A haptic rendering engine of web pages for blind users

ABSTRACT

To overcome the shortcomings posed by audio rendering of web pages for blind users, this paper implements an interaction technique where web pages are parsed so as to automatically generate a virtual reality scene that is augmented with a haptic feedback. All elements of a web page are transformed into a corresponding "hapget" (haptically-enhanced widget), a three dimensional widget exhibiting a behavior that is consistent with their web counterpart and having haptic extension governed by usability guidelines for haptic interaction. A set of implemented hapgets is described and used in some examples. All hapgets introduced an extension to UsiXML, a XML-compliant User Interface Description Language that fosters model-driven engineering of user interfaces. In this way, it possible to render any UsiXML-compatible user interface thanks to the interaction technique described, and not only web pages.

REFERENCES

• 1: Avanzini, F., Crosato, P. 2006. Haptic-auditory rendering and perception of contact stiffness. In Proc. of 1^st Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design HAID'2006 (Glasgow, August 31^st - September 1^st, 2006). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 24--31.
• 2: Gonzalez Calleros, J. M., Vanderdonckt, J., and Muñoz Arteaga, J. (2006) A Method for Developing 3D User Interfaces of Information Systems. In Proc. of 6^th Int. Conf. on Computer-Aided Design of User Interfaces CADUI'2006 (Bucharest, June 6--8, 2006). Springer, Berlin, 85--100.
• 3: Limbourg, Q., Vanderdonckt, J., Michotte, B., Bouillon, L., and Lopez-Jaquero, V. 2004. UsiXML: a Language Supporting Multi-Path Development of User Interfaces. In Proc. of Int. Conf. on Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems EHCI-DSVIS'2004 (Hamburg, July 11--13, 2004). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 3425, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 207--228.
• 4: Mao, X., Hatanaka, Y., Imamiya, A., Kato, Y., and Go, K. Visualizing Computational Wear with Physical Wear. In Proc. of 6^th ERCIM Workshop on "User Interfaces for All" (Florence, October 25--26, 2000).
• 5: Magnusson, C., Danielsson, H., and Rassmus-Gröhn, K. 2006. In Proc. of 1^st Workshop on Haptic and Audio Interaction Design HAID'2006 (Glasgow, August 31^st - September 1^st, 2006). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 111--120.
• 6: Magnusson, C., Tan, Ch., and Yu, W. Haptic access to 3D objects on the web. In Proc. of EuroHaptics'06.
• 7: José Pascual Molina Massó , Jean Vanderdonckt , Francisco Montero Simarro , Pascual González López, Towards virtualization of user interfaces based on UsiXML, Proceedings of the tenth international conference on 3D Web technology, March 29-April 01, 2005, Bangor, United Kingdom [doi>10.1145/1050491.1050516]
• 8: Ramstein, C. and Century, M. Navigation on the Web using Haptic Feedback. In Proc. of the Int. Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA'96.
• 9: Christophe Ramstein , Odile Martial , Aude Dufresne , Michel Carignan , Patrick Chassé , Philippe Mabilleau, Touching and hearing GUI's: design issues for the PC-Access system, Proceedings of the second annual ACM conference on Assistive technologies, p.2-9, April 11-12, 1996, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada [doi>10.1145/228347.228349]
• 10: E. Sallnäs, K. Bjerstedt-Blom, F. Winberg and K. Severin-son-Eklundh, "Navigation and Control in Haptic Applications Shared by Blind and Sighted Users", in proc. of 1st workshop on haptic and audio interaction design, David McGookin & Stephen Brewster (eds.), LNCS, Springer-Verlag, Glasgow, 31st August - 1st September, 2006, pp. 68--80.
• 11: V. Tikka, P. Laitinen, "Designing Haptic Feedback for Touch Display: Experimental Study of Perceived Intensity and Integration of Haptic and Audio", in proc. of 1st workshop on haptic and audio interaction design, David McGookin & Stephen Brewster (eds.), LNCS, Springer-Verlag, Glasgow, Scotland, 31st August - 1st September 2006, pp. 36--44
• 12: D. Tzovaras, G. Nikolakis, G. Fergadis, S. Malasiotis and M. Stavrakis: "Design and Implementation of Haptic Virtual Environments for the Training of Visually Impaired", IEEE Trans. on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 266--278, June 2004.
• 13: J. Vanderdonckt, "A MDA-Compliant Environment for Developing User Interfaces of Information Systems", in Proc. of 17th Conf. on Advanced Information Systems Engineering CAiSE'05, O. Pastor & J. Falcãão e Cunha (eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3520, Springer-Verlag, Porto, Portugal, 13--17 June, 2005, pp. 16--31
• 14: Steven A. Wall , Steven A. Brewster, Assessing haptic properties for data representation, CHI '03 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 05-10, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA [doi>10.1145/765891.766034]
• 15: W. Yu, D. Reid and S. A. Brewster, "Web-Based Multimodal Graphs for Visually Impaired People", in Proceedings of the 1st Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT), Cambridge, UK, pp. 97--108.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.6 Methodology and Techniques
          Subjects: Interaction techniques

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Languages

Keywords:
haptic interaction, haptically enhanced widget, user interface extensible markup language, virtual reality