Master's Thesis

The Impact of Web Accessibility Overlays on the Usability and User Experience for People with Permanent Visual Impairments

| Daniela Kubesch, MSc MSc

Double-Degree Master Thesis between the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (degree program MultiMediaTechnology) and Halmstad University (degree program Digital Service Innovation). Supervised by Jakub Sypniewski, MSc and Maria Åkesson, MSc, PhD, Professor of Informatics.

Expert Interviews

F.1 Interview Questions for Susanne Buchner-Sabathy, Translated from German

Interview Questions

From the transcript of the interview with Susanne Buchner-Sabathy [June 2023]

Susanne Buchner-Sabathy is a consultant and expert in the field of digital accessibility.

  1. You are familiar with accessibility overlays. Could you briefly summarise what you understand by them?

  2. Have you ever used an accessibility overlay yourself?

  3. What was your experience with these accessibility overlays?

  4. Have you noticed that some accessibility overlays work better than others? Or is it generally still not enough to correct deficiencies?

  5. Could you imagine an accessibility overlay being a temporary solution while an accessible website is being programmed?

  6. Would you say that there are any features of accessibility overlays that make sense to implement on the website in general? There is often a discussion here about redundancy when I say "well, I can just zoom in on the web page using my keyboard, why do I need a button in this overlay widget?

  7. You said that in general you think that accessibility overlays are not the answer. Does your acceptance change depending on the owner of the website?

  8. Would it be an option to temporarily use an accessibility overlay until the CMS companies make a change?

    Do you think it would make a positive difference for a small business owner to use an overlay now until accessible themes are available, or is it better to just not use an overlay and leave the site inaccessible?

  9. Have you also looked at what the companies behind accessibility overlays write on their websites, what they describe that the overlay can do and how to set it up?

    Can you tell me a little bit about your experience, what you noticed there?

Interview Fragen

Entnommen aus dem Transkript des Interviews mit Susanne Buchner-Sabathy [Juni 2023]

Susanne Buchner-Sabathy ist Beraterin und Expertin im Bereich digitale Barrierefreiheit.

  1. Accessibility Overlay sind dir ja ein Begriff. Könntest du mir kurz zusammenfassen, was du darunter verstehst?

  2. Hast du selbst schon mal ein Accessibility Overlay benutzt?

  3. Was war so deine Erfahrung mit diesen Accessibility Overlays?

  4. Hättest du irgendwie bemerkt, dass es manche Accessibility Overlays besser machen als andere? Oder ist es trotzdem im generellen einfach meist nicht ausreichend, um Mängel zu beheben?

  5. Könntest du dir vorstellen, dass ein Accessibility Overlay eine vorübergehende Lösung ist, während man an einer barrierefreien Website programmiert?

  6. Würdest du sagen, es gibt irgendwelche Features von Accessibility Overlays, die auch Sinn machen generell auf der Webseite implementiert zu sein? Es gibt hier oft eine Diskussion um Redundanz, wenn ich sage, "naja, ich kann auch einfach auf meinem Keyboard die Webseite heranzoomen, warum brauche ich dann einen Knopf in diesem Overlay Widget dafür?".

  7. Du hast gesagt, du findest generell das Accessibility Overlays nicht die Lösung sind. Ändert sich deine Akzeptanz je nach Eigentümer*in der Website?

  8. Wäre es dann aber eine Option, bis es eine Veränderung Seitens der CMS Firmen gibt, temporär ein Accessibility Overlay zu benutzen?

    Glaubst du es wird was positiv verändern, wenn jetzt ein Kleinunternehmer oder eine Kleinunternehmerin ein Overlay benutzt bis barrierefreie Themes zur Verfügung stehen, oder ist es dann besser, einfach kein Overlay zu benutzen und die Website nicht barrierefrei zu lassen?

  9. Hast du dir auch angesehen, was die Firmen hinter Accessibility Overlays auf ihren Webseiten schreiben, was sie beschreiben, dass das Overlay kann und wie man es einrichtet?

    Kannst du da ein bisschen deine Erfahrungen mit mir teilen, was dir da so aufgefallen ist?

F.2 Interview Questions for Chris Schmidt (EyeAble), Translated from German

Interview Questions

From the transcript of the interview with Chris Schmidt from EyeAble [August 2023]

Chris Schmidt is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at the Web Inclusion GmbH, the company behind the accessibility overlay EyeAble Assist.

  1. What is your opinion on accessibility overlays?

  2. I have seen on your website that you make no reference to WCAG, that you do not promise compliance at the push of a button with your widget, that you believe that accessibility cannot be achieved at the push of a button and that you do not sell your overlay individually. Right?

