Tokkee

Inspiration

Despite the recent advent of accessibility features in web design and development, many websites are still not optimized for disabled users. This is a problem for people with impaired vision and is especially an issue prevalent in older sites developed prior to modern web standards. However, modifying all the sites that lack proper guidelines would require extensive time and resources. Our solution to this problem is Tokkee (pronounced like the word “talk” + ee), a browser extension for those with visual impairment that leverages machine learning (ML) to parse and format websites so they meet web accessibility guidelines for the current user. Tokkee is unique because of the range of problems it solves for visually impaired users. This is made possible through ML since it learns underlying patterns on accessible sites that it then applies to new sites.

What it does

Tokkee addresses a wide range of website usability issues mainly for visually impaired people. As a result, it also may make websites more navigable for general users.

Example issues:

• alt text: adds alt text attribute to images
• tab index: adds aria tabindex to HTML elements
• non-contrastive colors: Changes styling in the browser

How we built it

We first planned everything out. After determining the problem statement, user personas, and features we needed, we created a Figma project to implement and visualize all our ideas. Then we set up flows and interactive components.

Challenges we ran into

• Narrowing the scope of our project
• Researching and implementing web guidelines
• Applying our different skill sets to work together

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Implementing the full design process
• Creating a high-fidelity prototype that is interactive
• Addressing a need for many internet users

What we learned

• We referenced Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to learn how to make websites available to the wider public
• How disabled users may struggle with using things more able-bodied people take for granted
• There are a lot of resources online to help guide website design for inclusivity

What's next for Tokkee

We want to finish up the design and prototype for Tokkee by gathering opinions and feedback from potential end users. This would involve setting up a study with visually impaired users of internet browsers and guiding them through Tokkee usage. Through this, we hope to clean up confusing features and add parts that would benefit anyone using the extension. After solidifying the final design, the next step is implementing it and adding it to the Chrome Web Store!

Built With

• figma
• miro