No Code Required

CHAPTER

19

TrailBlazer

Enabling blind users to blaze trailsthrough the Web

Jeffrey P. Bigham,¹ Tessa Lau,² Jeffrey Nichols²¹Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington²IBM Research – Almaden

ABSTRACT

For blind Web users, completing tasks on the Web can be frustrating. Each step can require a time-consuming linear search of the current Web page to find the needed interactive element or piece of information. Existing interactive help systems and the playback components of some programming by demonstration tools identify the needed elements of a page as they guide the user through predefined tasks, obviating the need for a linear search on each step. TrailBlazer is a system that provides an accessible, nonvisual interface ...