Abstract
The importance of considering people with impairments’ needs in the early stage of web application design increases with technological advances. Human–computer interaction researchers have developed many applications and tools to improve inclusive web design and alleviate struggles related to the accessibility of the web. Recent Arabic web accessibility studies have shown that the Arabian countries are falling behind western countries in many aspects of web accessibility. One of these aspects is the lack of tools and applications that assist web developers in designing inclusive websites and web applications. The purpose of this research is to implement a web tool, a previously suggested solution, to improve Arabic web accessibility and examine the effects of using an Arabic web accessibility tool as a solution to enhance Arabic web accessibility. An Arabic web accessibility testing tool called AATT was developed, tested, and improved. This research will report the final analysis and results of using the improved version of AATT. Thirty-one web developer participants took part in this study. Twenty-two of the survey respondents evaluated the tool while nine used it to improve some websites. The nine participants were chosen from different organizations in Saudi Arabia. The participants are web developers who manage organizations’ websites: two universities, a hospital, four charities, four cultural content, and one personal website. Some of these organizations’ websites are administrated by one or more web developers. One of the web developers administers our charity websites. So, twelve websites’ homepages were tested and improved using AATT. The findings show that AATT enhanced the accessibility of Arabic websites, provided user satisfaction, and improved web accessibility awareness.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abanumy A, Al-Badi A, Mayhew P (2005) e-Government website accessibility: in-depth evaluation of Saudi Arabia and Oman. Electron J e-Government 3(3):99–106
Abascal J, Arrue M, Fajardo I, Garay N, Toms J (2004a) The use of guidelines to automatically verify web accessibility. Univ Access Inf Soc 3(1):71–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-003-0069-3
Abu Shawar B (2015) Evaluating web accessibility of educational websites. Int J Emerg Technol Learn (IJET) 10(4):4. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v10i4.4518
Al-Khalifa HS (2010) The accessibility of Saudi Arabia government web sites: an exploratory study. Univ Access Inf Soc 11(2):201–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-010-0215-7
AlMeraj Z, Boujarwah F, Alhuwail D, Qadri R (2020) Evaluating the accessibility of higher education institution websites in the State of Kuwait: empirical evidence. Univ Access Inf Soc 20(1):121–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-020-00717-8
Alnahari MM, Chakraborty JM (2021) Web accessibility research and practice: the need for Arabic web accessibility improvement. Int J Art Culture Des Technol IJACDT 10(1):36–49
Beseiso M, Ahmad AR, Ismail R (2010) A survey of Arabic language support in semantic web. Int J Comput Appl 9(1):35–40. https://doi.org/10.5120/1348-1818
El-Soud MA, Hassan AE, Kandil MS, Shohieb SM (2010) A proposed web-based framework for e-learning and dictionary system for deaf Arab students. IJECS 2828:106401
Hadidi MS, Al Khateeb JM (2015) Special education in Arab countries: current challenges. Int J Disabil Dev Educ 62(5):518–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912x.2015.1049127
Martín Y-S, Yelmo JC (2014) Guidance for the development of accessibility evaluation tools following the unified software development process. Procedia Comp Sci 27:302–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2014.02.033
Omari A (2013) Technology adoption in the Arabian Gulf countries: the case of e-government. Int J Comp Sci, Eng Inf Technol 3(3):1–8. https://doi.org/10.5121/ijcseit.2013.3301
Weber AS (2016) Web-based learning in Qatar and the GCC States. SSRN Electron J. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2825912
Alnahari, M., Chakraborty, J. (2019). Preliminary findings from a study of an Arabic accessibility tool checker. Lect Notes Comp Sci, 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23560-4_15
Al-Faries, A., Al-Khalifa, H. S., Al-Razgan, M. S., & Al-Duwais, M. (2013). Evaluating the accessibility and usabilityf top Saudi e-government services. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance. https://doi.org/10.1145/2591888.2591898
Alayed, A., Wald, M., and Draffan, E. A. (2016). Developing a framework for localised web accessibility guidelines for university websites in Saudi Arabia. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 243–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41264-1_33
Antonelli, H. L., Rodrigues, S. S., Watanabe, W. M., & de Mattos Fortes, R. P. (2018, June). A survey on accessibility awareness of Brazilian web developers. In Proceedings of the 8th international conference on software development and technologies for enhancing accessibility and fighting info-exclusion (pp. 71–79).
