A Web Accessibility Auditing Instrument to Assist Novice Evaluators

The ubiquitous nature of the internet and the diversity of user groups means that established techniques for accessibility evaluation may need to evolve in order to be effective. This paper describes the development of a web accessibility auditing instrument, known as the Accessibility Evaluation Assistant (AEA) designed to assist novice auditors in the process of an accessibility evaluation for specific user groups. The audience for such a tool would be undergraduate and postgraduate computing students, small businesses and charitable organisations, all of whom are likely to have a limited knowledge of web accessibility, or lack the resources to undertake professional accessibility evaluations. The software guides the auditor through a series of tailored checks based on a particular user group, as well as the content and specific features of the website. This process enables the auditor to draw more accurate conclusions about the relative severity of potential issues, and facilitates their effective prioritization.