Accessible Artist Archives: Supporting web professionals in creating accessible navigation for online artist archives

Abstract

This thesis explores which factors are preventing web professionals from creating accessible website navigation. To answer this, interviews with six web designers and developers were conducted, the results of which (in accordance with previous research) indicate two primary factors: 1. Client demand is low, leading to deprioritization and a lack of time and/or money for considering accessibility; 2. Accessibility does not have a natural place in the design/development process. In addition, an analysis of the navigational accessibility of an existing web archive of the Swedish painter Ivar Arosenius was performed, identifying three main issues: 1. Lack of context, causing disorientation; 2. Keyboard operation not being optimally implemented; and 3. Search functionality issues, such as being inconsistent in displayed results and not providing correction suggestions for misspelled search terms. Finally, as a way to address the factors preventing accessibility, four concrete concepts were developed. Of these, two were further advanced: an accessibility business value calculator, to aid clients in recognizing the business value of accessibility; and an accessibility design linter, to make it easier for web designers to identify accessibility problems in their designs at an early stage.