Method and system for providing an index to linked sites on a web page for individuals with visual disabilities

Abstract

A system and method in accordance with the present invention allows blind and visually impaired users to quickly identify links to relevant material when “viewing” web pages that consist primarily of either plain text or images. By generating an aural or visual index to the links on the page being “viewed”, blind and visually impaired users can quickly jump to interesting sites that are linked from the current page without having to wait for the entire page to be voiced by a screen reader application.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to assistive technology for using information on a display and particularly to using information displayed on a web page for individuals that have visual disabilities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] It is a simple matter for most people to scan a web page that is displayed in a typical browser application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and quickly identify links (by default, any underlined text) to other pages that might be of interest to them. This rapid identification of linked sites is exceptionally useful whenever you are viewing a page that consists primarily of plain text, yet has many interspersed links to other web sites that contain material related to the content of the page currently being viewed. Pages with this type of structure abound on the Internet. Examples include the results pages displayed by search engines and “summary” sites (for example, those that summarize press coverage on key happenings for the day and provide links to the original news articles at the end of each summary for future reference).

[0003] Rapid identification of links is also very useful when looking at pages that consist primarily of images where the links are embedded buttons or graphics on the page. The ability to scan web pages and rapidly identify links to associated material allows the typical reader to quickly jump to other relevant sites and thereby allows them to efficiently sift through the large volume of data available on the Internet until they find a page that contains exactly what they were looking for.

[0004] People who are blind or who have severe visual impairments cannot perform a rapid visual scan-based identification of links on a given page. Instead, they must typically listen to the content of the entire page as its voiced to them by a screen reader application, remember the links as they are voiced, and then select the one they are interested in after the entire page has been voiced. This is time-consuming and places high demand on that person's short term memory to remember all of the links while simultaneously attempting to pay attention to the rest of the page as it is being voiced. Furthermore, many web pages are not optimally coded for use with a screen reader application. This results in “raw” HTML or other meaningless information being voiced to the user when links on those pages are interpreted by a screen reader.

[0005] Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for allowing a person who is visually impaired to more readily hear or read link information presented on a web page. The present invention addresses such a need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A method and system for providing an index to linked sites to a web page is disclosed. The method and system comprises parsing the HTML code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page. The method further includes storing all HREF attribute values defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file and determining the source of each respective HREF attribute.

[0007] If the source of any given HREF attribute value is an anchor tag pair, the method and system comprises determining if there is a plain English link text string associated with that HREF attribute value and storing the link text string in the index file with its associated HREF attribute. If no plain English link text string is found associated with a given HREF attribute, the method and system further comprises linking to the page defined by the URL specified in the HREF attribute value and parsing the code of that page for the value of its <TITLE> tag (which by HTML convention, is a very short plain-English description of the contents of the page) and then storing that title value in the index file with its corresponding HREF attribute. The method and system further includes using the original HREF attribute value as a placeholder in the index file if no plain English link text string or title value can be discovered.

[0008] If the source of any given HREF attribute value is an image map tag pair, the method and system comprises determining if there is an ALT attribute associated with that HREF attribute value and storing the value of the ALT attribute (which by HTML convention, is “plain-English” text that describes the image) in the index file with its corresponding HREF attribute value. The method and system further includes linking to the page defined by the URL specified in the HREF attribute value and parsing the code of that page for the value of its <TITLE> tag if there is no ALT attribute originally associated with that HREF, in which case the value of the title tag is stored in the index file with its corresponding HREF attribute value. The method and system further includes using the original HREF attribute value as a placeholder in the index file if no ALT attribute value or title value can be discovered.

[0009] The method and system further includes creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file. This second web page, which is an index of the links contained on the original page, is structured such that the plain-English descriptive text for each of the links on the original page can be presented to the user in two ways: an aural (voiced) presentation method in which the index page is served to a screen reader application for voicing, or a visual presentation method in which the plain-English descriptions are superimposed in large, high-contrast text above the hotspot zones of each corresponding HREF attribute value. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,537, entitled “Ease of Use Interface to Hotspots in Hypertext Document Pages in Network Display Stations,” and assigned to the assignee of the present application, which provides a detailed description of a method for identifying hotspot zones on a page.

