First Prototype Features and Two Navigation Styles

In casestudy_n_1, the first NavAccess prototype was designed to help blind users navigate websites more effectively by giving access to a website’s overall “infrastructure.” The prototype created a complete record of the site’s structure and communicated it to the interface using XML. This meant users could work with structural information about the website, not just the content of a single page.

Key Interaction Features of the First Prototype

The first prototype included several important interaction features described in casestudy_n_1:

• One-handed numeric keypad control: navigation through the interface could be done using only one hand, with buttons on a numeric keypad.
• Moving through link structure: using the arrow keys, the user could move back and forth through the website’s link structure.
• Probing link targets: users could inspect or “probe” the targets of links they encountered without actually following those links.
• Access to structural information: the interface presented the website’s infrastructure so users could understand how parts of the site were connected.

Two Navigation Styles

According to casestudy_n_1, this design gave users two distinct navigation styles.

• Structure-level navigation: users could navigate the site’s structure through the prototype’s interface. This style provided a low level of detail, but allowed movement around the website in a fast and efficient way.
• Detailed page-level exploration: users could also examine information at the page level, including the textual environment of a link. This style supported closer inspection of specific page content.

Why the Distinction Matters

The difference between these two styles is central in casestudy_n_1. Structure-level navigation helps a user orient themselves within the overall website and travel quickly between sections. Detailed page-level exploration, by contrast, helps the user understand the local meaning of content on a page, such as what a link refers to in its surrounding text.

Together, these styles aimed to balance speed and detail:

• Use structure-level navigation to move efficiently through the website.
• Use page-level exploration to investigate specific content more closely.

Summary

As explained in casestudy_n_1, the first NavAccess prototype was notable for its one-handed numeric keypad input, its ability to move through a site’s link structure, and its support for probing link targets without opening them. Most importantly, it introduced two complementary navigation styles: a broad, fast structure-level mode and a more detailed page-level mode for close exploration.