Noname manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) Widget Identification: A High-Level Approach to Accessibility Alex Q. Chen · Simon Harper · Darren Lunn · Andrew Brown Received: date / Accepted: date Abstract The Web 2.0 sees once static pages evolve into hybrid applications, and content that was previously simple, now becoming increasingly compli- cated due to the many updating components located throughout the page. While beneficial for some users, these components (widgets) are often com- plex and will lead to confusion and frustration for others, notably those for whom accessibility is already an issue. While users and developers often per- ceive widgets as complete components (a Slideshow, or an Auto Suggest List), they are in-fact heterogeneous collections of code, and are therefore hard to computationally identify. Identification is critical if we wish to reverse engi- neer inaccessible widgets or ‘inject’ missing ‘WAI-ARIA’ into ‘RIAs’. In this case, we introduce a technique that analyses the code associated with a Web page to identify widgets using combinations of code constructs which enable uniquely identification. We go on to technically evaluate our approach with the most difficult widgets to distinguish between – Slideshows and Carousels – and then describe two prototype applications for visually impaired and older users by means of example. Keywords Web 2.0 · Widget Identification · Widget Classification · Disabilities · Ageing Alex Qiang Chen School of Computer Science, Information Management Group, The University of Manch- ester, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9P, UK E-mail: chenqa@cs.manchester.ac.uk Simon Harper E-mail: simon.harper@manchester.ac.uk Darren Lunn E-mail: darren.lunn@cs.manchester.ac.uk Andrew Brown E-mail: andrew.brown@cs.manchester.ac.uk