[0010] A system and method in accordance with the present invention allows blind and vision impaired users to quickly identify links to relevant material when “viewing” web pages that consist primarily of either plain text or images. By generating an aural or visual index to the links on the page being “viewed”, blind and visually impaired users can quickly jump to interesting sites that are linked from the current page without having to wait for the entire page to be voiced by the screen reader application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data processing system including a central processing unit and network connections via a communications adapter which is capable of implementing a user interactive workstation on which the received data may be converted into a Web page in accordance with the present invention.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a generalized diagrammatic view of an internet portion upon which the present invention may be implemented.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a flow chart which illustrates processing of a web page in accordance with the present invention.

[0014] FIG. 4 illustrates a web page on the Internet that consists primarily of images.

[0015] FIGS. 5A-5C illustrates underlying HTML code for the web page shown in FIG. 4.

[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates the “Links List” display generated by a standard web browser from the web page in FIG. 4.

[0017] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the links index page that is created from processing the web page of FIG. 4 in accordance with the present invention.

[0018] FIG. 8 illustrates a web page on the Internet which consists primarily of text.

[0019] FIGS. 9A-9E illustrate the underlying HTML code for the web page shown in FIG. 8.

[0020] FIG. 10 illustrates a standard browser-generated index of links from the web page shown in FIG. 8.

[0021] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of the links index page that is created from processing the web page of FIG. 8 in accordance with the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 12 shows an example of the visual method of presenting the contents of the links index page created from processing the web page of FIG. 8 in accordance with the present invention by superimposing them within the hotspot zones corresponding to each of the links on the original page (such hotspot zones being identified in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,537, entitled “Ease of Use Interface to Hotspots in Hypertext Document Pages in Network Display Stations,” and assigned to the assignee of the present application).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention relates generally to assistive technology for using information on a display and particularly to using information displayed on a web page for individuals that have visual disabilities. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

[0024] Before going into the details of specific embodiments, it will be helpful to understand from a more general perspective the various elements and methods which may be related to the present invention. Since a major aspect of the present invention is directed to documents such as Web pages transmitted over networks, an understanding of networks and their operating principles would be helpful. We will not go into great detail in describing the networks to which the present invention is applicable. Reference has also been made to the applicability of the present invention to a global network such as the Internet. For details on internet nodes, objects and links, reference is made to the text “Mastering the Internet”, G. H. Cady et al., published by Sybex Inc., Alameda, Calif., 1996.

[0025] Any data communication system which interconnects or links computer controlled systems at various sites defines a communications network. A network may be as simple as two linked computers or it may be any combination of LANs (Local Area Networks) or WANs (Wide Area Networks). Of course, the internet or World Wide Web is a global network of a heterogeneous mix of computer technologies and operating systems. Higher level objects are linked to the lower level objects in the hierarchy through a variety of network server computers. These network servers are the key to network distribution, such as the distribution of Web pages and related documentation. The HTML language is described in detail in the “Just Java” text and particularly at Chapter 7, pp. 249-268, dealing with the handling of Web pages with embedded hotspot activated linkages and also in the text “Mastering the Internet”, Cady and McGregor, published by Sybex, San Francisco, 1996 and particularly pp. 637-642 on HTML in the formation of Web pages.

