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The literature-review database. Every paper Bob has reviewed (he has read many more), with a short summary, key findings, and tags. Browse, filter, search.

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  • Measuring the Semantic Accessibility Gap in LLM-Generated Web UIs

    Tommaso Calo, Alexandra-Elena Gurita, Luigi De Russis · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

    Calo, Gurita, and De Russis investigate a blind spot of mainstream automated accessibility tools: while scanners like Axe-core reliably catch missing alt attributes or unlabelled form fields (syntactic violations), they cannot tell whether the values present are actually…

    web accessibility · large language models · LLM code generation · semantic accessibility · WCAG

  • Understanding and Reducing the Challenges Faced by Creators of Accessible Online Data Visualizations

    Ather Sharif, Joo Gyeong Kim, Jessie Zijia Xu, Jacob O. Wobbrock · 2024 · Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '24)

    This paper investigates the challenges visualization creators face in making online data visualizations accessible to screen-reader users and develops interventions to address these challenges. Data visualizations (charts, graphs, maps, dashboards) are increasingly prevalent on…

    data visualization · screen readers · web accessibility · sonification · blind and low vision

  • Accessibility Challenges in Lab Simulations

    Matthew Ralston, Greg Gay · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

    This paper describes the accessibility challenges encountered and solutions developed when creating online lab simulations for an Occupational Health and Safety course at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift from…

    education accessibility · online learning · keyboard accessibility · screen reader accessibility · ARIA

  • Teaching Accessibility Awareness with Games

    Greg Gay · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

    This paper presents the Accessibility Maze, a web-based serious game developed at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) to teach web accessibility basics through experiential learning. The game was designed with three goals: provide a high-impact introduction…

    education accessibility · game accessibility · web accessibility · screen readers · keyboard accessibility

  • Making the Blockly Library Accessible via Touchscreen

    Logan B. Caraco, Sebastian Deibel, Yufan Ma, Lauren R. Milne · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

    This demonstration paper presents two prototype designs for making Google's Blockly library — the foundation underlying popular block-based programming environments (BBPEs) like Scratch, MIT App Inventor, and the Code.org curriculum — accessible to users with visual impairments…

    visual impairment · block-based programming · education · screen readers · ARIA

  • Drop-Down Menu Widget Identification Using HTML Structure Changes Classification

    Humberto Lidio Antonelli, Rodrigo Augusto Igawa, Renata Pontin De Mattos Fortes, Eduardo Henrique Rizo, Willian Massami Watanabe · 2018 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS)

    This paper addresses a critical gap in web accessibility: the widespread failure of interactive widgets in rich internet applications (RIAs) to implement WAI-ARIA markup, rendering them inaccessible to screen reader users and other assistive technology users. The authors propose…

    ARIA · web accessibility · machine learning · widgets · automated testing

  • Computer vision-based analysis of web page structure for assistive interfaces

    Michael Cormier · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

    This doctoral consortium paper proposes a novel approach to understanding web page structure by analyzing rendered page images using computer vision, rather than relying on the DOM tree or source code as most existing web page segmentation methods do. The author argues that the…

    computer vision · web page segmentation · screen reader accessibility · cognitive accessibility · machine learning

  • Demonstration: Screen Reader Support for a Complex Interactive Science Simulation

    Taliesin L. Smith, Clayton Lewis, Emily B. Moore · 2016 · ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

    This demonstration presents an accessible version of "Balloons and Static Electricity," a PhET interactive science simulation that teaches electrostatic charge concepts. PhET simulations are run over 75 million times annually, yet most are inaccessible to blind learners due to…

    screen reader · STEM education · interactive simulation · PhET · blind accessibility

  • Accessible Web Chat Interface

    Valentyn Melnyk · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

    This paper addresses the accessibility of web chat widgets — ubiquitous real-time communication tools embedded in web applications for customer support, social interaction, and service delivery. Screen readers like JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA do not reliably recognise widgets that…

    web accessibility · screen readers · dynamic content · ARIA · web widgets

  • Building Keyboard Accessible Drag and Drop

    Rucha Somani, Jiahang Xin, Bijay Bhaskar Deo, Yun Huang · 2014 · Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility (ASSETS)

    This demo paper presents an API that enables web developers to create keyboard-accessible drag and drop (DnD) components for web applications, particularly e-learning systems. Drag and drop interactions are widely used in educational websites for classification exercises (e.g.,…

    keyboard accessibility · drag and drop · web accessibility · e-learning · screen readers

  • Towards Web Accessibility Repair

    Nádia Fernandes · 2013 · Proceedings of the 10th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    This doctoral consortium paper presents early-stage research on automatically evaluating and repairing accessibility problems in Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). The author identifies a critical gap: as the web evolves from static pages to complex, dynamic applications,…

    automated testing · accessibility evaluation · accessibility repair · rich internet applications · ARIA

