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End User Evaluations

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Web Accessibility

Part of the book series: Human-Computer Interaction Series ((HCIS))

Abstract

As new technologies emerge, and Web sites become increasingly sophisticated, ensuring they remain accessible to disabled and small-screen users is a major challenge. While guidelines and automated evaluation tools are useful for informing some aspects of Web site design, numerous studies have demonstrated that they provide no guarantee that the site is genuinely accessible. The only reliable way to evaluate the accessibility of a site is to study the intended users interacting with it. This chapter outlines the processes that can be used throughout the design life cycle to ensure Web accessibility, describing their strengths and weaknesses, and discussing the practical and ethical considerations that they entail. The chapter also considers an important emerging trend in user evaluations: combining data from studies of “standard” Web use with data describing existing accessibility issues, to drive accessibility solutions forward.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.sightandsound.co.uk/

  2. 2.

    http://www.yourdolphin.co.uk/

  3. 3.

    http://www.gwmicro.com/

  4. 4.

    http://hcw.cs.manchester.ac.uk/

  5. 5.

    http://hcw.cs.manchester.ac.uk/research/sadie/

  6. 6.

    British Computer Association of the Blind

  7. 7.

    http://hcw.cs.manchester.ac.uk/research/vicram/

  8. 8.

    http://hcw.cs.manchester.ac.uk/research/riam/

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

    Caroline Jay

Authors
  1. Caroline Jay
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  2. Darren Lunn
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  3. Eleni Michailidou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Caroline Jay .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Manchester, UK

    Simon Harper  & Yeliz Yesilada  & 

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag London Limited

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Jay, C., Lunn, D., Michailidou, E. (2008). End User Evaluations. In: Harper, S., Yesilada, Y. (eds) Web Accessibility. Human-Computer Interaction Series. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-050-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-050-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84800-049-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84800-050-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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