GUI (Graphical User Interface) browsers are the main type of browser used by sighted user to use the Internet. However the introduction of GUI browsers brought many accessibility problems for blind and visually impaired users, who had previously used text-only browsers to access the Internet before the introduction of GUI browsers. Some of the GUI browsers available are discussed below
Internet Explorer contains a number of accessibility features. It supports the displaying of ALT text as well as keyboard navigation and configuration of font colours, sizes and styles. The user can also turn pictures, videos and sounds off. Internet Explorer also provides additional accessibility features via its support for Microsoft Active Accessibility standard (MSAA), this is the set of operating system based protocols that enable assistive technology.
Internet Explorer also allows users to create their own Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This can be particularly useful for visually impaired users who are unable to read text on the screen because of the colour scheme on a website. A user defined style sheet will automatically overwrite the website CSS. Internet Explorer also provides an auto complete feature which automatically enters URLs based on recently visited URLS. Internet Explorer also contains these additional features:
The Netscape Navigator browser by Netscape contains a number of access features. Despite this there is an impression that the Netscape Navigator browser is inaccessible to blind and visually impaired users. However this is not the case, the Netscape Cooperation has not only gone to great effort to make the Netscape browser accessible but they have also created many different accessibility products for blind and visually impaired users . They have also made the source code for the Netscape browser freely available from the Mozilla website. This has allowed others to create assistive technology that blind and partially sighted users can use with the Netscape Navigator browser. However despite these efforts the Netscape Navigator browser is not considered to offer the same level of accessibility support as Internet Explorer. Some of the accessibility features in Netscape Navigator are given below:
Mozilla was the first graphical browser created for using the Internet. It contains a number of accessibility features:
Amaya is the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) own web browser, which can also be used as a web authoring tool. It also supports the W3C’s protocols so therefore it is a considered to be a very useful GUI browser. However it has very limited accessibility features, although it does contain a screen magnification feature which can be accessed by pressing alt and + for zoom in and alt and – for zoom out. More information about Amaya can be found on the World Wide Web Consortium's Amaya page.
Opera was developed by Opera Software AS company in Oslo. It provides full keyboard navigation and a customisable interface. This allows the user to select font sizes, colours, and styles. It also enables a user to switch menu icons on and off. Opera also contains a zoom function that provides up to 1000% zooming.
Opera provides support for CSS1 and HTML3.2. The browser also includes screen-reader compatible lists and browser feedback on start-up, exit, clicking, completion of Web page loading, loading failure and completion of transfers. It also allows users to easily jump between elements on the web page and headers on the web page. More information about Opera can be found on the Opera website.