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Municipal web sites accessibility and usability for blind users: preliminary results from a pilot study

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Abstract

Despite the existing regulations and standards at national and international level, web content is still difficult to use, if not completely unusable, for visually impaired people. This paper presents the evaluation results for three municipal web sites. A combined method, based on conformance review and expert review, was employed. Overall, the results reveal a low conformance to WCAG2 and many accessibility and usability problems. The content is not properly structured, and this reduces usability even for sighted user. The analysis of the evaluation data suggests that many accessibility barriers could be avoided by adopting a user-centered approach during web design.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried on in the framework of the Eureka Cluster ITEA2 European project USIXML (08026) funded by UEFISCDI under the PNCDI II Innovation Program 294E.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics–ICI Bucharest, Bd. Maresal Averescu 8-10, Bucharest, Romania

    Costin Pribeanu

  2. BAUM Engineering, Str.Traian Moşoiu 8, Arad, Romania

    Paul Fogarassy-Neszly & Aurel Pătru

  3. School Center for Visually Disabled Children, Str. Ghica Vodă 4-10, Arad, Romania

    Aurel Pătru

Authors
  1. Costin Pribeanu
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  2. Paul Fogarassy-Neszly
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  3. Aurel Pătru
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Correspondence to Costin Pribeanu.

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Pribeanu, C., Fogarassy-Neszly, P. & Pătru, A. Municipal web sites accessibility and usability for blind users: preliminary results from a pilot study. Univ Access Inf Soc 13, 339–349 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-013-0315-2

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