Researchers at the University of Washington have developed A11yBoard for Google Slides, a new browser extension and mobile app that enhances accessibility for blind users. Traditional screen readers struggle to provide coherent output when navigating through slide layouts, making slideshow software inaccessible for many people with disabilities. A11yBoard addresses this problem by allowing blind users to efficiently navigate and manipulate complex slide layouts using a combination of audio, touch, gesture, speech recognition, and search features.
By combining a desktop computer with a mobile device, A11yBoard empowers blind users to work with different objects on a slide, such as text boxes and images, and create rich layouts. For example, users can touch a textbox, and the screen reader will describe its color and position. They can then use voice commands to resize and align the textbox with the slide’s title.
The researchers presented their findings and prototype at ASSETS 2023 in New York. While A11yBoard is not yet publicly available, the team aims to release it in the future. Senior author Jacob O. Wobbrock, a professor at UW, emphasized the importance of empowering users to create their own content, rather than solely relying on others’ creations.
The development of A11yBoard builds upon previous research conducted in Wobbrock’s lab on how blind users interact with digital canvases called artboards. The team worked closely with blind users, including an undergraduate student at Stanford University, to improve the interface and test its effectiveness. The users noted significant improvements in their ability to understand visual content and create slides independently.
Although A11yBoard has shown promising results, the researchers acknowledge areas for improvement, such as enhancing the awareness of object positions during editing and allowing for batch actions instead of individual ones. The team also plans to integrate a large language model, like GPT, into the program to further enhance slide authoring for blind users.
