recent initiatives followed universality, multi-stakeholder involvement, and proactivity principles. In opposition to the academic perspective, accessibility has been exclusively based on adaptability and tailored user interfaces. As the adaptability features become more and more advanced, the frontier between specialized assistive technology will be blurred. Hence, we recommend investigating environments of adaptation stacking with a better alignment between academics and industry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.a11yproject.com/.

  2. 2.

    The AFB website provided text size adaptation on the 1st of January 2010. See: https://web.archive.org/web/20100101192728/https://afb.org/.

  3. 3.

    https://github.com/microsoft/immersive-reader-sdk/releases.

  4. 4.

    Safari integrated the Reader Mode in version 5 [54]. The original version of the AFB website did not integrate adaptability. See: https://web.archive.org/web/20000302105032/https://afb.org/.

  5. 5.

    From a randomly selected sample of 100 website URLs, only 2% of homepages and 41% of child pages were available in Firefox Reader View [26].

  6. 6.

    The logic behind Browser Reader View is provided by Mozilla Firefox in open-source. See: https://github.com/mozilla/readability.

  7. 7.

    Microsoft Immersive Reader is built into Microsoft applications (e.g. Word, OneNote, Outlook, Edge web browser) or can be used as a cloud service (Azure Cognitive Services). At this moment, Azure is the only major cloud provider offering this type of reading technology [63].

  8. 8.

    ZoomText User Guide, January 2021.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. HEG Arc, HES-SO//University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Maximiliano Jeanneret Medina & Cédric Baudet

  2. Human-IST Institute, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Maximiliano Jeanneret Medina & Denis Lalanne

Authors
  1. Maximiliano Jeanneret Medina
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  2. Cédric Baudet
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  3. Denis Lalanne
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maximiliano Jeanneret Medina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  2. University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

Appendices

Appendix 1: Codebook

Category

Codes

References

Community of focus*

People with visual impairments (PVI); blind (B); people with low vision (PLV); people with color vision deficiency (PCVD); maker (M, e.g. web designers, developers); sighted or people without vision disabilities (S)

[1]

Study methoda

Controlled experiment; interview; survey; usability testing; accessibility testing; case study; focus group; field study; workshop or design session(s); observation; other

[20]

Participant groups*

PVI; people with disabilities (PD); specialists (e.g., therapists, teachers); people without disabilities; researchers; no user study; other

[1, 20]

Use of proxies*

Yes; No

[20]

Contribution typea*

Empirical; artifact; methodological (accessibility guidelines/standards; adaptation technique; model); theoretical (e.g. model, ontology); survey

[20]

Target population (who is targeted)

Particularist (one disability, e.g. vision); Universalist (e.g. multiple disabilities, people with and without disabilities such as sighted and blind)

[5, 12, 25]

Design Perspective (who is involved)

Maker-centered; user-centered; maker/user-centered; multiple stakeholders

[5, 12, 25]

Accessibility Efforts (when and how accessibility is included)

Reactive (a posteriori adaptation) or proactive (accessibility thought by default). If proactive, can be direct (involve at early project stage; the design respect WCAG), undirect (start from a common accessibility issue), or N/A for design and evaluation phases

[5, 12, 25]

Adaptation Type*

Adaptability (user-invoked adaptation); adaptivity (system runtime adaptation); tailored (adaptation at design time, authored by the maker or generated by a system)

[13, 32]

Adaptation On* (what is adapted?)

Structure; style; content, behavior (of UI parts)

[33]

Adaptation Source* (adapt from what)

User features (knowledge, preferences, task, disability, and position), technology used (device, connectivity, browser)

[32, 39, 40]

  1. Note: An (a) indicates a category only for the academic perspective. A star (*) indicates if multiple codes are possible for the category.

Appendix 2: Sample of PVI Organization Websites

PVI Organization

Acronym

URL

Adaptation

African Union of the Blind

AFUB

http://www.afub-uafa.org/

Adaptability

Kenya Union of the Blind

KUB

http://kub.or.ke/

 

The Royal Society for the Blind

RSB

https://www.rsb.org.au/

Adaptability

All Russia Association of the Blind

VOS

https://www.vos.org.ru/

Adaptability

Confédération Française pour la Promotion Sociale des Aveugles et Amblyopes

CFPSAA

http://www.cfpsaa.fr/

 

Unione Italiana dei Ciechi e degli Ipovedenti

ONLUS-APS

http://www.uiciechi.it/

 

Organização Nacional de Cegos do Brasil

ONCB

http://fundacaodorina.org.br/

Adaptability

Unión Nacional De Ciegos Del Uruguay

UNCU

https://www.uncu.org.uy/

 

Qatar Social and Cultural Centre for the Blind

QSCCB

http://www.blind.gov.qa/en

Adaptability; Tailored UI

Canadian National Institute for the Blind

CNIB

https://www.cnib.ca/

Adaptability

American Foundation for the Blind

AFB

https://www.afb.org/

Adaptability

National Federation of the Blind

NFB

https://nfb.org/

 

American Council of the Blind

ACB

https://www.acb.org/

Adaptability

All India Confederation Of The Blind

AICB

https://www.aicb.org.in/

Adaptability

National Federation of the Blind

NFB

http://www.nfbindia.org/

 

National Association for the Blind

NAB

http://www.nabindia.org/

 

Pakistan Association of the Blind

PAB

https://pabnpk.org/

 
  1. Note: PVI Organizations (n = 17) are part of the World Blind Union, and in the top two countries in their respective region according to the DARE Index 2020.

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Jeanneret Medina, M., Baudet, C., Lalanne, D. (2022). Web User Interface Adaptation for Low Vision People: An Exploratory Study Based on a Grounded Theory Review Method. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Novel Design Approaches and Technologies. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13308. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05028-2_1

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