Evaluating Accessibility and Usability of Airline Websites

The website has become a crucial part of digitalization. In recent years, the airline sector has shifted to online platforms in order to expand its client base and provide consumers with timely information and services. Usability and accessibility are essential aspects of web quality that influence consumer acquisition and retention. As a result, the purpose of this study is to assess the quality of Turkish airline websites. The website is assessed based on its accessibility, usability, and readability utilizing online automated techniques. Finally, internet tools are used to assess the mobile-friendliness of websites. According to the findings, none of the Turkish airline websites meet the WCAG 2.0 accessibility criteria and have severe usability problems.

Web Accessibility of the Top Research-Intensive Universities in the UK

Although the web accessibility of universities around the world is well documented, much remains unknown about this aspect of higher education institutions in the UK. Using three automated web accessibility tools (TAW, WAVE and EIII Page Checker), this study explores the accessibility of the homepages of 66 research-intensive universities with respect to the WCAG 2.0 checkpoints. The results show that the most common checkpoint violations involve the provision of text alternatives for non-text content, contrast errors and the need to increase the computability of webpages with future technologies and tools. The results show that there are variations between UK universities, and there is some evidence of consistent compliance amongst the university homepages. However, when evaluated against results from similar studies of web accessibility in other countries, these web pages perform well. Overall, this study adds to the body of knowledge on web accessibility in higher education in the UK.

Eva-Web: una herramienta para evaluar la accesibilidad de sitios web

En la actualidad, las personas dependen en gran medida de las tecnologías de la información para realizar su trabajo, acceder contenidos para la formación académica o entretenimiento. En este contexto, los contenidos que ofrecen los sitios web deben ser compartidos entre distintos individuos. Para lograr que los contenidos sean percibidos por todas las personas, incluyendo aquellas que tienen alguna discapacidad, se requiere que los sitios web sean accesibles. El término accesibilidad denota el grado en el cual un sistema puede ser usado por personas con el más amplio rango de capacidades. El objetivo de este trabajo, por tanto, es presentar EvA-Web (Evaluación de la Accesibilidad-Web) como una herramienta que apoya a los desarrolladores de software en la identificación de las barreras a la accesibilidad que se encuentran en los sitios web que diseñan o programan. El prototipo de esta herramienta se desarrolló tomando en cuenta las guías de accesibilidad para el contenido web, (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) WCAG 2.0. Además, presentamos los resultados de la validación del prototipo de EvA-Web en donde se evaluó un sitio web y se identificaron barreras a la accesibilidad. La herramienta EvA-Web es uno de los productos generados de una tesis realizada por una estudiante de la licenciatura en Ciencias de la Computación que se ofrece en la Universidad de Sonora.

Digital and Web Content Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities: A case study of Indian open universities

The radical development of internet and other Information and Communication Technologies have changed the scenario of education system in general and open and distance learning in particular which was further accelerated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools now a days are pivotal to any Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system. With the growth of ICT based education the issue of accessibility of digital information has also gained the attention of intelligentsia. With the interference of ICT tools, discussions have been taking place about the digital accessibility of web-based information available over websites. Websites of Open Universities are central source of educational and administrative information and learning for a learner enrolled in open and distance learning system. Further the basic promise of an open and distance learning system is providing education for marginalized group too and thus it must be as per the needs of persons with disabilities which has been recommended by United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). An enquiry has been made in present research to study primary accessibility features Screen Reader Access, High Contrast Text, Word Spacing, Text Resize feature and the feature of language change available over websites of Indian Open Universities. It was observed that about 45% of Indian Open University websites lacks any such accessibility features. Remaining 55% open universities of India, mostly were found providing two to four out of these five accessibility mechanisms required for persons with disabilities on any website. As Government of India has developed Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) which has advised government institutions to confirm their websites in compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) guidelines of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at ‘AA’ level. The preliminary study revealed that Indian Open Universities has long way to go to make their websites GIGW & WCAG 2.0 complaint in order to ensure digital accessibility in higher education through open and distance learning for persons with disabilities to ensure inclusion in higher education in India.

How diverse is hotel website accessibility? A study in the central region of Portugal using web diagnostic tools

Accessible tourism is a very important growth market that should not be ignored by the tourism industry, not only due to legal obligations and social responsibility but also because of business opportunities. However, people with special needs face various constraints in accessing tourism products. The absence of accessible information is one of the main barriers that people with special needs face when they intend to travel. The Internet represents one of the most important information sources in tourism. However, a limited number of studies examine the use of the Internet in the accessible tourism market, specifically website accessibility. To extend knowledge in this field, this study aims to analyse the website accessibility of hotels and Pousadas de Portugal located in the Central Region of Portugal. A sample of 306 websites was analysed based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, using automatic web diagnostic tools (AccessMonitor and TAW). This analysis was performed considering the A, AA and AAA conformance levels of WCAG. Findings reveal that the web accessibility level of the hotels analysed is low, with the ‘Perceivable’ and ‘Robust’ guidelines being the most critical. Moreover, there are differences in the web accessibility levels in terms of hotel category. Contrary to what was expected, the higher category hotels present the lowest level of web accessibility. These results can help hotel managers and web designers to improve communication with an important growth market – accessible tourism.

