Skip to main content

Automated Evaluation Tools for Web and Mobile Accessibility: A Systematic Literature Review

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Innovations in Bio-Inspired Computing and Applications (IBICA 2021)

Abstract

This research aims at investigating which web accessibility and usability tools, with the focus on the ones that warrant automation, are available to assess the quality of interfaces for people with disabilities and/or special needs, enabling them to navigate and interact with web and mobile apps. Our search strategy identified 72 scientific articles of the most rated conferences and scientific journals, from which 16 were considered for the systematic literature review (SLR). We found that, despite the existence of various tools either for web or mobile apps, they are not completely effective, covering less than 40% of all the problems encountered. Also, no tool was found capable of adapting the application interfaces according to the type of disabilities that users may present. Therefore, a new tool could be a welcome advancement to provide full accessible and usable experiences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Almendra, N., Moquillaza, A., Paz, A.: Web Accessibility Evaluation Methods: A Systematic Review (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23535-2_17

  2. Banchoff, C., Harari, I., Rajoy, G., Defalco, M.: SiMor: An intensive web accessibility analyzer based on rules. In: Proceedings of the 2016 42nd Latin American Computing Conference, CLEI 2016, pp. 1–6 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1109/CLEI.2016.7833407

  3. Baptista, A., Martins, J., Gonçalves, R., Branco, F., Rocha, T.: Web accessibility challenges and perspectives: A systematic literature review. In: 2016 11th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), pp. 1–6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1109/CISTI.2016.7521619

  4. Crespo, R.G., Espada, J.P., Burgos, D.: Social4all: Definition of specific adaptations in Web applications to improve accessibility. Comput. Stand. Interf. 48(2016), 1–9 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2016.04.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Disabled World: Disabilities: Definition, Types and Models of Disability - Disabled World, pp. 1–3 (2019). https://doi.org/DW#170-17.172.98-5a

    Google Scholar 

  6. Frazão, T., Duarte, C.: Comparing accessibility evaluation plug-ins. In: Proceedings of the 17th International Web for All Conference (W4A ’20), pp. 1–11. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3371300.3383346

  7. Fuertes, J.L., González, R., Gutiérrez, E., Martínez, L.: Hera-FFX: A Firefox add-on for semi-automatic web accessibility evaluation. W4A 2009 - International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility, pp. 26–35 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Genero, M., Cruz-Lemus, J., Piattini, M.: Métodos de investigación en ingeniería del software (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Harper, S., Yesilada, Y., Vigo, M.: W4A Camp Report: “2012 Edition”. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A ’13). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA (2013). https://doi.org/10.1145/2461121.2461145

  10. Ikhsan, I.N., Candra, M.Z.C.: Automatically: An automated refactoring method and tool for improving web accessibility. In: Proceedings of 2018 5th International Conference on Data and Software Engineering, ICoDSE 2018, pp. 1–6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICODSE.2018.8705894

  11. El Kabani, I., Zantout, R., Hamandi, L., Mansi, S.: Improving web accessibility. Int. J. Appl. Eng. Res. 11(12), 7836–7845 (2016). https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84989199345&partnerID=40&md5=03a7f4af17508a4f7b923a0bdf2dbf65

  12. Kitchenham, B.: Procedures for Performing Systematic Reviews, Version 1.0. Empir. Softw. Eng. 33(2004), 1–26 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Luján-Mora, S., Masri, F.: Evaluation of web accessibility: A combined method. Information Systems Research and Exploring Social Artifacts: Approaches and Methodologies. April 2018, pp. 314–331 (2012). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2491-7.ch016

  14. Quiñones, D., Rusu, C.: How to develop usability heuristics: A systematic literature review. Comput. Stand. Interf. 53(2017), 89–122 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2017.03.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Silva, C., Eler, M.M., Fraser, G.: A survey on the tool support for the automatic evaluation of mobile accessibility. In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (DSAI 2018), pp. 286–293. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA(2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3218585.3218673

  16. Sohaib, O., Kang, K.: E-Commerce web accessibility for people with disabilities. In: Gołuchowski, J., Pańkowska, M., Linger, H., Barry, C., Lang, M., Schneider, C. (eds.) Complexity in Information Systems Development. LNISO, vol. 22, pp. 87–100. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52593-8_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Teotonio, W., Gonzalez, P., Maia, P., Muniz, P.: WAL: A tool for diagnosing accessibility issues and evolving legacy web systems at runtime. In: 2019 19th International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM), IEEE, pp. 175–180 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/SCAM.2019.00028

  18. The Chang School and Digital Education Strategies: The Evolution of Web Accessibility – Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy (2019). Retrieved from 22 June 2020. https://pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca/pwaa/chapter/the-evolution-of-web-accessibility/

  19. Ullmann, D., Jones, H., Williams, F., Williams, R.C.: Information and communications technologies for the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Information and communications technologies for the inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations publication (2018). Retrieved from https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/43744/4/S1800975_en.pdf

  20. Vanderdonckt, J., Beirekdar, A., Noirhomme-Fraiture, M.: Automated evaluation of web usability and accessibility by guideline review. In: Koch, N., Fraternali, P., Wirsing, M. (eds.) ICWE 2004. LNCS, vol. 3140, pp. 17–30. Springer, Heidelberg (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27834-4_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. WAI: Selecting {Web} {Accessibility} {Evaluation} {Tools}. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) (2017). Retrieved from 29 January 2020 https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/tools/selecting/

  22. Williams, J.R.: Developing Performance Support for Computer Systems: A Strategy for Maximizing Usability and Learnability, 1st edn. CRC Press (2004). https://doi.org/10.1201/9780203228531

  23. World Health Organization: Disabilities (2020). Retrieved from 13 November 2021. http://www.emro.who.int/health-topics/disabilities/index.html

  24. Yan, S., Ramachandran, P.G.: The current status of accessibility in mobile apps. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 12(1), 1–31 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3300176

  25. Yesilada, Y., Harper, S. (eds.): Web Accessibility. HIS, Springer, London (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-7440-0

    Book  Google Scholar 

  26. Zhang, M.N., Wang, C., Bu, J.J., Yu, Z., Zhou, Y., Chen, C.: A sampling method based on URL clustering for fast web accessibility evaluation. Front. Inf. Technol. Electron. Eng. 16(6), 449–456 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1400377

  27. Zhang, M., Wang, C., Bu, J., Li, L., Yu, Z.: An optimal sampling method for web accessibility quantitative metric and its online extension. Internet Res. 27(5), 1190–1208 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-07-2016-0205

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2014–2020, under grant agreement 101006468.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana Carvalho .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Dias, J., Carvalho, D., Paredes, H., Martins, P., Rocha, T., Barroso, J. (2022). Automated Evaluation Tools for Web and Mobile Accessibility: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Abraham, A., et al. Innovations in Bio-Inspired Computing and Applications. IBICA 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 419. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96299-9_43

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics