Aligning Usability requirements with the accessibility guidelines focusing on the visually-impaired

Abstract

The user interface should meet the expectations and needs of a variety of users. They should be accessible by any person, independently of their physical, perceptual-motor, social and cultural capabilities. The current research aims to show that the development of accessible Web applications goes beyond the design of sites in compliance with accessibility guidelines: usability issues should also be addressed. The interaction between visually-impaired persons and several sites was observed and the problems detected in this process, were analyzed. The analysis was based on a taxonomy of non-functional requirements related to usability. This taxonomy was aligned with the accessibility guidelines aiming to help professionals in the identification of accessibility and usability problems that may avoided or minimized during requirements planning, and thus, facilitate the interaction of visually-impaired users with the Internet and provide sites that offer content that is easy to understand and are easy to navigate.