验证所开发应用程序的屏幕阅读器可访问性...pdf

Human Factors in Accessibility and Assistive Technology, Vol. 37, 2022, 45–52

https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1001641

Verifying Screen Reader Accessibility of

Apps Developed Using Google Flutter

Alireza Darvishy

Zurich University of Applied Sciences 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of a study to verify whether the Google UI framew-

ork Flutter can create accessible apps for iOS and Android platforms simultaneously.

codebase should take effect in both Apple and Android platforms simultaneously as

well as with their respective screen readers, so that users are provided with a consi-

stent and accessible user experience, regardless of the platform chosen. The purpose

of this study was to test this hypothesis. To this end, a sample app was developed

using Flutter and a usability test was conducted with six visually impaired screen rea-

der users. Based on the initial test results, the app was then optimised in terms of

accessibility using Flutter’s semantics classes, and then tested and evaluated again

with the same test group. The results showed that some user interface elements were

still not accessible. In order to overcome these accessibility issues, workarounds such

as writing additional code for each specific platform were implemented, before a final

ber 3

, 2019 (Fu et al., 2019). Nevertheless, accessibility is often lacking in

many applications.

Among mobile apps in particular, accessibility via so-called “screen rea-

ders” is essential for all visually impaired and blind users, which according

to statistics from the World Health Organization were estimated at 285 mil-

lion in 2010 (Pascolini and Mariotti, 2012). A WebAIM’s 2019 User Survey,

which surveyed 1224 people with disabilities, revealed that 87.6% of respon-

dents used a screen reader, of which 94.5% were either blind (76.0%) or

visually impaired (18.5%).