SeeWeb: Dynamic improvement of the accessibility of HTML']HTML documents for blind persons

This article deals with blind user access to the Web. We first present the different existing approaches that facilitate Internet access to blind users and the different ergonomic rules that HTML page designers should respect. Then, we present our approach for a dynamic improvement of the accessibility. This approach uses a customization interface that allows the user to choose the modifications to perform on the Web pages and the information to visualize. Our system,:called SeeWeb, operates between the user and a traditional navigator (Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.). It allows the analysis of the HTML document and its content. It also enables to modify the page structure, according to user's preferences and some ergonomic rules. The user interface coupled to a screen reader allows the restitution of information in a more comprehensive way for the blind user. This work has been carried out as a cooperation between LIMSI-CNRS (a research laboratory) and TECHNIBRAILLE (an industrial partner).