Research of the accessibility of Russian universities websites for persons with visual disabilities

Problem statement. Nowadays the demand for university websites has increased. According to the law, versions for visually impaired have been introduced on educational sites in Russia. The research objective is to evaluate accessibility of sites and quality of versions for visually impaired (mainly in an automatic way), and to identify the best way to implement such solutions and to create accessible sites in general. Methodology. A software system for collecting metrics from websites in two versions - a normal and for visually impaired users - has been developed. Quantitative metrics based on the HTML code of home- pages and visual analysis of homepages screenshots are compared. Metrics were also received by manual testing. Results. Data from 571 universities websites with open access to files was observed. The correlation analysis of metrics was carried out. The quality of versions for visually impaired was assessed, recommendations were made for technical implementation and a standard set of settings for panel of version for visually impaired users. Statistics of used ready-made solutions, as well as website development tools, was collected. Conclusion. An idea has appeared about current issues in the field of accessibility of educational sites in Russia, and about what can be used to evaluate and developing of accessible sites. The recommendations can be used as one of the guidelines for developing or checking versions for visually impaired.