Al-Gain, S. (1970, January 1). Issues and obstacles in disability research in Saudi Arabia. Semantic Scholar. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ISSUES-AND-OBSTACLES-IN-DISABILITY-RESEARCH-IN-Al-Gain-Alabdulwahab/52c1af9f72be80535195f823bef41c93fdc7b8a2.
Akram, M., & Bt, R. (2017). A systematic literature review to determine the web accessibility issues in Saudi Arabian university and government websites for disable people. International Journal of Advanced ComputerScience and Applications, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.14569/ijacsa.2017.080642
Abascal, J., Arrue, M., Fajardo, I., Garay, N., & Toms, J. (2004b). The use of guidelines to automatically verify web accessibility. Universal Access in the Information
Benavídez, C., Fuertes, J. L., Gutiérrez, E., & Martínez, L. (2006). Semi-automatic evaluation of web accessibility with HERA 2.0. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/11788713_30
Bigby, G. (2018). WCAG: Web content accessibility guidelines explained. https://dynomapper.com/blog/27-accessibility-testing/273-wcag-the-web-content-accessibility-guidelines-explained.
Bigby, G. (2019a). Top 25 awesome accessibility testing tools for websites. Create Sitemaps - Sitemap Generator - Visual Sitemap Generator. https://dynomapper.com/blog/27-accessibility-testing/246-top-25-awesome-accessibility-testing-tools-for-websites.
Bigby, G. (2019b). What is web accessibility? DYNO Mapper. https://dynomapper.com/blog/27-accessibility-testing/555-what-is-web-accessibility.
Gay, G., & Li, C. Q. (2010, April). AChecker: open, interactive, customizable, web accessibility checking. In Proceedings of the 2010 international cross disciplinary conference on web accessibility (W4A) (pp. 1–2).
Herramhof, S., Petrie, H., Strobbe, C., Vlachogiannis, E., Weimann, K., Weber, G., & Velasco, C. A. (2006). Test case management tools for accessibility testing. Lect Notes Comp Sci 215–222. https://doi.org/10.1007/11788713_32
Henry, S. L. (2021, January 6). W3C accessibility standards overview. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). http://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/#wcag. WorldWideWeb Consortium.Web Accessibility Initiative. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Kan Boon Hock, S., & Lafi, S. M. (2011). Assistive communication technologies for augmentative communication in Arab countries: research issues. UNITAR e-Journal, 7(1).
Liginlal, D., & Al-Muftah, D. (2017). Web accessibility as a barrier to successful digital ... https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301372250.pdf.
Masood Rana, M., Fakrudeen, M., & Rana, U. (2011). Evaluating web accessibility of university web sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Technology, Knowledge & Society, 7(3).
Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Wolfgang, Z., Karshmer, A., Al-Wabil, A., Zaphiris, Wilson, S. (2006). Web design for dyslexics: accessibility of Arabic content. In, Computers Helping People with Special Needs (p. 817).
Petrie, H., & Kheir, O. (2007). The relationship between accessibility and usability of websites. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ‘07. https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240688
Pearson, E., Bailey, C., & Green, S. (2011). A tool to support the web accessibility evaluation process for novices. Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on innovation and technology in computer science education - ITiCSE ‘11. https://doi.org/10.1145/1999747.1999758
Pearson, E., Bailey, C., & Green, S. (2011). A tool to support the web accessibility evaluation process for novices. Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on innovation and technology in computer science education - ITiCSE ‘11. https://doi.org/10.1145/1999747.1999758
Sloan, D. (2006). The effectiveness of the web accessibility audit as a motivational and educational tool in inclusive web design (Doctoral dissertation, School of Computing).
Saleem, M. (2018). Arabic web accessibility guidelines. Proceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3192714.3196315
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alnahari, M.M., Chakraborty, J., Mohamed, M. et al. Arabic web accessibility analysis: findings from a usability study of Arabian web developers. Hum.-Intell. Syst. Integr. 4, 81–96 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42454-022-00045-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42454-022-00045-7