Browsing without clicking - two proposals of web interface design for universal accessibility

摘要

This paper demonstrates two proposals of web interface design for improving universal accessibility. Proposal 1, involving arm-based interaction, allows each user to browse webpages through using his/her palm to move the cursor on the four edges on screen. The user just needs to keep his/her palm opened without using fingers. Proposal 2, differently, allows each user to browse webpages through using common computer mouse without having to click buttons. In other words, the user only needs to move his/her palm without using fingers. The two proposals are tested by one 20-year-old female college student who cannot posture her left palm or fingers precisely due to mild spinal cord injury. The results show that the subject were able to successfully and independently complete tasks on Proposal 1 and Proposal 2 with her disabled palm. Most of these tasks were what she was not able to do before or what she used to take more time to complete with her disabled palm. Thus, the two proposals of interface design in this study will without a doubt help palm-disabled users to browse online, which is difficult or impossible before.