  • Using Acceptance Tests to Validate Accessibility Requirements in RIA

    Willian Massami Watanabe, Renata P. M. Fortes, Ana Luiza Dias · 2012 · Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    This paper addresses a significant gap in automated accessibility testing: the inability of traditional static HTML evaluation tools to assess Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that use Ajax, JavaScript, and dynamically generated DOM content. The authors propose using acceptance…

    automated testing · acceptance testing · continuous integration · rich internet applications · keyboard accessibility

  • Identifying Behavioral Strategies of Visually Impaired Users to Improve Access to Web Content

    Darren Lunn, Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer · 2011 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

    This paper presents a methodology for identifying how visually impaired screen reader users develop coping strategies when encountering inaccessible web content, then uses those strategies to inform the design of transcoding solutions. The researchers conducted observational…

    screen readers · web accessibility · transcoding · coping strategies · user behavior

  • Combining SADIe and AxsJAX to Improve the Accessibility of Web Content

    Darren Lunn, Simon Harper, Sean Bechhofer · 2009 · Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    This paper from the University of Manchester presents a prototype system that combines two accessibility approaches — SADIe and Google's AxsJAX framework — to improve web content access for visually impaired screen reader users. SADIe (Semantic Annotation for Document Interfaces…

    screen readers · web accessibility · transcoding · ARIA · CSS

  • Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web: Hindrance or Opportunity? W4A -- International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility 2007

    Yeliz Yesilada, Simon Harper · 2008 · SIGACCESS Access. Comput.

    This is the conference report for the 4th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A) 2007, held at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Canada, co-located with the World Wide Web (WWW) conference. The report summarizes the proceedings of a…

    Web 2.0 · semantic web · conference report · ARIA · assistive technology

  • WCAG 2.0: A Web Accessibility Standard for the Evolving Web

    Loretta Guarino Reid, Andi Snow-Weaver · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    Written by two members of the WCAG working group (from Google and IBM respectively), this paper explains the major design challenges faced in developing WCAG 2.0 and the strategies adopted to address them. WCAG 1.0, finalized in 1999, was designed for a web of static HTML pages…

    WCAG · web standards · accessibility guidelines · WAI · ARIA

  • AxsJAX: A Talking Translation Bot Using Google IM: Bringing Web-2.0 Applications to Life

    Charles L. Chen, T. V. Raman · 2008 · Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    This paper from Google describes how the AxsJAX framework uses WAI-ARIA live regions to make Google Talk — an instant messaging client integrated into GMail — fully accessible to screen reader and self-voicing browser users, and demonstrates a compelling mashup application: a…

    ARIA · web accessibility · screen readers · live regions · Web 2.0

  • What's New? Making Web Page Updates Accessible

    Yevgen Borodin, Jeffrey P. Bigham, Rohit Raman, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2008 · Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

    This paper introduces Dynamo, a system that makes dynamic web page content accessible to blind screen reader users by automatically detecting changes across all types of web page updates and providing a unified interface for reviewing them. The paper addresses a critical problem…

    screen readers · web accessibility · dynamic content · AJAX · ARIA

  • Accessmonkey: Enabling and Sharing End User Accessibility Improvements

    Jeffrey P. Bigham · 2007 · SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing

    This paper proposes the Accessmonkey Framework, a collaborative platform for creating, sharing, and applying user-generated web accessibility improvements. The system addresses the reality that blind users frequently encounter inaccessible web content — information encoded…

    web accessibility · screen reader · browser extension · crowdsourcing · user scripting

  • Enabling an Accessible Web 2.0

    Becky Gibson · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2007)

    This keynote paper from IBM's Becky Gibson examines the accessibility challenges created by the emergence of Web 2.0 and the technologies being developed to address them. Written at a pivotal moment in web history, the paper describes how the shift from static HTML pages to…

    ARIA · Web 2.0 · JavaScript · DHTML · accessibility APIs

  • Ajax Live Regions: ReefChat Using the Fire Vox Screen Reader as a Case Example

    Peter Thiessen, Charles Chen · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

    This paper presents ReefChat, an accessible Ajax chat application, and Fire Vox, an open-source screen reader extension for Firefox, as a proof-of-concept for WAI-ARIA live regions — one of the earliest practical demonstrations of this then-nascent specification. The authors…

    ARIA · live regions · web accessibility · AJAX · Web 2.0

  • DHTML Accessibility – Solving the JavaScript Accessibility Problem

    Becky Gibson, Richard Schwerdtfeger · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

    This landmark paper from IBM researchers Becky Gibson and Richard Schwerdtfeger describes the foundational work that would become WAI-ARIA. At the time of writing, JavaScript was used on over 50% of websites, yet no accessibility solution existed for the dynamic web components…

    web accessibility · JavaScript · ARIA · screen readers · keyboard accessibility

22 results.