[0026] Referring to FIG. 1, a typical data processing system is shown which may be used in implementing the present invention on the receiving interactive workstation. A central processing unit (CPU), such as one of the PowerPC microprocessors available from International Business Machines Corporation (PowerPC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation) is provided and interconnected to various other components by system bus 12. An operating system 41 runs on CPU 10 and provides control and is used to coordinate the function of the various components of FIG. 1. Operating system 41 may be one of the commercially available operating systems such as Windows 95 (TM of Microsoft Corporation) or the OS/2 operating system available from International Business Machines Corporation (OS/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation). Any conventional network browser system involving HTML language with embedded links forms part of application 40, runs in conjunction with operating system 41 and provides output calls to the operating system 41 which implements the various functions to be performed by application 40. Also included in the application software 40 will be the applications of this invention providing an index to linked sites on a Web page that will subsequently be described in detail. The browser program, in combination with the operating system, provides the basic receiving workstation on which the Web pages are received after which the program of the present invention may be dynamically implemented.

[0027] A read only memory (ROM) 16 is connected to CPU 10, via bus 12 and includes the basic input/output system (BIOS) that controls the basic computer functions. Random access memory (RAM) 14, I/O adapter 18 and communications adapter 34 are also interconnected to system bus 12. It should be noted that software components including the operating system 41 and the browser, HTML, link indexing algorithm, and dynamic hotspot zone expansion applications 40 are loaded into RAM 14 which is the computer system's main memory. I/O adapter 18 may be a small computer system interface (SCSI) adapter that communicates with the disk storage device 20, i.e., a hard drive. Communications adapter 34 interconnects bus 12 with an outside network enabling the workstation to communicate with Web servers to receive document pages over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) which includes, of course, the internet or World Wide Web. I/O devices are also connected to system bus 12 via user interface adapter 22 and display adapter 36. Keyboard 24, trackball 32, mouse 26, speaker 28 and microphone 29 are examples of I/O devices interconnected to bus 12 through user interface adapter 22. Display adapter 36 includes a frame buffer 39 which is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display screen 38. Images may be stored in frame buffer 39 for display on monitor 38 through various components such as a digital to analog converter (not shown) and the like. By using the aforementioned I/O devices, a user is capable of inputting data and control selections to the system through the keyboard 24, trackball 32, mouse 26 or microphone 29 and of receiving output information from the system via display 38 or speaker 28.

[0028] A generalized diagram of a portion of an internet, which the computer controlled display terminal 57 used for Web page or other document display of the present invention, is connected as shown in FIG. 2. Computer controlled display terminal 57 is the computer system shown in FIG. 1 and connection 58 (FIG. 2) is the network connection shown in FIG. 1.

[0029] Reference may be made to “Mastering the Internet,” Cady, et al., particularly at pp. 137-147 for typical connections between local display workstations to the internet via network servers any of which may be used to implement the system on which this invention is used. The system embodiment of FIG. 2 is typically known as a high-speed connection. Such high-speed connections are utilized extensively through network access servers 53 which are linked 51 to the net 50. The servers 53 are maintained by a service provider to the client's display terminal 57. The host's server 53 is accessed by the client terminal 57 through a high-speed linkage 58 such as DSL or a T1 line. The HTML files representative of the Web pages are downloaded to display terminal 57 via the line linkages from server 53 which may have accessed them from the internet 50 via linkage 51.

[0030] A system and method in accordance with the present invention is utilized in the environment described in FIGS. 1 and 2 to help visually impaired users to more readily use information on the web. The system and method in accordance with the present invention provides a substantial advantage over other link index methods (such as the one provided in Microsoft Internet Explorer) in that it intelligently generates a meaningful and easily understandable “plain-English” index of the links on any given page. This index can be aurally presented (voiced) and/or, when combined with a hotspot zone identification method (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,537, entitled “Ease of Use Interface to Hotspots in Hypertext Document Pages in Network Display Stations,” and assigned to the assignee of the present application) can also be visually presented.

