Personalizing the User Interface of a Web Browsing Tool

©2008 IBM Corporation

Personalizing the User Interface of a Web Browsing Tool

Takuya Ohko, Reiko Nagatsuma, Shinji Iizuka, Masakazu Takizawa, Takuji Wada, Takashi Saito (Speaker)

IBM Accessibility Center, IBM Research - Tokyo, Japan

©2010 IBM Corporation2

Accessibility Center

Expanding to “human ability”“Disabilities” are no longer confined to traditional definitions, especially with growing need to embrace multi-generational and multi-cultural populations.

World population: 6 Billion*Worldwide Number Disabled: ~1 Billion (16%)*


Outline

What’s Easy Web Browsing (E W B) ?

Efforts on expanding target users

Issues

Personalization of UI

Conclusion


IBM Easy Web BrowsingTM – a Web Browsing Tool 　

An assistive technology which provides user-friendly operations and accessibility features that enable a variety of end users to easily access Web sites.

Uneasy to read for …

- Small fonts 　

- Inappropriate

color combinations

- Long articles

Various barriers on the Web

Read aloud at the location pointed with the mouse

Customizable the background and text colors

Enlarge the pointed text here

E W B Target Users: Seniors, people with low vision, novice users, …


Efforts to provide features for target users and others

EWBV1

EWBV2

EWBNext

Ruler

Highlight/MaskingRead out

MagnifyColor changing

Ruby for KanjiLine Height

Colored overlayWriting assist

NewSucceedEnhanced

Feature

Color blindnessAmblyopiaIT beginner

ForeignerChildren

Seniors

Dyslexia

other learning disabilities

*1. Takizawa et al.: CSUN 2008.

*2. Nagatsuma et al.: CSUN 2009.

*1

*2

Target user

Seniors


E W B V1

Large buttons Basic features Setting panel for

all the feature parameters


E W B V2

More features Sub setting

panels for each feature category

One collective setting panel

Reported in Takizawa et al.: CSUN 2008.


E W B V2 with new features for LD

New features for LDMore panelsMore parameters

* Nagatsuma et al.: CSUN 2009.


Features for dyslexia

RulerRuler

MaskingMasking

Reading outReading out

Word spacingWord spacing

RubyRuby

Line spacingLine spacing

Colored OverlayColored Overlay

Word separationWord separation

ふじさん富士山富士山

IBM Easy Web Browsing

IBM Easy Web Browsing ---

岸に小さな学校がありました。

岸に小さな　学校が　ありました。

Letter spacingLetter spacing

Easy Web Browsing is an easy-to-install software package that can help you




The quick

brown fox

jumps over


The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog


I B M E a s y W e b B r o w s i



Comments by trial users with LD

Each feature is really good for us! But ….

• “It is troublesome to go through so many steps only to turn on and off the feature, because I want to do that frequently.” (might be caused by short-term memory)

• “Please show only my favorite features on the control panel.”

• “Features should be laid out most effectively for me, since there is a possibility of pushing invalid buttons if many buttons are shown at once.” (might be caused by distracting layouts)

Personalization is required, and it would bealso good for conventional users.

(These issues are not unique to LD people.)


What is the key issue?

Expanding target users

Enhancement of features

Increase complexity

Essential to have a flexible UI


Diverse requirements from diverse users

Conventional users

•Conventional features

–Color blindness, I T beginner, elderly people …

•Old PC platforms

•Keeping same usability as before New users, potential or prospective users

•New features

–Dyslexia, other learning disabilities …

•New PC platforms

•Attractive appearance


Design points of the new UI

Personalizable Button Layout• Features are selectable on the panel by users.

• Some basic features are kept at fixed places.

One-feature One-button• One feature is allocated to one button, and also the setting

panel is allocated to one button.

Understandable Button• Descriptions of buttons are provided to users in various ways:

Label/Icon/Tooltip/TTS/Description field/Help

E W B Compatibility• The basic concept is pursued from prior versions of E W B,

“Easy-to-use by large & simple buttons”


Conclusion

Target users of a Web browsing tool, E W B, have been expanded by enriching features for each user group.

Key issue behind is how to incorporate diverse user groups without losing easy-to-use concept.

An approach to UI personalization (User-initiated personalization) was presented.

We are planning to perform evaluations thru pilots. Personalization by integrating user-initiated & system-

initiated schemes is a next topic to investigate.

Personalizing the User Interface of a Web Browsing Tool

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