The user experience: Designs and adaptations

Abstract

Specifications for accessibility of Web pages do not necessarily guarantee a usable or satisfying Web experience for persons with disabilities. The needs of many of these individuals fall outside guidelines for accessible content. Many of these users, for example, wish that they simply could "enlarge" what is on a Web page. They also express the wish that pages would be "less confusing". To meet these needs, Web browsers and various software applications provide for a variety of ways in which page presentations can be altered. The effects of these alterations often have unexpected consequences. Some designs accommodate these alterations better than others. This paper discusses one such application that allows users to control features of Web page presentation and explores design features that facilitate such control. Copyright 2004 ACM.