{"title":"To wrap or not to wrap? A study of how long words are split when reflowed on magnified web pages","authors":"Frode Eika Sandnes","doi":"10.1007/s10209-023-01066-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many low-vision users adjust the browser zoom level to make text more comfortable to read. Responsive websites attempt to fit the content within the viewport width, but several types of problems can potentially occur; long words may be wider than the viewport and thus partially hidden, they may cause large vertical space breaks, and words may be unnecessarily split or incorrectly split. This study set out to get insight into such word wrapping problems on responsive web pages. To help identify word wrapping issues, the tool HYPHERSPACE was developed. Experiments run on 91 websites suggest that hyphenation-related problems are prevalent. Excessive wrapping of words and overflowing words were the most notable problem on about 90% of the websites. One implication of this study is that web designers need to explicitly design for narrow viewports. The proposed tool can help web designers identify hyphenation problems on responsive web pages viewed with high magnification.","PeriodicalId":49115,"journal":{"name":"Universal Access in the Information Society","volume":"23 15","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Universal Access in the Information Society","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-023-01066-y","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, CYBERNETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract Many low-vision users adjust the browser zoom level to make text more comfortable to read. Responsive websites attempt to fit the content within the viewport width, but several types of problems can potentially occur; long words may be wider than the viewport and thus partially hidden, they may cause large vertical space breaks, and words may be unnecessarily split or incorrectly split. This study set out to get insight into such word wrapping problems on responsive web pages. To help identify word wrapping issues, the tool HYPHERSPACE was developed. Experiments run on 91 websites suggest that hyphenation-related problems are prevalent. Excessive wrapping of words and overflowing words were the most notable problem on about 90% of the websites. One implication of this study is that web designers need to explicitly design for narrow viewports. The proposed tool can help web designers identify hyphenation problems on responsive web pages viewed with high magnification.
期刊介绍:
Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS) is an international, interdisciplinary refereed journal that solicits original research contributions addressing the accessibility, usability, and, ultimately, acceptability of Information Society Technologies by anyone, anywhere, at anytime, and through any media and device. Universal access refers to the conscious and systematic effort to proactively apply principles, methods and tools of universal design order to develop Information Society Technologies that are accessible and usable by all citizens, including the very young and the elderly and people with different types of disabilities, thus avoiding the need for a posteriori adaptations or specialized design. The journal''s unique focus is on theoretical, methodological, and empirical research, of both technological and non-technological nature, that addresses equitable access and active participation of potentially all citizens in the information society.