Evaluation of Web Accessibility: An Approach Related to Functional Illiteracy

Abstract

Functionally illiterate users, that means those lacking reading, writing, calculation and science skills, are potential Internet users, so technological solutions must ensure that content is intelligible to them. The interface design guided by accessibility norms and may improve accessibility, but considering accessibility evaluations is an essential part of this process. Evaluation can be automatic, performed by specialists or performed with the participation of users. Some barriers are only detected with user tests. Usually, usability tests are adapted and performed with the purpose of evaluating accessibility, but most of works in this area dealt with persons with visual impairment. This paper aimed to research the behavior of functionally illiterate users, identifying important characteristics that the evaluators and specialists should consider in the performance of an evaluation of accessibility with this audience. As a result was generated a list of important characteristics that contribute to the adaptation of usability evaluation methods with functionally illiterate users. Besides that, it was elaborated a list of best strategies that the specialists and researchers should consider in accessibility evaluation with the audience under examination.