Web accessibility for low bandwidth input

ABSTRACT

One of the first, most common, and most useful applications that today's computer users access is the World Wide Web (web). One population of users for whom the web is especially important is those with motor disabilities, because it may enable them to do things that they might not otherwise be able to do: shopping; getting an education; running a business. This is particularly important for low bandwidth users: users with such limited motor and speech that they can only produce one or two signals when communicating with a computer. We present requirements for low bandwidth web accessibility, and two tools that address these requirements. The first is a modified web browser, the second a proxy that modifies HTML. Both work without requiring web page authors to modify their pages.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.2 Social Issues
          Subjects: Assistive technologies for persons with disabilities

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.4 Systems and Software

          Nouns: World Wide Web (WWW)
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services

General Terms:
Algorithms, Documentation, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
WWW, low bandwidth input, motor impairment, web proxy