Issues in Non-Visual Web Browser Design:pw Web Speak
Markku Hakkinen [betsy@wid.org]
The Productivity Works, Inc,Trenton, NJ
Markku Hakkinen [betsy@wid.org]
The Productivity Works, Inc,Trenton, NJ
Web clients need not be limited to the graphical and text browsers in use today. Browsing the web non-visually offers significant benefits for users with visual impairments and learning disabilities, as well as for users in environments where visual interaction with a standard browser is not feasible. In pwWebSpeak, a non-visual browser, HTML documents are rendered into speech and auditory cues using a rule base similar to the proposed Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for Aural Presentation. The CSS approach and other findings on audio presentation of HTML are discussed in the context of actual design and usability experiences in the present commercial release of the browser. Among the issues addressed are ascertaining the content author's intent in the usage of HTML tags, providing user selectable presentation modes to facilitate document navigation and interpretation, and perceptual effects in auditory presentation. As the use of non-visual browsing grows, challenges remain. One example, the increasing use of Java and ActiveX, requires the non-visual browser to begin addressing the task of rendering applets into speech. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues affecting both content developers and browser designers in ensuring that non-visual users will have effective access to the web.