[0031] To more particularly describe the features of the present invention in more detail refer now to the following discussion in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

[0032] A system and method in accordance with the present invention dynamically generates a “plain English” index of the links on any given web page. This index page is then served to the screen reader application on the user's workstation for voicing. The system and method in accordance with the present invention operates in accordance with the following steps.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the system and method which illustrates processing of a web page in accordance with the present invention. First, the underlying HTML code of the page currently being viewed is parsed to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs, via step 102. Next, the values for all HREF attributes defined within the tag pairs are stored within an index file via step 104. Next, the source of the HREF attribute value is determined via step 106. If the source is an anchor tag pair, it is determined if there is a “plain English” link text string associated with that HREF attribute, via step 108. If there is a link text string associated with the HREF attribute, then the link text string is stored in the index file with its corresponding HREF attribute value, via step 110. If there is no link text string associated with the HREF attribute value (step 108), then a link is made to the page URL defined by the HREF attribute and the underlying code of that page is parsed for a title tag, via step 114. Thereafter, the value of the title tag with its corresponding HREF value is stored in the index file, via step 116. If the source of the HREF attribute (step 106) is an image map tag pair, it is determined whether an ALT attribute is associated with the HREF attribute in the original code, via step 118. If the answer is yes, then the value of the ALT attribute is stored in the index file with its corresponding HREF attribute value, via step 120,. If, on the other hand, there is no ALT attribute associated with the HREF attribute in the original code, then steps 114 and 116 are executed to capture and store the value of the title tag in the page defined by the HREF attribute. Then, a plain-English web page of links is created from the contents of the index file, via step 112. The HREF attribute value is used as a placeholder if no link text string or title value can be discovered. After the plain-English web page is created, it is presented to the user. Therefore, next the method of presentation preferred by the user is determined, via step 122. If the method is aural, then the web page is served to a screen reader application for voicing, via step 124. If the algorithm found no link text string or title value to associate with an HREF, then the raw HREF is voiced as a placeholder. If, on the other hand, the presentation is visual, then hotspot zones are identified, via step 126. Thereafter, the plain-English entry is superimposed from the index file over a zone corresponding to its HREF attribute value, via step 128. Raw HREF is used as a placeholder if no plain-English entry could be found by algorithm.

[0034] Following are two simple examples of the operation of present invention when interpreting an anchor tag pair and an image map tag pair:

[0035] Anchor Tag Example

[0036] Consider a web page that consists solely of one link as shown here:

[0037] IBM Corporation Home Page

[0038] The actual line of HTML code that underlies this link is as follows:

[0039] <A HREF=“http://www.ibm.com”>IBM Corporation Home Page</A>

[0040] The algorithm described in the present invention would parse the code and for each <A></A> anchor tag pair found, it would store two items in the links index file that it generates. One of the items stored is the value of the HREF attribute contained within the <A></A> anchor tag pair, which in this example is “http://www.ibm.com”. This is the page that the web browser would link to if you clicked on this link. The other item stored in the index file is the descriptive “plain-English” link text string (if any such text has been defined) that is associated with this HREF attribute. In this example, the “plain-English” text string is “IBM Corporation Home Page”. When the index page is served to a screen reader application for browsing, it is the link text string that is voiced instead of the mostly meaningless value of the HREF attribute. The link text string is also what is superimposed above the hotspot zone if a visual index presentation style is preferred by the user. If a link text string is not defined for an HREF attribute within any given <A></A> anchor tag pair, the algorithm will link to the page defined by the HREF, parse that page for the value of the <TITLE> tag, and store that value (which by HTML convention, is a very short plain-English description of the contents of the page), with its corresponding HREF for voicing or visual output. If no TITLE value is present, the algorithm will use the raw HREF value in the index file for voicing or visual output.

