Automated Accessibility Evaluation of Mobile Applications on Initial Stages of Design and Development

Research Article
Open access

Automated Accessibility Evaluation of Mobile Applications on Initial Stages of Design and Development

Lyba Kashif 1* , CM Nadeem Faisal 2 , Toqeer Mahmood 3
  • 1 Department of Computer Science, National Textile University, Faisalabad-37610, Pakistan    
  • 2 Department of Computer Science, National Textile University, Faisalabad-37610, Pakistan    
  • 3 Department of Computer Science, National Textile University, Faisalabad-37610, Pakistan    
  • *corresponding author lybakashif@gmail.com
Published on 22 March 2023 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2755-2721/2/20220571
ACE Vol.2
ISSN (Print): 2755-273X
ISSN (Online): 2755-2721
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-19-5
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-20-1

Abstract

The growth of users' reliance on smartphones increases as new features and functions are continuously added to these technologies. Accessibility is an essential characteristic of information architecture in interface design research. There is a need to focus on accessibility to minimize the efforts, cost, and time during mobile application design and development. Most of the applications available on the App/Play Store lack the accessibility guidelines during development because implementing these aspects requires sufficient time and resources. Especially start-up companies normally ignore accessibility because it requires additional resources. However, perceivable design may increase profits, downloads, and reputation. Thus, the designer should ensure that their applications are perceivable and usable to satisfy the individuals. The underlying research intends to develop an automated accessibility analysis and design evaluation tool for mobile applications. Accordingly, the researchers developed a solution as a plugin for Figma. Further, the authors selected seven important techniques from the WCAG 2.1 success criterion. Finally, the proposed solution evaluates the designed screen (frame) and generates results in the report form. The proposed automated solution based on the success criterion helps the application's developers and is also useful for related stakeholders by filling the gap in the existing design related tools.

Keywords:

automatic evaluation, universal access, accessibility, interface design, information architecture

Kashif,L.;Faisal,C.N.;Mahmood,T. (2023). Automated Accessibility Evaluation of Mobile Applications on Initial Stages of Design and Development. Applied and Computational Engineering,2,640-648.
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References

[1]. Faisal, C.M.N., Fernandez-Lanvin, D., De Andrés, J. and Gonzalez-Rodriguez, M, "Design quality in building behavioral intention through affective and cognitive involvement for e-learning on smartphones," Internet Research, 30(6), 1631-1663 (2020).

[2]. Faisal, C. N., Gonzalez-Rodriguez, M., Fernandez-Lanvin, D., & de Andres-Suarez, J. Web design attributes in building user trust, satisfaction, and loyalty for a high uncertainty avoidance culture. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 47(6), 847-859 (2016)

[3]. Abascal, J., Arrue, M., & Valencia, X. Tools for web accessibility evaluation. In Web Accessibility (pp. 479-503). Springer, London (2019)

[4]. Nuñez, A., Moquillaza, A., & Paz, F. Web accessibility evaluation methods: a systematic review. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 226-237). Springer, Cham (2019).

[5]. Safi, Q. G. K., Nawaz, T., Shah, S. M. A., and Mahmood, T., “Intelligent device independent ui adaption for heterogeneous ubiquitous environments,” IJCSNS, vol. 11, p. 75, 2011.

[6]. Acosta-Vargas, P., Salvador-Ullauri, L., Jadán-Guerrero, J., Guevara, C., Sanchez-Gordon, S., Calle-Jimenez, T., Lara-Alvarez, P., Medina, A. and Nunes, I.L., July. Accessibility assessment in mobile applications for android. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 279-288). Springer, Cham (2019).

[7]. Yeliz Yesilada, Giorgio Brajnik, Markel Vigo & Simon Harper. Exploring perceptions of web accessibility: a survey approach, Behaviour & Information Technology, 34(2), 119-134 (2015).

[8]. World Health Organization, "Disability and health," 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health.

[9]. Petrie, Helen, and Omar Kheir. "The relationship between accessibility and usability of websites." In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pp. 397-406. 2007.

[10]. Arch, Andrew. "Web accessibility for older users: successes and opportunities (keynote)." In Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A), 1-6. (2009).

[11]. Petrie, H., & Bevan, N. (2009). The Evaluation of Accessibility, Usability, and User Experience. The universal access handbook, 1, 1-16 (2009).

