%0 Journal Article %1 Jay07presentation %A Jay, Caroline %A Stevens, Robert %A Glencross, Mashhuda %A Chalmers, Alan %A Yang, Cathy %D 2007 %I Springer-Verlag %J Universal Access in the Information Society %K accessibility design disabilities vision web %N 3 %P 307--320 %R 10.1007/s10209-007-0089-5 %T How People use Presentation to Search for a Link: Expanding the Understanding of Accessibility on the Web %U http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/publications/papers/attention/web_presentation_new.pdf %V 6 %X It is well known that many Web pages are difficult for visually disabled people to use. Without access to a rich, visual display, the intended structure and organisation of the page is obscured. To fully understand what is missing from the experience of visually disabled users, it is pertinent to ask how the presentation of Web pages on a standard display makes them easier for sighted people to use. Here, we report on an exploratory eye-tracking study that addresses this issue by investigating how sighted readers use the presentation of the BBC News Web page to search for a link. We compare the standard page presentation with a “text-only” version and observe both qualitatively and quantitatively that the removal of the intended presentation alters “reading” behaviours. The demonstration that the presentation of information assists task completion suggests that it should be re-introduced to non-visual presentations if the Web is to become more accessible. We also explore the extent to which algorithms that generate maps of what is perceptually salient on a page match the gaze data recorded in the eye tracking study. The correspondence between a page’s presentation, knowledge of what is visually salient and how people use these features to complete a task might offer an opportunity to re-model a Web page to maximise access to the most important parts of that page.

@article{Jay07presentation, abstract = {It is well known that many Web pages are difficult for visually disabled people to use. Without access to a rich, visual display, the intended structure and organisation of the page is obscured. To fully understand what is missing from the experience of visually disabled users, it is pertinent to ask how the presentation of Web pages on a standard display makes them easier for sighted people to use. Here, we report on an exploratory eye-tracking study that addresses this issue by investigating how sighted readers use the presentation of the BBC News Web page to search for a link. We compare the standard page presentation with a “text-only” version and observe both qualitatively and quantitatively that the removal of the intended presentation alters “reading” behaviours. The demonstration that the presentation of information assists task completion suggests that it should be re-introduced to non-visual presentations if the Web is to become more accessible. We also explore the extent to which algorithms that generate maps of what is perceptually salient on a page match the gaze data recorded in the eye tracking study. The correspondence between a page’s presentation, knowledge of what is visually salient and how people use these features to complete a task might offer an opportunity to re-model a Web page to maximise access to the most important parts of that page.}, added-at = {2015-07-09T13:59:03.000+0200}, author = {Jay, Caroline and Stevens, Robert and Glencross, Mashhuda and Chalmers, Alan and Yang, Cathy}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/25944485518cc42bb7226a473f3d479e1/shelley.adams}, doi = {10.1007/s10209-007-0089-5}, interhash = {e3df9635e7ae72d218bdf6699379d1ef}, intrahash = {5944485518cc42bb7226a473f3d479e1}, journal = {Universal Access in the Information Society}, keywords = {accessibility design disabilities vision web}, month = nov, number = 3, pages = {307--320}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag}, timestamp = {2015-07-09T13:59:03.000+0200}, title = {How People use Presentation to Search for a Link: Expanding the Understanding of Accessibility on the Web}, url = {http://aig.cs.man.ac.uk/publications/papers/attention/web_presentation_new.pdf}, volume = 6, year = 2007 }