This document summarizes a study presented at the 11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility. The study explored the web navigation strategies of 11 users with similar upper-body physical impairments. Participants completed two tasks on an accessible website while their interactions were video recorded. The results showed heterogeneity in strategies between users. Recommendations were provided to address issues identified, such as adding hot areas around links for those with low accuracy, and providing shortcuts and indexes for those limited by distances. The conclusions call for future work integrating identified adaptation techniques and assistive technologies like speech recognition.

1. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
Laboratory of HCI for Special Needs
J. Eduardo Pérez1, Myriam Arrue1 & Xabier Valencia1
> University of the Basque Country
1: juaneduardo.perez
myriam.arrue
xabier.valencia
}@ehu.es
Lourdes Moreno2
> University Carlos III of Madrid
2: lmoreno@uc3m.es
Exploratory Study of
Web Navigation Strategies for
Users with Physical Disabilities

2. • Similar accessibility solutions proposed
for different physically impaired needs
• Vast diversity within this group of users
• Decline in productivity & satisfaction
when navigating on the Web
April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
Motivation
2/11

3. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
3/11
• Two tasks on an accessible website
• 11 users [similar upper-body physical impairments /
different level of expertise and assistive technology used]
• Analyse recorded videos to study participants
main interactions [pointing to links, clicking on links,
page scrolling & back/forward navigation]
Study

4. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
Stimuli & procedure
4/11
• [www.discapnet.com] informational website for
people with disabilities
• WCAG 1.0 > level AA conformance
• Two tasks: free (task1) & search (task2) navigation
• Video recorded sessions with a camera located behind
the user
• Personal interview, demographic and expertise
questionnaires

5. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
5/11
Participants

6. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
6/11
Interaction data
}
}Task 1: free
navigation
Task 2: search
navigation

7. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
7/11
• Numeric keypad and head pointer users
limited by distances:
– Provide an index of the information in the page
– Provide navigation bars
– Provide quick access to topics within a website}T1
T2
Results discussion

8. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
8/11
Results discussion
• Joystick, trackball, mouse and touchpad
users lack of accuracy close to target:
– Add hot area around hyperlinks
– Define graphical buttons at least of 180x22 pixels size
}T1
T2

9. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
9/11
Results discussion
• Using scroll bar buttons (instead
specific keys) additional problems:
– Strechtext
– Break pages into chunks of no more than one/two
screens
• Using keyboard shortcuts decreases
time & effort for pointing on targets
– Provide shortcuts in a visible way
}
}T1
T2

10. April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
University of the Basque Country
Conclusions
10/11
• Vast heterogeneity of interaction strategies
within upper body impaired users
• To consider in future work:
– Integrate and test adaptations techniques identified
within an automatic adaptation system developed
previously
– Speech recognition, eye-tracking and other assistive
technologies
– Interaction with other type of websites

11. University of the Basque Country
Thank you for your attention
Laboratory of HCI for Special Needs
Exploratory Study of
Web Navigation Strategies for
Users with Physical Disabilities
April 7, Seoul (Korea)
Session 3: Web Browsing and Personalization
11th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2014)
11/11