Usability and accessibility evaluation of Libyan government websites

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability and accessibility of Libyan government websites. A total of ten government websites in Libya were analyzed according to the criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0, and one of them was selected for further analysis based on usability criteria. The results showed that the evaluated website had significant number of usability problems. More than half of the usability problems were rated as major and catastrophic. Visibility of system status, user control and freedom, and user help recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors were the most violated heuristic items. All Libyan government websites did not pass accessibility evaluation using the AChecker tool with the exception of the website for Management of Scholarships, and all failed using the TAW tool. Providing text alternatives for each non-text element was the most frequently violated success criterion for Libyan government websites.