  3. But what does EyeAble Assist refer to then? I would be interested to hear what you say is your target group for EyeAble Assist.

  4. But what exactly do you do with your other 2 tools? Because I have to say that I looked at what you wrote on your website and there are things like "integrate our assist software to provide users with an accessible and individualized view of your website content" in relation to EyeAble Assist. To me that sounds very much like EyeAble Assist makes everything more accessible.

    And what I also have to say is that I have also looked at the companies that you partly refer to, with logos and quotes, and when I go to their website, they all have EyeAble Assist on it. But the underlying website is not accessible, which makes me think, what are you working on all the time? You use testimonials on your website, but somehow I can't quite see what you're working on with your clients when their website is not accessible and all they have is EyeAble Assist.

  5. Why do you still have EyeAble Assist? There's a lot of discussion about whether such a feature is needed at all, when many people already change something in their own settings (browser, system) and don't even know that there's this button that activates the assistant/overlay and then does something.

  6. What exactly does your research look like?

  7. Could you give me a quick recap? By definition you are an overlay, but what makes you different from other companies?

  8. Do your customers just have EyeAble Audit and Report "for themselves" and work through all the WCAG errors themselves, or do you communicate with them in some way?

  9. How long have you been in business?

  10. What is your vision and idea of accessibility?

Interview Fragen

Entnommen aus dem Transkript des Interviews mit Chris Schmidt von EyeAble [August 2023]

Chris Schmidt ist Co-Founder und Chief Marketing Officer der Web Inclusion GmbH, der Firma hinter dem Accessibility Overlay EyeAble Assist.

  1. Was ist deine Meinung zu Accessibility Overlays?

  2. Ich habe auf eurer Webseite gesehen, dass ihr keinen Bezug auf WCAG nehmt, keine Compliance durch Knopfdruck mit eurem Assistenten versprecht, dass ihr der Ansicht seit dass Barrierefreiheit nicht auf Knopfdruck geht und dass ihr euer Overlay auch nicht einzeln verkauft. Korrekt?

  3. Aber auf was bezieht sich EyeAble Assist dann? Mich würde interessieren, was ihr sagt, was eure Zielgruppe von EyeAble Assist ist.

  4. Aber was genau macht ihr dann mit euren anderen 2 Tools? Weil ich muss schon sagen ich habe mir jetzt angeschaut was ihr auf eurer Website schreibt und dann stehen da in Bezug auf EyeAble Assist halt so Sachen wie "integrate our assist software to provide users with an accessible and individualized view of your website content". Für mich klingt das schon sehr so wie wenn EyeAble Assist eben alles mehr barrierefrei macht.

    Und was ich auch sagen muss, ich habe mir auch die Firmen angeschaut, die ihr teilweise referenziert, mit Logos und Zitaten, und wenn ich auf deren Webseite gehe, dann haben sie alle den EyeAble Assist drauf. Die zugrundeliegende Webseite ist aber nicht barrierefrei, wo ich mir dann denke, woran arbeitet ihr die ganze Zeit? Ihr verwendet Testimonials auf eurer Webseite, aber irgendwie sehe ich nicht ganz woran gearbeitet wird, wenn eben die Webseite nicht barrierefrei ist, sondern nur EyeAble Assist da ist.

  5. Wieso habt ihr EyeAble Assist überhaupt noch? Es gibt ja viele Diskussionen darüber, ob es so eine Funktionalität überhaupt braucht, wenn viele Leute schon in ihren eigenen Einstellungen (Browser, System) etwas umstellen und auch gar nicht wissen, dass es diesen Knopf gibt, der den Assistenten/das Overlay aktiviert und dann irgendwas tut.

  6. Wie sieht eure Forschung genau aus?

  7. Könntest du nochmal kurz für mich zusammenfassen: Per Definition seid ihr ein Overlay, aber was unterscheidet euch jetzt von anderen Firmen?

  8. Haben eure Kunden EyeAble Audit und Report einfach nur "für sich" und arbeiten selber alle WCAG-Fehler ab, oder steht ihr da irgendwie in Kommunikation mit ihnen?

  9. Wie lange gibt es euch jetzt schon?

  10. Was ist eure Vision und Vorstellung von Barrierefreiheit?

F.3 Interview Questions for Lionel Wolberger (UserWay)

Interview Questions

From the transcript of the interview with Lionel Wolberger from UserWay [October 2023]

Lionel Wolberger is a serial entrepreneur who has authored patents, holds a PhD in anthropological approaches, serves as Chief Operating Officer at the accessibility overlay company UserWay, and is a member of the W3C Accessible Platforms Architectures Working Group.

