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Navigating the Web is one of important missions in the field of computer accessibility. Many specialized techniques for Visually Impaired People (VIP) succeed to extract the visual and textual information displayed on digital screens and transform it in a linear way: either through a written format on special Braille devices or a vocal output using text-to-speech synthesizers. However, many researches confirm that perception of the layout of web pages enhances web navigation and memorization. But, most existing screen readers still fail to transform the 2-dimension structures of web pages into higher orders. In this paper, we propose a new framework to enhance VIP web accessibility by affording a "first glance" web page overview, and by suggesting a hybrid segmentation algorithm to afford nested and easy navigation of web pages. In particular, the web page layout is transformed into a coarse grain structure, which is then converted into vibrating pages using a graphical vibro-tactile language. First experiments with blind users show interesting issues on touch-screen devices.

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In this paper, we present the results of an empirical study that aims to evaluate the performance of sighted and blind people to discriminate web page structures using vibrotactile feedback. The proposed visuo-tactile substitution system is based on a portable and economical solution that can be used in noisy and public environments. It converts the visual structures of web pages into tactile landscapes that can be explored on any mobile touchscreen device. The light contrasts overflown by the fingers are dynamically captured, sent to a micro-controller, translated into vibrating patterns that vary in intensity, frequency and temperature, and then reproduced by our actuators on the skin at the location defined by the user. The performance of the proposed system is measured in terms of perception of frequency and intensity thresholds and qualitative understanding of the shapes displayed.