INTERACT 2001 (8th IFIP TC 13 Conference on HCI)
in terms of
Workshop on Issues on the application of guidelines to the design of HCI systems
for older people and people with disabilities, 2001.
Enhancing the Applicability and Impact of Recommendations and Tools for Accessibility of Internet Services
P. Koutsabasis, J.S. Darzentas, T. Spyrou, C.A. Velasco, H. Gappa, G. Nordbrock, J. Darzentas
Abstract
Accessibility is usually conceived as an add-on feature at the user interface of Internet services, which is considered to require ‘extra’ design and development effort. The paper claims that this is a limited approach to a wider issue: that of good user-based design, if possible for all end users. However, in order to alter this approach for Internet service design, a number of steps need to be followed. These steps are related to the a) explanation of the rationale of the design of current recommendations; b) purposeful synthesis and elaboration of the large amount of existing work into a set of design requirements that can address all end-users; and c) incorporation into Web development tools of both the rationale of design of recommendations and the elaborated design requirements. These issues are dealt by IST project IRIS that aims to encapsulate into a design aid environment work on design-for-all recommendations, tools and methods, and use this environment to redesign and enhance existing services in the areas of teleworking and electronic commerce, guided by rigorous user testing and evaluation.
Keywords: Design for all, support environment, Internet services, accessibility, usability, recommendations