Guidelines for Making Web Accessible of Dyslexics

Abstract

Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that affects the reading, writing, spelling and decoding abilities. The people suffering from dyslexia, experience difficulties while using websites because designers, developers and content writers do not consider the obstacles faced by them. Previous studies provided single or multiple accessibility elements but there is no consolidated key website accessibility guidelines. In this research, the accessibility of some popular websites is evaluated using online accessibility testing tool. The results have shown that most of the websites are not fully accessible because they developed with accessibility barriers (e.g. no support for screen reader). Secondly, dyslexia friendly key website accessibility guidelines have been identified to assist designers, developers, tester, content writers and other website stakeholders. The guidelines are grouped into nine major categories; Fonts, Paragraph, Colors, Writing, Layout, Navigation, Screen Reader Compatibility, Semantic HTML & WAI-ARIA and other guidelines. In addition to the above, a website development framework is suggested to prioritize accessibility from the beginning of development by frequently testing website for accessibility and screen reader compatibility. A website prototype is created and tested using online accessibility testing tool and screen reader. The result has shown that accessibility of websites for dyslexic people can be improved by focusing on accessibility from the beginning of website development projects.