[12]. Sohaib, O., & Kang, K. E-commerce web accessibility for people with disabilities. In Complexity in Information Systems Development (pp. 87-100). Springer, Cham (2017).

[13]. Wilson, A., & Crabb, M. W3C Accessibility guidelines for mobile games. The Computer Games Journal, 7(2), 49-61 (2018).

[14]. Ismailova, R. Web site accessibility, usability, and security: a survey of government websites in Kyrgyz Republic. Universal Access in the Information Society, 16(1), 257-264 (2017).

[15]. smail, A., & Kuppusamy, K. S. Accessibility of Indian universities' homepages: An exploratory study. Journal of King Saud University-Computer and Information Sciences, 30(2), 268-278 (2018).

[16]. Aizpurua, A., Harper, S., & Vigo, M. Exploring the relationship between web accessibility and user experience. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 91, 13-23 (2016).

[17]. Sinha, A. (2020, September). Web Accessibility Analysis on Government of India Websites based on WCAG. In 2020 IEEE International IoT, Electronics and Mechatronics Conference (IEMTRONICS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

[18]. Acosta, T., Acosta-Vargas, P., Zambrano-Miranda, J., & Lujan-Mora, S. Web Accessibility evaluation of videos published on YouTube by worldwide top-ranking universities. IEEE Access, 8, (2020).

[19]. Yan, S., & Ramachandran, P. G. The current status of accessibility in mobile apps. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 12(1), 1-31 (2019).

[20]. Kurt, S. Moving toward a universally accessible web: Web accessibility and education. Assistive Technology (2018).

[21]. Al-Khalifa, H. S. WCAG 2.0 Semi-automatic Accessibility Evaluation System: Design and Implementation. Comput. Inf. Sci., 5(6), 73-87 (2012).

[22]. Eler, M. M., Rojas, J. M., Ge, Y., & Fraser, G. Automated accessibility testing of mobile apps. In 2018 IEEE 11th International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST) (pp. 116-126). IEEE (2018).

[23]. Arrue, M., Vigo, M., & Abascal, J. Automatic evaluation of mobile web accessibility. In Universal Access in Ambient Intelligence Environments (pp. 244-260). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2007).

[24]. Broccia, G., Manca, M., Paternò, F., & Pulina, F. Flexible automatic support for web accessibility validation. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(EICS), 1-24, (2020).

[25]. Acosta-Vargas, P., Salvador-Ullauri, L., Jadán-Guerrero, J., Guevara, C., Sanchez-Gordon, S., Calle-Jimenez, T., ... & Nunes, I. L. Accessibility assessment in mobile applications for android. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (279-288). Springer, Cham (2019).

[26]. W3C, https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/, last accessed 2022/01/22.

[27]. Kulkarni, M. Digital accessibility: Challenges and opportunities. IIMB Management Review, 31(1), 91-98 (2019).

Cite this article

Kashif,L.;Faisal,C.N.;Mahmood,T. (2023). Automated Accessibility Evaluation of Mobile Applications on Initial Stages of Design and Development. Applied and Computational Engineering,2,640-648.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computing and Data Science (CONF-CDS 2022)

ISBN：978-1-915371-19-5(Print) / 978-1-915371-20-1(Online)
Editor：Alan Wang
Conference website: https://www.confcds.org/
Conference date: 16 July 2022
Series: Applied and Computational Engineering
Volume number: Vol.2
ISSN：2755-2721(Print) / 2755-273X(Online)

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References

[1]. Faisal, C.M.N., Fernandez-Lanvin, D., De Andrés, J. and Gonzalez-Rodriguez, M, "Design quality in building behavioral intention through affective and cognitive involvement for e-learning on smartphones," Internet Research, 30(6), 1631-1663 (2020).

[2]. Faisal, C. N., Gonzalez-Rodriguez, M., Fernandez-Lanvin, D., & de Andres-Suarez, J. Web design attributes in building user trust, satisfaction, and loyalty for a high uncertainty avoidance culture. IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 47(6), 847-859 (2016)

[3]. Abascal, J., Arrue, M., & Valencia, X. Tools for web accessibility evaluation. In Web Accessibility (pp. 479-503). Springer, London (2019)

[4]. Nuñez, A., Moquillaza, A., & Paz, F. Web accessibility evaluation methods: a systematic review. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 226-237). Springer, Cham (2019).

