Available accessibility guidelines do not necessarily guarantee usable Web sites, particularly when specific groups of users with special needs are considered. We have identified 15 Web design criteria aiming to provide integrated support of accessibility and usability for vision-impaired users. In this article, we present the results of a study investigating whether the application of such guidelines for vision-impaired users can actually improve their task performance when accessing Web applications. We report on two user tests, both involving vision-impaired users, that aim to provide empirical validation of the design criteria. During each test, users had to access and navigate two versions of a Web site, one version supporting the selected design criteria and one obtained with traditional techniques. Our results indicate that the 15 design criteria improved Web site usability both quantitatively and qualitatively by reducing the navigation time needed to perform the assigned tasks and by making the Web sites easier to navigate for blind and low-vision users.

Healthcare is one of the most important sectors of our society, and during the COVID-19 pandemic a new challenge emerged—how to support people safely and effectively at home regarding their health-related problems. In this regard chatbots or conversational agents (CAs) play an increasingly important role, and are spreading rapidly. They can enhance not only user interaction by delivering quick feedback or responses, but also hospital management, thanks to several of their features. Considerable research is focused on making CAs more reliable, accurate, and robust. However, a critical aspect of chatbots is how to make them inclusive, in order to effectively support the interaction of users unfamiliar with technology, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. In this study, we investigate the current use of chatbots in healthcare, exploring their evolution over time and their inclusivity. The study was carried out on four digital libraries (ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar) on research articles published in the last 5 years, with a total of 21 articles describing chatbots implemented and actually used in the eHealth clinical area. The results showed a notable improvement in the use of chatbots in the last few years but also highlight some design issues, including poor attention to inclusion. Based on the findings, we recommend a different kind of approach for implementing chatbots with an inclusive accessibility-by-design approach.

Being able to explore and familiarise themselves with the structure and details of a cultural site before actually visiting it is fundamental for orienting visually impaired people during the visit; otherwise, it is particularly difficult to gain a global understanding of the structure and an overall impression of a square, a church, or a large monument. Our project addressed this problem by using low cost 3D models combined with audio descriptions to enable visually impaired users to explore the cultural site autonomously. Audio descriptions are organised into three groups (for historical, practical, and architectural information), and for each group, several tracks are recorded giving increasing levels of details. Users can easily navigate through the audio tracks to follow their tactile exploration by listening to the information they are most interested in. Relevant details are reproduced separately and linked to the main model via the audio tracks. A goal of our model is to enhance the understanding of the cultural site also for partially sighted as well as sighted people, making them able to appreciate the details of the architectural design using both visual and auditory senses. We exploited low-cost and partially open-source technologies, thus rendering our system easily replicable. We evaluated the interactive system with blind, partially sighted, and sighted users. Our user test confirmed the validity of our approach: (1) the 3D models and the tactile reproduction of details obtained via a low-cost 3D printing solution are well perceived by touch; (2) the semantic auditory information activated via perceptible buttons on demand and the different content levels for the audio tracks are suitable for an interactive, autonomous, and satisfying exploration; and (3) relevant details are well perceived. Finally, we propose guidelines to use in the 3D reproduction of buildings or large sites based on our experience.

Since the first lockdown in 2020, video conferencing tools have become increasingly important for employment, education, and social interaction, making them essential tools in everyday life. This study investigates the accessibility and usability of the desktop and mobile versions of three popular video conferencing tools, Zoom, Google Meet, and MS Teams, for visually impaired people interacting via screen readers and keyboard or gestures. This involved two inspection evaluations to test the most important features of the desktop and mobile device versions and two surveys of visually impaired users to obtain information about the accessibility of the selected video conferencing tools. Sixty-five people answered the survey for desktop and 94 for mobile platforms. The results showed that Zoom was preferred to Google Meet and MS Teams but that none of the tools was fully accessible via screen reader and keyboard or gestures. Finally, the results of this empirical study were used to develop a set of guidelines for designers of video conferencing tools and assistive technology.