4 August 2006

Scientists at the University of Manchester are to study web accessibility, in a bid to improve the service offered to mobile phone users.

The three-year project aims to develop software which provides digital accessibility solutions for mobile phones, the Engineer reports.

Drawing on the experiences of blind and visually impaired users and the technologies such as screen readers which they find beneficial, experts hope to simplify the content of conventional websites so that they can be accessed via the mobile web.

Dr Simon Harper, who is leading the project, commented: "Mobile web users are handicapped not by physiology but technology."

"Our aim is to change this by enabling web accessibility and mobile technology to interoperate."

Funding for the project has been provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Dr Harper asserts that with the launch of the World Wide Web Consortium's Mobile Web Initiative, web accessibility and usability are increasingly important.

© Adfero Ltd

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