[5]. Safi, Q. G. K., Nawaz, T., Shah, S. M. A., and Mahmood, T., “Intelligent device independent ui adaption for heterogeneous ubiquitous environments,” IJCSNS, vol. 11, p. 75, 2011.

[6]. Acosta-Vargas, P., Salvador-Ullauri, L., Jadán-Guerrero, J., Guevara, C., Sanchez-Gordon, S., Calle-Jimenez, T., Lara-Alvarez, P., Medina, A. and Nunes, I.L., July. Accessibility assessment in mobile applications for android. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 279-288). Springer, Cham (2019).

[7]. Yeliz Yesilada, Giorgio Brajnik, Markel Vigo & Simon Harper. Exploring perceptions of web accessibility: a survey approach, Behaviour & Information Technology, 34(2), 119-134 (2015).

[8]. World Health Organization, "Disability and health," 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health.

[9]. Petrie, Helen, and Omar Kheir. "The relationship between accessibility and usability of websites." In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pp. 397-406. 2007.

[10]. Arch, Andrew. "Web accessibility for older users: successes and opportunities (keynote)." In Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A), 1-6. (2009).

[11]. Petrie, H., & Bevan, N. (2009). The Evaluation of Accessibility, Usability, and User Experience. The universal access handbook, 1, 1-16 (2009).

[12]. Sohaib, O., & Kang, K. E-commerce web accessibility for people with disabilities. In Complexity in Information Systems Development (pp. 87-100). Springer, Cham (2017).

[13]. Wilson, A., & Crabb, M. W3C Accessibility guidelines for mobile games. The Computer Games Journal, 7(2), 49-61 (2018).

[14]. Ismailova, R. Web site accessibility, usability, and security: a survey of government websites in Kyrgyz Republic. Universal Access in the Information Society, 16(1), 257-264 (2017).

[15]. smail, A., & Kuppusamy, K. S. Accessibility of Indian universities' homepages: An exploratory study. Journal of King Saud University-Computer and Information Sciences, 30(2), 268-278 (2018).

[16]. Aizpurua, A., Harper, S., & Vigo, M. Exploring the relationship between web accessibility and user experience. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 91, 13-23 (2016).

[17]. Sinha, A. (2020, September). Web Accessibility Analysis on Government of India Websites based on WCAG. In 2020 IEEE International IoT, Electronics and Mechatronics Conference (IEMTRONICS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

[18]. Acosta, T., Acosta-Vargas, P., Zambrano-Miranda, J., & Lujan-Mora, S. Web Accessibility evaluation of videos published on YouTube by worldwide top-ranking universities. IEEE Access, 8, (2020).

[19]. Yan, S., & Ramachandran, P. G. The current status of accessibility in mobile apps. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS), 12(1), 1-31 (2019).

[20]. Kurt, S. Moving toward a universally accessible web: Web accessibility and education. Assistive Technology (2018).

[21]. Al-Khalifa, H. S. WCAG 2.0 Semi-automatic Accessibility Evaluation System: Design and Implementation. Comput. Inf. Sci., 5(6), 73-87 (2012).

[22]. Eler, M. M., Rojas, J. M., Ge, Y., & Fraser, G. Automated accessibility testing of mobile apps. In 2018 IEEE 11th International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST) (pp. 116-126). IEEE (2018).

[23]. Arrue, M., Vigo, M., & Abascal, J. Automatic evaluation of mobile web accessibility. In Universal Access in Ambient Intelligence Environments (pp. 244-260). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2007).

[24]. Broccia, G., Manca, M., Paternò, F., & Pulina, F. Flexible automatic support for web accessibility validation. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(EICS), 1-24, (2020).

[25]. Acosta-Vargas, P., Salvador-Ullauri, L., Jadán-Guerrero, J., Guevara, C., Sanchez-Gordon, S., Calle-Jimenez, T., ... & Nunes, I. L. Accessibility assessment in mobile applications for android. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (279-288). Springer, Cham (2019).

[26]. W3C, https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/, last accessed 2022/01/22.

[27]. Kulkarni, M. Digital accessibility: Challenges and opportunities. IIMB Management Review, 31(1), 91-98 (2019).

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