GAPforAPE: an augmented browsing system to improve Web 2.0 accessibility

The Web 2.0 evolution has spread more interactive technologies which affected accessibility for users who navigate theWeb by using assistive technologies. In particular, the partial download of new data, the continuous refreshing, and the massive use of scripting can represent significant barriers especially for people with visual impairments, who enjoy the Web by means of screen readers. On the other hand, such technologies can be an opportunity, because they can provide a new means of transcoding Web content, making the Web more accessible. In this article we present GAPforAPE, an augmented browsing system (based on Web browsers extensions) which offers a user’s profiling system and transcodes Web content according to constrains declared by users: the same Web page is provided to any user, but GAPforAPE computes adequate customizations, by exploiting scripting technologies which usually affect Web pages accessibility. GAPforAPE imitates screen readers behavior: it applies a specific set of transcoding scripts devoted to a givenWeb site, when available, and a default set of transcoding operations otherwise. The continuous and quick evolution of the Web has shown that a crowdsourcing system is a desirable solution, letting the transcoding scripts evolve in the same way.