An ontology-based framework for improving color vision deficiency accessibility

Web technologies provide resources for the intensive use of colors in web pages. They are a core element in the design of interactive interfaces and are essential in the perception and understanding of information. However, color intensive design on the web affects the accessibility for users with color vision deficiency (CVD), who face difficulties in recognizing or distinguishing colors. CVD users may experience limitations and barriers in exploring web pages, even for simple tasks. Interface adaptation techniques may deal with several CVD visualization issues. Nevertheless, different situations and individual preferences turn choosing the most suitable recoloring technique into a complex task. Existing proposals in the literature fail in not considering various pathology types and individual preferences. This article defines a framework and techniques for the development of adaptive interfaces that facilitate the interaction of CVD people with web systems. The proposed research develops the FAIBOUD framework, which uses ontologies as artifacts for representing knowledge about CVD types, recoloring algorithms, and users’ access contexts and preferences. The FAIBOUD includes algorithms to support an adaptation decision process, which selects the most suited adaptation technique according to CVD type and access context. Our solution allows for the determination and automatic application of the best recoloring techniques to adapt interfaces for CVD users. Our experimental evaluation was conducted with fifteen CVD users. The results obtained from several illustrative scenarios demonstrate the benefits and enhancement of web interface accessibility based on our adaptive approach.