DTorial: An interactive tutorial framework for blind users in a Web 2.0 world
Venue
Proceedings of the 12th IFIP TC13 Conference in Human-Computer Interaction INTERACT 2009, Springer-Verlag, Uppsala, Sweden, pp. 5-18
Publication Year
2009
Authors
Joshua Hailpern, Loretta Guarino Reid, Richard Boardman
BibTeX
Abstract
Effective tutorial systems can help promote products by reducing barriers of
learning new applications. With dynamic web applications becoming as complex as
desktop programs, there is a growing need for online tutorial/help systems. For
visually impaired users the key limitations of traditional help systems are 1) poor
access to help content with assistive technology, and 2) frequent reliance on
videos/images to identify parts of web applications and demonstrate functionality.
In this paper, we present a new interaction model, targeted towards screen-reader
users, that describes how to embed an interactive tutorial within a web
application. The interaction model is demonstrated within a system called DTorial,
a fully functional dynamic audio-based tutorial with embedded content. While
remaining within the web application, users can rapidly access any tutorial
content, injected inline near relevant application controls, allowing them to
quickly apply what they just heard to the application itself, without ever losing
their position or having to shift windows. The model and implementation are
grounded in sighted user help-systems literature and an analysis of screen-reader
and Web-Application interactions. Lessons learned from the incremental design and
evaluations indicate that providing visually impaired users with dynamic, embedded,
interactive audio-based tutorial systems can reduce the barriers to new
Web-Applications.
