Evaluating Responsive Web Design's Impact on Blind Users

摘要

Recent studies show that websites complying with accessibility guidelines can still be ineffective, inefficient, and unpleasant. Compliance with accessibility guidelines does not guarantee blind users' satisfaction when accessing websites. Meanwhile, in recent years, websites have undergone radical changes regarding design, development, and construction. Responsive design is a new trend that has a strong impact on web design. To determine blind users' experience with responsive design, the authors performed empirical tests to investigate the impact of responsive design on the emotions of blind users during web interactions. They measured user emotions by applying the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) instrument. Results show that although the responsive websites investigated had acceptable levels of accessibility, they posed numerous usability barriers and triggered intense, negative user emotions. Furthermore, the average number of negative emotional reactions for blind users was higher in the case of responsive web design than in the case of nonresponsive web design.