Perceptions of web accessibility guidelines by student website and app developers

ABSTRACT

This research aims to evaluate the level of accessibility knowledge by student website and app (WEB&APP) developers as well as the role of education in their perceptions and usage of accessibility guidelines. It proposes an integrative theoretical framework to understand the relationship among education, WEB&APP developer knowledge, and guideline usage. The present work with results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and an interview data analysis indicates that WEB&APP students have a low level of guideline familiarity and education plays an important role in their perceptions and usage of those guidelines. It emphasises the importance of accessibility guideline education, personal connection with people who have disabilities in the education process, need for empathy in accessible WEB&APP design and development, as well as business values of accessible WEB&APP.

KEYWORDS:

• Web accessibility
• accessibility guidelines
• student website and app (WEB&APP) developers
• education
• mixed methods approach
• people with disabilities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Three undergraduate students collected part of the quantitative and qualitative data in their Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) from September 2017 to December 2017.

2 Institution category adopted the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

3 This is the group that was in charge of helping develop new accessibility guidelines.