An examination on ‘website accessibility’ for active engagement of visually impaired e-commerce customers

BACKGROUND: The dominance of a digital wave is being felt in every sphere of the industry, and has been a big boon for online shoppers today. However, companies tend to ignore a section of their customer base, i.e. those who are visually impaired; although there are well-established standards set by WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Although most e-commerce companies in India conform to these guidelines, as per the recommendations from the Indian government; however ironically; these are not accessible by the blind. OBJECTIVE: This paper specially focuses on the list of problems that the visually-impaired in India face while trying to access e-commerce sites, as most of the sites haven’t conformed to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. METHOD: Qualitative analysis through the Repertory technique by Kelly in which, the grid developed for different constructs addressing various problems faced by such users in accessing e-commerce websites. FINDINGS: From the findings, it is evident that these visually impaired people are extremely open to gaining access towards the companies’ strategies, as they also want to be a part of the main segment of the society, and would in turn be a strong contributor to the profits of the companies, if they’re taken seriously. The findings also have a series of managerial as well as social implications. CONCLUSION: Further, the study also looks at lending some suggestions through which, marketing managers would be able to look into this prevailing problem, and thereby address the same, while enhancing their level of engagement with this specially-enabled client base. This would result not only in adding profits to the business at large, but also ensure customer satisfaction and delight, albeit the fact that they’re differently abled.

Access denied: Exploring web accessibility standards and their implications for users with cognitive impairments

This Major Research Paper (MRP) explores the language and conceptual organization of the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines, a universal web accessibility document that aims to guide the development of accessible websites for users with sensory, motor and cognitive disabilities. This MRP attempts to bridge the gap between the study of user behaviours of individuals with cognitive impairments and the language and prioritization schema WCAG 2.0 uses to address accessibility. A structured literature review of contemporary usability studies involving users with cognitive impairments identifies web-relevant behaviours unique to these users and provides a rudimentary introduction to the online barriers they face. A qualitative content analysis reveals, in depth, how the language and conceptual organization of WCAG 2.0 frame cognitive impairments as less important than sensory impairments. Barriers for users with cognitive impairments are less frequently addressed, and when they are, they are often given a level AAA priority designation, the least essential priority according to the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines. Individual criteria are further analyzed in the Discussion, where the themes and results of the content analysis culminate in recommendations for web developers.

Access denied: Exploring web accessibility standards and their implications for users with cognitive impairments

This Major Research Paper (MRP) explores the language and conceptual organization of the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines, a universal web accessibility document that aims to guide the development of accessible websites for users with sensory, motor and cognitive disabilities. This MRP attempts to bridge the gap between the study of user behaviours of individuals with cognitive impairments and the language and prioritization schema WCAG 2.0 uses to address accessibility. A structured literature review of contemporary usability studies involving users with cognitive impairments identifies web-relevant behaviours unique to these users and provides a rudimentary introduction to the online barriers they face. A qualitative content analysis reveals, in depth, how the language and conceptual organization of WCAG 2.0 frame cognitive impairments as less important than sensory impairments. Barriers for users with cognitive impairments are less frequently addressed, and when they are, they are often given a level AAA priority designation, the least essential priority according to the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines. Individual criteria are further analyzed in the Discussion, where the themes and results of the content analysis culminate in recommendations for web developers.

Physics webpages create barriers to participation for people with disabilities: five common web accessibility errors and possible solutions

Background While there have been numerous calls to increase the participation of people with disabilities in STEM, many postsecondary institutions are not equipped to support students with disabilities. We examined the accessibility of 139 webpages from 73 postsecondary institutions in the USA that contained information about the undergraduate physics curriculum and graduate research programs. We selected these webpages as they are common entry points for students interested in pursuing a physics degree. We used Tenon and Mac OS X’s VoiceOver software to assess the level of accessibility of these webpages as measured by alignment with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Results We found that only one webpage had minimal accessibility errors (i.e., 10 errors), while the other webpages had numerous accessibility errors. Five specific error types accounted for the majority of all errors. The five most common errors were related to information, structure, and relationships of content (1.3.1 Level A; 39.7%); text alternatives for non-text content (1.1.1 Level A; 27.0%); information about link purpose (2.4.4 Level A; 14.7%); capability to resize text (1.4.4 Level AA; 10.0%); and information about the name, role, and value of user interface components (4.1.2 Level A; 11.2%). Conclusions We present and describe the five common accessibility errors we identified in the webpages in our sample, suggest solutions for these errors, and provide implications for students with disabilities, instructors and staff, institutional administration, and the broader physics community.