Abstract

PANIAGUA L., Andrés; BEDOYA R., Diana  and  MERA, Carlos. A Method for Assessing the Accessibility and Usability in Mobile Applications. TecnoL. [online]. 2020, vol.23, n.48, pp.98-116. ISSN 0123-7799.  https://doi.org/10.22430/22565337.1553.

Internet is the largest means of disseminating information and the largest service delivery channel currently available. As the number of Internet users continues to grow, care should be taken to ensure that the quality characteristics of web and mobile applications include those that ensure access to information for the entire population, including people with special needs. In this regard, it is necessary to ensure compliance with the accessibility standards proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) through the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP). Different authors claim that, even with knowledge of the accessibility gaps of existing applications, developers present problems in their evaluation, as well as in the evaluation of usability. While there is a guide to such an assessment, it is not complete and the elements defining the assessment are still at an early stage. In this sense, it is important to define a method that allows to evaluate not only the usability but also the accessibility of web and mobile applications, especially considering those users who have special needs. Based on the above, this paper proposes a method for the evaluation of usability and accessibility for mobile applications, developed in 6 iterative phases, the initial phases of the method seek to ensure compliance with the desired levels of accessibility according to the W3C, then the fulfillment of usability is sought by applying the remaining phases of the method, obtaining as results improvements in each iteration, when using the method to evaluate the "Dictionary of Neologism" application, there is evidence of greater detection of failures in the implementation of the W3C standard and improvements in responses obtained through satisfaction surveys.

Keywords : Access to information; software quality; mobile app evaluation; usability evaluation of web and mobile applications.

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