Mixture model based label association techniques for web accessibility

An important aspect of making the Web accessible to blind users is ensuring that all important web page elements such as links, clickable buttons, and form fields have explicitly assigned labels. Properly labeled content is then correctly read out by screen readers, a dominant assistive technology used by blind users. In particular, improperly labeled form fields can critically impede online transactions such as shopping, paying bills, etc. with screen readers. Very often labels are not associated with form fields or are missing altogether, making form filling a challenge for blind users. Algorithms for associating a form element with one of several candidate labels in its vicinity must cope with the variability of the element's features including label's location relative to the element, distance to the element, etc. Probabilistic models provide a natural machinery to reason with such uncertainties. In this paper we present a Finite Mixture Model (FMM) formulation of the la...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: UIST
• Authors: Muhammad Asiful Islam, Yevgen Borodin, I. V. Ramakrishnan
• Keywords: Blind Users, Form Fields, Labels, Software Engineering, UIST 2010