!!?i?!!HumzmFactorsinComputigSystems CHl’94 * “Ce/ebralingMrdepemletfce” Nonvisual Presentation of Graphical User Interfaces: Contrasting Two Approaches

Users who are blind currently have limited access to graphical user interfaces based on MS Windows or X Windows. Past access strategies have used speech synthesizers and braille displays to present text-based interfaces. Providing access to graphical applications creates new human interface design challenges which must be addressed to build intuitive and efficient nonvisual interfaces. Two conmasting designs have been developed and implemented in the projects Mercator and GUIB. These systems differ dramatically in their approaches to providing nonvisual interfaces to GUIS. This paper discusses four main interface design issues for access systems, and describes how the Mercator and GUIB designs have addressed these issues. It is hoped that the exploration of these interfaces will lead to better nonvisual interfaces used in low visibility and visually overloaded environments