Beyond Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: Expert Accessibility Reviews

Abstract

Despite the existence of web accessibility guidelines - e.g. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - to help developers and designers to create more accessible websites, many websites are still not accessible. Studies showed that guidelines do not cover all the problems encounter by users with disabilities. This study investigates the problems found by seven accessibility experts in 62 accessibility evaluation reviews of mobile and desktop websites as well as mobile applications. Each evaluation conducted an accessibility review using Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA. In addition, experts highlighted potential issues which were not covered by these guidelines but could be potential issues encountered by people with disabilities. The study depicts those issues that were raised by experts during those audits but were not covered by the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Finally, the study provides additional knowledge into potential problems as identified by experts and recommends techniques that developers and designers can use to create more accessible websites.