Análisis y desarrollo de un prototipo de sitio web de mensajería instantánea para personas con discapacidad visual.

Abstract

commercial, entertainment and online communication nature. However, the complete accessibility, on the part of the different types of users, to these sites of the digital world is an aspect to be improved. The main purpose of this research work is to incorporate people with visual disabilities - blind people or people with reduced vision - into instant messaging to facilitate communication between users. The research project was carried out in two universities in the north of Guayaquil during Semester A- 2018. The 13 participants belonged to different faculties of the Santiago de Guayaquil Catholic University (n = 7) and the University of Guayaquil (n = 6). 80 To develop the proposal, information on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) was collected and two interviews were administered. The first one with the objective of obtaining general information about users experience with a computer and in the navigation in the network; to classify them according to their profile. In the second interview, users experiences in the management of the instant messaging software (Hangouts) were analyzed to identify and address the existing problems for this group of users. The functionality of the site was validated with the blind participants (n=9) and the necessary functional details were adjusted such as: the inclusion of new key combinations to improve the navigation and movement between options of the proposed application, as well as a help menu. The application was improving as the tests were done. Finally, the user experience was rated as excellent and good in 90% of the cases.