Abstract
UML-based software modelling addresses the needs of sighted people but creates barriers for visually impaired people. Textual representations are a general premise to make modelling languages accessible for people with blindness, but their degree of accessibility differs. This paper presents the UML4ALL syntax designed to address the sequential way of working of blind people using screen reader technology. The proposed UML notation comprises four principles introduced in this paper. An evaluation with sighted and visually impaired people showed that the UML4ALL syntax has a good usability for both target groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Web page of the PlantUML project: http://plantuml.com/.
- 2.
Web page of the UML4ALL-Syntax: http://www.uml4all.net/en/index.html.
- 3.
Web page of the Cooperate project: https://www.cooperate-project.de/index.php/en/.
- 4.
Keywords of the UML4ALL-Syntax listed: http://www.uml4all.net/en/tables.html.
References
Bangor, A., Kortum, P., Miller, J.: Determining what individual SUS scores mean: adding an adjective rating scale. J. Usability Stud. 4(3), 114–123 (2009)
Doherty, B., Cheng, B.H.C.: UML modeling for visually-impaired persons. In: HuFaMo@MoDELS (2015)
Groenda, H., Seifermann, S., Müller, K., Jaworek, G.: The cooperate assistive teamwork environment for software description languages. Stud. Health Technol. Inf. 217, 111–118 (2015)
Horstmann, M., Lorenz, M., Watkowski, A., Ioannidis, G., Herzog, O., King, A., Evans, D.G., Hagen, C., Schlieder, C., Burn, A.M., King, N., Petrie, H., Dijkstra, S., Crombie, D.: Automated interpretation and accessible presentation of technical diagrams for blind people. New Rev. Hypermedia Multimedia 10(2), 141–163 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1080/13614560412331326017
Brooke, J.: SUS: a retrospective. J. Usability Stud. 8(2), 29–40 (2013)
King, A., Blenkhorn, P., Crombie, D., Dijkstra, S., Evans, G., Wood, J.: Presenting UML software engineering diagrams to blind people. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, Wolfgang L., Burger, D. (eds.) ICCHP 2004. LNCS, vol. 3118, pp. 522–529. Springer, Heidelberg (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27817-7_76
Loitsch, C., Weber, G.: Viable haptic UML for blind people. In: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Penaz, P., Zagler, W. (eds.) ICCHP 2012. LNCS, vol. 7383, pp. 509–516. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31534-3_75
Müller, K.: How to make unified modeling language diagrams accessible for blind students. In: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Penaz, P., Zagler, W. (eds.) ICCHP 2012. LNCS, vol. 7382, pp. 186–190. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31522-0_27
Müller, K., Petrausch, V., Jaworek, G., Henß, J., Seifermann, S., Loitsch, C., Stiefelhagen, R.: UML4ALL: gemeinsam in diversity teams software modellieren. Informatik-Spektrum 40(6), 562–572 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00287-017-1073-y. (in German)
Object Management Group (OMG): Unified Modeling LanguageTM Version 2.5 (2015)
Petrausch, V., Jaworek, G., Müller, K.: Inklusives lehrmaterial für die unified modeling language (UML). In: Perspektiven im Dialog: XXXVI. Kongress für Blinden - und Sehbehindertenpädagogik. Edition Bentheim, Graz (2016). (in German)
Petrausch, V., Seifermann, S., Müller, K.: Guidelines for accessible textual UML modeling notations. In: Miesenberger, K., Bühler, C., Penaz, P. (eds.) ICCHP 2016. LNCS, vol. 9758, pp. 67–74. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41264-1_9
Seifermann, S., Groenda, H.: Survey on the applicability of textual notations for the unified modeling language. In: Hammoudi, S., Pires, L.F., Selic, B., Desfray, P. (eds.) MODELSWARD 2016. CCIS, vol. 692, pp. 3–24. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66302-9_1
Seifermann, S., Henß, J.: Comparison of QVT-O and henshin-TGG for synchronization of concrete syntax models. In: Eramo, R., Johnson, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Bidirectional Transformations (Bx 2017), CEUR Workshop Proceedings, vol. 1827, pp. 6–14. CEUR-WS.org (2017)
The Braille Authority of North America: Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics (2011). http://www.brailleauthority.org/tg/web-manual/index.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Loitsch, C. et al. (2018). UML4ALL Syntax – A Textual Notation for UML Diagrams. In: Miesenberger, K., Kouroupetroglou, G. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10896. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94277-3_93
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94277-3_93
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94276-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94277-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)