A Universally Designed Electronic Norwegian Dictionary

Abstract

Following the concepts of universal design as well as guidelines of accessibility and usability are important parts of the website design for wide range of users, and an online dictionary is not an exception to these requirements. The information regarding whether the online dictionaries are universally designed is still lacking. This study was designed to develop a prototype of a universally designed electronic Norwegian dictionary. The study followed an experimental approach starting with testing of a widely used trustworthy online Norwegian dictionary named Nynorskorboka og Bokmålsordboka (https://ordbok.uib.no/); developing a prototype following WCAG 2.1 and usability guidelines of universal design and finally user testing to compare these two electronic dictionaries for usability issues. A total of 20 participants were recruited for user testing. The automated evaluation of the current Nynorskorboka og Bokmålsordboka generated several accessibility issues indicating lack of universal design. The findings from this study shows that the universally designed prototype is significantly different than the existing online dictionary both in terms of improved satisfaction and reduced number of errors while using. Furthermore, the result also suggests that universal design of website makes a huge difference in the access and use.