A Heuristic Checklist for an Accessible Smartphone Interface Design

Details

• Personal Author:
  Benson K ; Cavuoto LA ; Mi N ; Nussbaum MA ; Smith-Jackson T
• Description:
  Smartphone technology has evolved into a multi-functional device with advanced capabilities, but this mobile technology remains inaccessible to many individuals with visual impairments or upper extremity disabilities. This paper provides a heuristic checklist for accessible smartphone interface design, developed through reviewing existing design standards and guidelines and validating these guidelines with user involvement. Specifically, a set of preliminary user requirements (59 items) was extracted from existing standards, guidelines, and user requirements regarding mobile handheld device accessibility. Subsequently, the requirement set was filtered using a participatory method and then integrated to create an operational version of design guidelines. These guidelines were then used in a heuristic evaluation and usability testing on high-fidelity prototypes produced by a commercial manufacturer. A heuristic checklist for designing accessible smartphones was formed, which may also be applicable to other touchscreen handheld devices (e.g., printer screen) in terms of accessibility features. The initial set of 59 user requirements was re-organized into 44 statements in six general categories: mechanical controls, display, speech and general operation controls, audio feedback controls, touch-operated controls, and others. Using results from both qualitative and quantitative methods provides support, though with some limitations, for this accessibility checklist. This checklist is intended as a practical design support tool for use in early design phases of handheld products. A number of challenges and limitations are discussed as well. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Computers Electrical Equipment And Supplies Eye Occupational Health Safety Sense Organs Vision Disorders
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Participatory Design Cell Phones Design Standards Electronic Devices Equipment Design Equipment Operators Mobile Equipment Touchscreen Accessibility Usability Users With Visual Impairments Vision Disorders Visual Aids

  More +
• ISSN:
  1615-5289
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  351-365
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20054029
• Citation:
  Univers Access Inf Soc Int J 2014 Nov; 13(4):351-365
• Contact Point Address:
  N. Mi, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 250 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
• Email:
  na8@vt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20010701
• Source Full Name:
  Universal Access in the Information Society: International Journal
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1edae781da074ee8c4e90dafe1837009f480af7638f0fc0737c8f5bb07642533017426f6fbc89360c172fc6bbeb20f08c09394d3aead0b3d7b119cfc5e93d90f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216678/cdc_216678_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 624.09 KB ]