Preferences of people with disabilities to improve information presentation and information retrieval inside internet services - Results of a user study

Abstract

A part of a larger user study conducted within the scope of the EU project IRIS was to investigate the preferences of people with disabilities in regard to interface design of Web applications. User requirements of online help and search engines were also in the focus of this study, since the target user group depends heavily upon powerful tools to support them in the process of seeking information. The results showed that user preferences for information presentation vary a great deal, which could be solved by comprehensive user profiling. However, the functionalities of online help and search functions, as presented in the Internet today, need to be enhanced so they can be used more flexibly and be adjusted to the users' mental representation of problems and information needs to help them fulfill their tasks. © Springer-Verlag 2004.