[0041] Image Map Example

[0042] Consider a web page that consists solely of an image link as shown here:

[0043] The underlying HTML code used to generate it is as follows:

[0044] <IMG USEMAP=“#LogoMap” SRC=c:\temp\ibmlogo.gif”BORDER=“0”>

[0045] <MAP NAME=“LogoMap”>

[0046] <AREA SHAPE=“rect” COORDS=“0, 0 99, 38” HREF=“http://www.ibm.com”

[0047] ALT=“IBM Corporation Home Page”>

[0048] </MAP>

[0049] The algorithm described in the present invention would parse the code underlying this page. For each <MAP></MAP> image map tag pair found, it would store two items in the links index file that it generates. One of the items stored is the value of the HREF attribute contained within the <MAP></MAP> image map tag pair, which in this example is “http://www.ibm.com”. This is the page that the web browser would link to if you clicked on this image. The other item stored in the index file is the descriptive “plain-English” text that is associated through the <ALT> attribute with this HREF. In this example, the “plain-English” text string defined by the <ALT> attribute is “IBM Corporation Home Page”. When the index page is served to a screen reader application for browsing, it is the <ALT> attribute value that is voiced instead of the mostly meaningless value of the HREF attribute. The <ALT> attribute text string is also what is superimposed above the hotspot zone if a visual index presentation style is preferred by the user. If no <ALT> attribute is associated with an HREF within any given <MAP></MAP> image map tag pair, the algorithm will link to the page defmed by the HREF and parse that page for the value of the <TITLE> tag and store it with the corresponding HREF for voicing or visual output. If no TITLE value is present, the algorithm will use the raw HREF value in the index file for voicing or visual output.

[0050] In a first preferred embodiment, the index web page generated by the algorithm described in the present invention would be served to the active screen reader application so that the index can be voiced to the user. Once the index page has been created and is ready for voicing by the screen reader application, a beep or the phrase “Index ready” could be voiced so that the user knows when the index is available. This index page could be prefaced with the following: “This page contains links to the following web sites. Select the number of the page you want to go to.” If the user has some form of speech recognition/control system available on their workstation, they could speak the number of the page. Other input methods such as mouse or keyboard selection would also be supportable via this system. This method provides an aural index to linked sites.

[0051] In a second preferred embodiment, the index page can be used to define plain-English labels for each link that is present on the page. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,537, entitled “Ease of Use Interface to Hotspots in Hypertext Document Pages in Network Display Stations,” and assigned to the assignee of the present application, which provides a detailed description of a method for identifying hotspot zones on a page. In this embodiment, the plain-English label is superimposed over each zone that corresponds to the link contained within it in large, high-contrast text. A vision-impaired user is allowed to more easily read the link information on the current page.

[0052] To describe the invention in the context of detailed examples, refer now to the following.

[0053] Below is a URL to a web page on the Internet. http://w3.goingglobal.ibm.com/Global/Global.nsf/AllDocs/Homepage?OpenDocume nt&Style=Frames&Area=World. (note that this site is only accessible from within the IBM firewall).

[0054] This URL points to a web page entitled “Going Global” shown in FIG. 4. The underlying HTML code for this page is shown in FIGS. 5A-5C.

[0055] The “Links List” generated by Microsoft Internet Explorer (accessed by right-clicking on the page and choosing Links List from the pop-up menu) from this page is shown in FIG. 6.

[0056] The list shown in FIG. 6 is generated directly from the HREF attributes in the HTML code-highlighted in bold text in FIGS. 5A through 5C-that defines the Going Global home page. Obviously, this list is not meaningful to the typical user. It is not in plain-English. The URLs in their raw form tell the user very little, if anything, about the actual contents of the page that they link to. In addition, imagine how tedious and frustrating it would be to listen to this entire links page being read aloud to you.

[0057] In contrast, a system and method in accordance with the present invention provides an advantage by going one step further. It intelligently links to each of these URLs in the background when appropriate (that is, when a plain-English link text string label or ALT attribute is not originally defined for an HREF in the page being viewed), captures the plain-English titles of the linked target pages, and then displays that title (or the originally defined descriptive string) in the index page it generates instead of the raw (meaningless) URL. The output for the same portion of the Internet Explorer links index for the same Going Global page, but instead using system and method in accordance with the present invention would look something like what is shown in FIG. 7.

