WebAdapter: A prototype of a WWW-browser with new special needs adaptations

This paper presents a prototypical WWW (World Wide Web)-browser called "WebAdapter", which provides new special needs adaptations for physically handicapped, blind and visually impaired end-users. These adaptations include near miss tolerances, implementation of sophisticated HTMLguidelines and advanced speech output. For evaluation purposes a usability test was conducted proving the suitability of the implemented special needs adaptations. The future goal of this work is a user interface for all (UI4All) for a standard Webbrowser. With regard to this perspective, the WebAdapter is still an reactive approach in that it only reacts to shortcomings of common Webbrowsers instead of proactively integrating a standardized software layer between the user front-end and underlying applications by which the I/O-Interface can easily and universally be adapted to a variety of different personal needs of handicapped as well as able-bodied end-users. Thus, the WebAdapter only illustrates some new special needs adaptations which may be included into future versions of common WWWbrowsers in order to move another step towards a UI4All. Further inevitable improvements of the user interface of WWW-browsers for disabled and elderly people beyond the scope of this project are discussed as well.