An accessibility and usability evaluation of the help desk web page for student with disability, included in the University of Rome “La Sapienza” web site, has been carried out on a design based on integration between the top-down and the bottom-up approach to the accessibility and usability criteria. The top-down method is devoted to verify the conformity of the interfaces to standard rules stated by national and international organisms of internet control, such as WAI. Conversely, the bottom-up method studies how the final users interact with the artificial system, accessing levels of user satisfaction based on personal factors and environmental barriers. In order to perform this empirical design five kinds of measurements were applied: 1. Preliminary evaluation of the compliance with the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines using Watchfire® Bobby™; 2. Accessibility by means of graphic browser Microsoft Explorer 5; and 3. Accessibility by means of textual browser Lynx 2.8.4. 4. Direct observation of the user’s behaviour by the “Thinking aloud” test; 5. Submission of standardize psychometric tool: SUMI (Software Usability Measurement Inventory) developed by University College Cork’s “Human Factors Research Group” and the collaboration of the “MUSiC project”. The health and health related conditions of the students were assessed by means of WHODAS II, It must be noted that the aforementioned students were labelled as disabled on the basis on their own declaration at the University enrolment. Top-down and bottom-up methods highlighted different and sometimes conflicting results. Both methods have pointed out much more consistency about levels of accessibility than usability ones. Since usability is largely affected by individual differences in user’s (dis)abilities, bottom-up measures underscored the fact that blind students encountered much more web surfing difficulties.
Accessibility and usability evaluation of the help desk web page for student with disability in the University of Rome “La Sapienza” web site
FEDERICI, Stefano;
2003
Abstract
An accessibility and usability evaluation of the help desk web page for student with disability, included in the University of Rome “La Sapienza” web site, has been carried out on a design based on integration between the top-down and the bottom-up approach to the accessibility and usability criteria. The top-down method is devoted to verify the conformity of the interfaces to standard rules stated by national and international organisms of internet control, such as WAI. Conversely, the bottom-up method studies how the final users interact with the artificial system, accessing levels of user satisfaction based on personal factors and environmental barriers. In order to perform this empirical design five kinds of measurements were applied: 1. Preliminary evaluation of the compliance with the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines using Watchfire® Bobby™; 2. Accessibility by means of graphic browser Microsoft Explorer 5; and 3. Accessibility by means of textual browser Lynx 2.8.4. 4. Direct observation of the user’s behaviour by the “Thinking aloud” test; 5. Submission of standardize psychometric tool: SUMI (Software Usability Measurement Inventory) developed by University College Cork’s “Human Factors Research Group” and the collaboration of the “MUSiC project”. The health and health related conditions of the students were assessed by means of WHODAS II, It must be noted that the aforementioned students were labelled as disabled on the basis on their own declaration at the University enrolment. Top-down and bottom-up methods highlighted different and sometimes conflicting results. Both methods have pointed out much more consistency about levels of accessibility than usability ones. Since usability is largely affected by individual differences in user’s (dis)abilities, bottom-up measures underscored the fact that blind students encountered much more web surfing difficulties.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
