Two versions of a website, a non-accessible site (NA-website) and an accessible site (A-website), were tested by 13 participants who were: a) blind users, b) low-vision users and c) users without identified disabilities. The mood of the users and their interaction efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction were recorded as they encountered several web content accessibility barriers. Results show which elements were the major causes of frustration to each user group, and how blind users displayed less criticism than expected to the barriers

Semantic Web applications take off is being slower than expected, at least with respect to “real-world” applications and users. One of the main reasons for this lack of adoption is that most Semantic Web user interfaces are still immature from the usability and accessibility points of view. This is due to the novelty of these technologies, but this also motivates the exploration of alternative interaction paradigms, different from the “traditional” Web or Desktop applications ones. Our proposal is realized in the Rhizomer platform, which explores the possibilities of the object–action interaction paradigm at the Web scale. This paradigm is well suited for heterogeneous resource spaces such as those common in the Semantic Web. Resources, described by metadata, correspond to the objects in the paradigm. Semantic web services, which are dynamically associated to these objects, correspond to the actions. The platform is being put into practice in the context of a research project in order to build an open application for media distribution based on Semantic Web technologies. Moreover, its usability and accessibility have been evaluated in this real setting and compared to similar systems.

Several users tests were carried out with people with a hearing impairment to evaluate the impact of different web accessibility barriers on two similar web sites, one accessible and the other not accessible. The tests focus was to analyze user's mood when faced to different accessibility barriers. Results show \"complex text\" and \"multimedia content without text alternative\" barriers as the most critical for users with this profile. Our investigation contributes to a better understanding of users confronting accessibility barriers, and to emphasize the need of web content authors writing content using plain language and providing captions or sign language to video content.