Evaluation, Synthesis and Formulation of Proposals for the Use of ...

«Evaluation, Synthesis and Formulation of Proposals for the Use of ICTin the Tourism Sector»The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is exclusively engaged with the improvement of internetaccessibility and towards this direction has published in cooperation with other organizations, a seriesof directions / standards.According to these, there are four main principles that should be adopted:• The content should be simple for the user to comprehend. This is possible through adoptingalternative texts for the parts of the non-text content, providing synchronized alternative choicesfor multimedia, assuring that the presentation is independent and does not burden the structure,the functionality and the content as well as assuring that the primary information is clearlyseparated from sound and images of secondary importance.• Content interfaces should be functional. To achieve that, there should be the possibility offunctionality control aided by keyboard or keyboard interface use. Furthermore the users shouldhave the possibility of controlling their interaction time with the web sites, as well as thepossibility to avoid interaction with content that is likely to cause epileptical seizure, due to lightsensitivity. Finally there should be an ancillary mechanism for the users to navigate themselvesthrough web content, to assure avoiding errors and to facilitate corrective moves.• Content and its handling should be comprehensible. Comprehension could be achieved byassuring simplicity and content understanding on one hand, and on the other by consistentlyorganizing the content from a page to another as well as the logical operation and response ofmultimedia functions.• The content should not be technology determined, but flexible to adjust to the given technologyas well as the upcoming one, providing accessibility or relative alternative possibilities.Beyond the humane perspective of the effort to ensure accessibility to the internet, a major matter ofbusiness value and potentials is also involved. At least 10% of the population in every country facessome kind of disability, rendering this particular market share hard to ignore. At the same time,another noteworthy share regards the elderly who deal with accessibility matters to an extent.Additionally, an accessible web site surely has the advantages of user friendliness, accessibilityindependent of applications, resolution and browser applications and high ranking in search engines.Identity and TrustTrust is a matter of great importance as long as internet is concerned and mainly regards the sitesthat provide electronic transactions. Scepticism is evident regarding the providers of the products orservices for sale as well as the technology itself. Therefore every effort should be made to assure thatthe web site content and design inspires trust to the user. Indicative potential actions to increase trustare the clear declaration of the web site purpose and the value it offers to the users, as well as theVersion 1Month: December Year: 200756