  1. Can we maybe start with you giving a short introduction of yourself and the work you do?

  2. What is your idea of accessibility?

  3. You know about the discussion around accessibility overlays. It's a very heated discussion. What is your own opinion on the whole discussion?

  4. The argument I always hear regarding that topic is that browsers, the system and access technology already have such, so why not just use those? What are your thoughts on that?

  5. Due to this whole discussion, there are a lot of people that have a negative perception about accessibility overlays even before trying them. What do you think can be done to change that?

  6. What would you say is the target audience of UserWay with the accessibility overlay?

  7. Regarding people with impairments, does UserWay have a certain focus there on whom to help?

  8. Does UserWay test its solutions with people with impairments to ensure they work properly? And are you able to share a bit more how you assure your solutions are and remain accessible?

  9. Another comment in this whole discussion is that it is always said overlays promise compliance with legal regulations. What is your stand on that? Can I purchase what UserWay offers and be compliant with legal regulations? Or what steps do I have to take to assure that I go into that direction?

  10. So, I want some more thoughts on the whole automation and maybe AI topic because I feel like now that AI is getting so popular and everybody's talking about it and talking about more automated solutions. I wanted to ask you if you have some thoughts on that whole topic regarding accessibility?

  11. Yeah. So, I feel like AI is like a hot topic and discussed a lot, but also at the same time, because it's rather new, a lot of people are scared of it. I was wondering if you can see some improvements regarding accessibility and AI in the next few years?

  12. And do you have a way of keeping the human in the loop? Because I feel like a big point in the discussion is that customers just buy the solutions and just let the automated fixes run, but don't do something with the recommendations or with the parts where you need a human to fix it. Because I don't know, they don't care. They have various reasons. Do you have something to keep the human there and make them change something?

  13. The problem I see there is that if people buy accessibility solutions, speaking not only of UserWay but like various companies, and don't configure it so they're not in the loop and sometimes it can happen that the experience gets worse because maybe the overlay doesn't know how to interpret certain information on the page. And this then results in people being annoyed or prevented from accessing information. But then on the other side there are people that benefit from the things and overlay offers. So, do you have any thoughts on how we could find common ground here?

  14. Yeah. OK. I see. I think I don't have any more questions written down. Do you want to add something?

F.4 Interview Questions for Sina Bahram

Interview Questions

From the transcript of the interview with Sina Bahram [October 2023]

Sina Bahram is a blind computer scientist, consultant, business owner/entrepreneur, invited expert to the W3C's Aria Working Group, and former researcher who has worked in and around digital accessibility for the past 23 years.

  1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do for work, what you work with and your background in general, just for the context of this interview?

  2. Accessibility Overlays are known to you. Do you feel that accessibility overlays help to reduce barriers and facilitate access to digital content?

  3. There's always this big discussion of "there are some users, like the elderly or people that are not fluent in a certain language that like what accessibility overlays offer them". Do you think we can find some common ground there and use overlays for those people, while not, at the same time, harming others?

  4. What I often hear when speaking to overlay vendors is the story of "the old grandma that is crying because they changed her life because now, she can go on websites". I feel like this is one of the biggest arguments: old people and that they have it much easier with the help of overlays. Do you have some thoughts on this claim or these marketing tactics?

  5. What is your opinion on specific accessibility buttons? For example, when there is a button only for contrast or a button only to read aloud.

  6. What is your opinion on the accessibility features that are just one button that is doing one specific thing and websites having like two to three of those on their website?

  7. Do you maybe have an explanation why there are some organizations that are advocating for blind people, for example, and they have such named features or even an accessibility overlay on their own website?

  8. And do you think that there is some way of improving accessibility overlays to something that can be useful and not harmful?

  9. Some overlay companies are thinking about building a browser plugin that is basically their overlay but as a browser plugin so you can reach more websites. What are your thoughts on that?

  10. Do you have some thoughts on what we could do to change the whole situation with overlays?

  11. I also encountered some discussions on if it's more acceptable of small business websites using an overlay versus like large companies. Because the argumentation is that large companies have more money and should be able to afford accessible development, but a small hairdresser with a WordPress website for example doesn't. Do you have some thoughts on that?

  12. Do you think that in the future, automated solutions can be used for accessibility?

  13. Do you have some thoughts on overlay companies having people with disabilities employed and "showing them off"?

  14. Do you have some thoughts on what could be done to get a solution to this whole discussion on accessibility overlays?