Exploring the Relationship between Web Usability and the Web Accessibility Guidelines

Abstract

Web becomes more complex with the fast growth of application. The various web accessibility guidelines have been promoted since their inception and even demanded high level to help improve accessing, understanding and operating the content of web pages. Usability engineering has made its approach into the World Wide Web mainstream that focuses on how the end users will work to achieve their target goals. Some web based usability challenges are not kept in mind while designing web-based application by implementing various web accessibility standards. This study focuses on identifying the gap between usability and three web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.0, ISO 9241:151 and Section 508). The research aim is to evaluate how the usability challenges of web-based application are related to web accessibility guidelines.