IWWUA 2008 Workshop PC Chairs’ Message

Abstract

Usability and accessibility are crucial factors in Web application development. The ease or difficulty that users experience with Web applications determines their success or failure. According to recent studies, an estimated 90 sites and applications suffer from usability and/or accessibility problems. As user satisfaction has increased in importance, the need for usable and accessible Web applications has become more critical. To achieve usability for a Web product (e.g., a service, a model, a running application, a portal), the attributes of Web artefacts must be clearly defined. Otherwise, assessment of usability is left to the intuition or to the responsibility of people who are in charge of the process. In this sense, quality models (describing all the usability sub-characteristics, attributes and their relationships) should be built, and usability evaluation methods should be used during the requirements, design and implementation stages based on these models. Similarly, identifying the set of characteristics that make the Web more accessible for everybody, including those with disabilities, is necessary to systematize the way practitioners deal with accessibility issues.