[0058] This plain-English index shown in FIG. 7 as generated by a system and method in accordance with the present invention is very easy to understand when voiced by a screen reader application when compared to the voiced output of a standard link index (as shown in FIG. 6).

[0059] Another example from a page that consists primarily of text is shown in FIG. 8. It is taken from the Related Links section of the IBM Going Global site at:

[0060] http://w.3goingglobal.ibm.com/Global/Global.nsf/AllDocs/InitialFrameset?OpenDoc ument&FrameStyle=

[0061] Frames&Bottom=/Global/Global.nsf/AllDocs/RelatedLinks?OpenDocument&Style=Frames.

[0062] A normally sighted person is quickly and easily able to scan through this page and identify the links to other information. In contrast, a blind user dependent upon a screen reader application would be forced to wait for the entire page to be voiced (mentally making note of each link as it is read) or would have to use the standard Links Index generated by a browser. As shown in FIG. 6, the links index of a typical browser application has significant usability problems which are severe enough to make the index virtually useless.

[0063] The underlying code for the web page shown in FIG. 8 is illustrated in FIGS. 9A-9E.

[0064] A portion of the standard browser generated index of links on this page is shown in FIG. 10. Again, note the many raw URLs that are difficult to understand. Conventional browsers are typically smart enough to at least use any defined plain-English text labels within the HREFs, but they do not intelligently link to other pages as necessary to capture title values nor do they use ALT values when present (note that although they are present in the HTML code for this page, they are ignored, thereby making the content of those images difficult to use for blind and visually impaired users). The relevant sections of the HTML code that acted as source material for this index page are highlighted in bold text within the code sample shown in FIGS. 9A-9E.

[0065] In contrast, a method and system in accordance with the present invention generates significantly more usable output using the same HTML page as input. A portion of the links index page that is output after utilizing the system and method in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 11.

[0066] The information in FIG. 11 as generated by a system and method in accordance with the present invention is much easier to understand when voiced than the standard index generated by a browser as shown in FIG. 1O.

[0067] In the case of the visual presentation method, each zone corresponding to these links would be superimposed with its corresponding text in large, high-contrast text (typically, light text on a dark background provides optimal contrast for visually impaired users). FIG. 12 is an example of what this page might look like when a visually enhanced index based on this algorithm is superimposed above the hotspot zones identified by the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,537. It is now easy to see meaningful link information with the new presentation compared to trying to read the smaller original text.

Conclusion

[0068] Accordingly, a system and method in accordance with the present invention allows blind and visually impaired users to quickly identify links to relevant material when “viewing” web pages that consist primarily of either plain text or images. By generating an aural or visual index to the links on the page being “viewed”, blind and visually impaired users can quickly jump to interesting sites that are linked from the current page without having to wait for the entire page to be voiced by the screen reader application or attempting to interpret non-meaningful raw-HTML links as provided in a standard link index.

[0069] Although the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for providing an index to linked sites on a web page comprising the steps of: (a) parsing the code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing at least one first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the at least one first attribute value; (d) determining if there is a link text string associated with the first attribute value if the source of the at least one first attribute value is an anchor tag pair; (e) storing the link text string in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute value if there is an associated link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the at least one first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no associated link text string; (g) storing the value of the title tag in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one first attribute value comprises an HREF attribute value.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the linking step (f) is performed in the background.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the link text string comprises plain English language (or the native language of the country in which the page is intended for use).

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag provides a plain English (or other language as appropriate) description of the title of the page.

6. The method of claim 1 which includes the step of (i) presenting the second web page.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the presenting step (i) comprises the step of (i1) serving the page to an active screen reader to allow the index of the page to be voiced.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the accessing step (i) comprises the step of (i1) identifying hot spot zones on a web page; and (i2) superimposing the link text string entered from the index file over a zone corresponding to the first attribute value.

