Web 2.0 Vision for the Blind

Abstract

In today’s world, access to the Web has turned into a basic need. The Web eases daily life significantly and has turned into an essential- and in some scenarios even exclusive-channel for information, communication and transactions. However, the Web does not simplify life for everyone. To guarantee the benefit of the Web for the entire human population, the needs of user groups with special requirements such as blind users are of supreme importance. Recently, especially with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, new barriers have been created. We believe, the only solution is that a blind person consuming the Web is put back in full charge of how to consume it. In the ABBA (Advanced Barrier-free Browser Accessibility) project described in this paper, on the one hand we create empirical field-studies where we investigate the problems blind users face in the Web, and on the other hand a methodology and system that provides them with the kind of help a sighted assistant would give. To create such a methodology, understanding of how blind users perceive Web pages is essential and reflected by creating mental models. Based on these models, strategies for different axes of navigating a Web page are devised.

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