Discovering Structure of Web Pages for Non-visual Navigation: Binding Text to Forms

Abstract

In recent years we have witnessed an increased effort towards the development of tools and methodologies based on information technology aimed at reducing the communication divide between sighted and blind individuals. In particular, considerable effort has been invested in tackling the complex issue of automatically or semi-automatically providing alternative access modalities to the Web to fit the needs of users with different backgrounds, learning styles, abilities and disabilities. In particular, our focus is on providing access modalities to the Web that are more effective for individuals with severe visual impairment. The existing literature [2,1] has identified accessibility of tables and use of on-line forms as two of the most challenging problems in this context – since the understanding of tables and forms is directly dependent on knowledge of the spatial layout of the components of the structure, which in turn is an inherently “visual” feature.