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Native or Web-Hybrid Apps?: An Analysis of the Adequacy for Accessibility of Android Interface Components Used with Screen Readers

Published: 23 October 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Creating accessible mobile applications involves several important design decisions in order to accommodate the needs of disabled users, especially people with visual disabilities who use screen readers. The goal of the study presented in this paper was to analyze the adequacy of interface components to implement mobile applications, in order to identify the main accessibility problems that could be encountered by developers when using them, and the main strategies to overcome those issues. We performed an accessibility evaluation of a sample of 30 Android interface components present in 3 prototypes of mobile applications, employing the development techniques of native applications with and withoug Web components and hybrid development using the Apache Cordova framework. The results showed that the prototypes developed using web components were more compatible with accessibility criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) and with the screen reader Talkback. The most frequent accessibility problems in such components occurred in tables, headings and multimedia elements. Based on the current challenges for accessibility in mobile applications, we highlight the limitations of some interface components and emphasize that more studies need to be carried out to consolidate accessibility guidelines and good practices for mobile devices.

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  • (2024)Investigating Accessibility at the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC)Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702098(1-18)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Nothing About Us Without Us: Reflections on the Protagonism of a Person with Low Vision in Human-Computer InteractionProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702048(1-13)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
  • (2023)Digital Accessibility at the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC): An Updated Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3638067.3638075(1-15)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2023
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  1. Native or Web-Hybrid Apps?: An Analysis of the Adequacy for Accessibility of Android Interface Components Used with Screen Readers

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    IHC '17: Proceedings of the XVI Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    October 2017
    622 pages
    ISBN:9781450363778
    DOI:10.1145/3160504
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

    In-Cooperation

    • UDESC: Santa Catarina State University
    • Springer
    • SBC: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação
    • ACM: Association for Computing Machinery
    • UFSCar: Federal University of São Carlos
    • CAPES: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
    • UFPR: Universidade Federal do Paraná
    • CNPq: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecn
    • CGIBR: Comite Gestor da Internet no Brazil
    • OU: The Open University

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 23 October 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. Accessibility
    2. Mobile Applications
    3. Screen Readers

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    • Research-article
    • Research
    • Refereed limited

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    IHC 2017

    Acceptance Rates

    IHC '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 66 of 184 submissions, 36%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 331 of 973 submissions, 34%

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    Cited By

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    • (2024)Investigating Accessibility at the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC)Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702098(1-18)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
    • (2024)Nothing About Us Without Us: Reflections on the Protagonism of a Person with Low Vision in Human-Computer InteractionProceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3702038.3702048(1-13)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2024
    • (2023)Digital Accessibility at the Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC): An Updated Systematic Literature ReviewProceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3638067.3638075(1-15)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2023
    • (2022)Performance Comparison of Native and Hybrid Android Mobile Applications Based on Sensor Data-Driven Applications Based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Wi-Fi Communication ArchitectureEnergies10.3390/en1513457415:13(4574)Online publication date: 23-Jun-2022
    • (2021)Towards Accessibility and Inclusion of Native Mobile Applications Available for Ecuador in Google Play StoreSustainability10.3390/su13201123713:20(11237)Online publication date: 12-Oct-2021
    • (2020)App Inventor as a Developing Tool to Increase the Accessibility and Readability of Information: A Case StudyProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion10.1145/3439231.3440615(71-75)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2020
    • (2019)Accessibility Evaluation of Mobile Applications for Monitoring Air QualityInformation Technology and Systems10.1007/978-3-030-11890-7_61(638-648)Online publication date: 29-Jan-2019
    • (2018)Mobile Application Accessibility in the Context of Visually Impaired UsersProceedings of the 17th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3274192.3274224(1-10)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2018
    • (2018)Developer Assistance Tools for Creating Native Mobile Applications Accessible to Visually Impaired PeopleProceedings of the 17th Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3274192.3274208(1-9)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2018

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