9. A method for providing an index to linked sites on a web page comprising the steps of: (a) parsing the code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing at least one first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the at least one first attribute value; (d) determining if there is a second attribute associated with the at least one first attribute value if the source of the first attribute value is an image map pair; (e) storing the second attribute in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute value if there is an associated plain English link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the at least one first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no second attribute; (g) storing the value of the title tag in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one first attribute value comprises an HREF attribute value.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the linking step (f) is performed in the background.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the link text string comprises plain English language (or the native language of the country in which the page is intended for use).

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the tag provides a plain English (or other language as appropriate) description of the title of the page.

14. The method of claim 9 which includes the step of (i) presenting the second web page.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the presenting step (i) comprises the step of (i1) serving the page to an active screen reader to allow the index of the page to be voiced.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the accessing step (i) comprises the step of (i1) identifying hot spot zones on a web page; and (i2) superimposing the plain English text string entered from the index file over a zone corresponding to the first attribute value.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the second attribute includes an ALT attribute value.

18. A method for providing an index to linked sites on a web page comprising the steps of: (a) parsing the code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing a first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the first attribute value if the source is an anchor tag pair; if the source of the first attribute value is an anchor tag pair, (d) determining if there is a plain English link text string associated with the first attribute value; (e) storing the link text string in the index file with its associated first attribute value if there is an associated plain English link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no associated plain English link text string; (g) storing the value of the title tag in the index file with its associated first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file; if the source of the first attribute value is an image map pair, (i) determining if there is a second attribute associated with the first attribute value; (j) storing the second attribute in the index file with its associated first attribute value if there is a second attribute; and (k) linking to a page URL defined by the first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no second attribute; and (l) repeating steps (g) and (h).

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the first attribute value comprises an HREF attribute value.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the linking steps (f) and (k) are performed in the background.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the link text string comprises plain English language (or the native language of the country in which the page is intended for use).

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the tag provides a plain English (or other language as appropriate) description of the title of the page.

23. The method of claim 18 which includes the step of (m) presenting the second web page.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the presenting step (m) comprises the step of (m1) serving the page to an active screen reader to allow the index of the page to be voiced.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the presenting step (m1) comprises the step of (m1) identifying hot spot zones on a web page; and (m2) superimposing the plain English text entered from index file over a zone corresponding to the first attribute value.

26. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for providing an index to linked sites on a web page, the program instructions for: (a) parsing code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing at least one first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the at least one first attribute value; (d) determining if there is a link text string associated with the first attribute value if the source of the at least one first attribute value is an anchor tag pair; (e) storing the link text string in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute value if there is an associated link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the at least one first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no associated link text string; (g) storing the value of the title tag in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file.

27. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for providing an index to linked sites on a web page, the program instructions for: (a) parsing code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing at least one first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the at least one first attribute value; (d) determining if there is a second attribute associated with the at least one first attribute value if the source of the first attribute value is an image map pair; (e) storing the second attribute in the index file with its associated at least one first attribute value if there is an associated plain English link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the at least one first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no second attribute; (g) storing value of the title tag in index file with its associated at least one first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file.

28. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for providing an index to linked sites on a web page, the program instructions for: (a) parsing code of the web page to identify all anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs in the page; (b) storing a first attribute value defined within each of the anchor tag pairs and image map tag pairs to an index file; (c) determining a source of the first attribute value if the source is an anchor tag pair; if the source of the first attribute value is an anchor tag pair, (d) determining if there is a plain English link text string associated with the first attribute value; (e) storing the link text string in the index file with its associated first attribute value if there is an associated plain English link text string; (f) linking to a page URL defined by the first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no associated plain English link text string; (g) storing the value of the title tag in the index file with its associated first attribute; and (h) creating a second web page based upon the contents of the index file; if the source of the first attribute value is an image map pair, (i) determining if there is a second attribute associated with the first attribute value; (j) storing the second attribute in the index file with its associated first attribute value if there is a second attribute; and (k) linking to a page URL defined by the first attribute value and parsing the code of that page for a title tag if there is no second attribute; and (l) repeating steps (g) and (h).