XHTML Tutorial: Standards-Based Web Design

by Paul Bohman

Using a Screen Reader

This is your chance to "see" the web as a blind person sees it. This will help you understand things from the perspective of people with disabilities.

Choose from the following screen readers (available only for Windows^note):

• JAWS
  • This is the most popular screen reader among blind users.
  • You can access any web site with the trial version.
  • It can be difficult to use this program the first time.
  • There is no interface, really. It's all in the background, so you have to learn the keyboard shortcuts. Refer to the list of JAWS keyboard shortcuts here: http://www.paulbohman.com/accessibility/resources/jaws_shortcuts.pdf. See also the WebAIM list of JAWS keyboard shortcuts: http://webaim.org/resources/shortcuts/jaws.php.
  • The trial version lasts almost indefinitely (many months), but for only 40 minutes at a time. If you want to continue using JAWS you have to reboot your computer (yes, reboot your computer, not just restart the program). This system allows developers to use JAWS for testing purposes, but makes it impractical for blind users to use the trial version, because nobody likes to reboot their computer every 40 minutes.
  • This is expensive software, in the neighborhood of $1000.
• Window Eyes
  • This is the second-most popular screen reader among blind users.
  • Like JAWS:
    • You can access any web site with the trial version.
    • There is no interface, really. It's all in the background, so you have to learn the keyboard shortcuts. (Refer to the GW Micro web site for Window Eyes tutorials).
    • The trial version lasts almost indefinitely (many months), but for only 40 minutes at a time. If you want to continue using Window Eyes you have to reboot your computer (yes, reboot your computer, not just restart the program). This system allows developers to use Window Eyes for testing purposes, but makes it impractical for blind users to use the trial version, because nobody likes to reboot their computer every 40 minutes.
    • This is expensive software, in the neighborhood of $800.

You can try just one of the screen readers if you like, but I encourage you to try a couple of them. They work differently and have different options available to users. It's worth it to experience the differences between the technologies.

Note: Although the Macintosh OSX operating system comes with a built-in screen reader of sorts, it is not sophisticated enough at this point to substitute for any of the Windows-based screen readers. You will need to use a Windows-based computer for this assignment. If you do not have a Windows-based computer yourself, see if you can use the computer of a friend or colleague, or use the computer labs (see note below)

When you use a screen reader for the first time you may be overwhelmed by the experience. You may have a hard time trying to figure out how to use the screen reader and get discouraged quickly. You may begin to think that everything on the web is inaccessible to screen readers, because it seems so hard for you to use! It will take some time and patience on your part to learn to use a screen reader. I don't expect you to become screen reader user experts with this assignment alone. It often takes users months to get used to the software.

The most important keyboard shortcut to learn is how to make the reader stop reading: this is the control key. The shortcut to make it start reading again varies between screen readers (see the appendix of the CD-ROM for keyboard shortcuts). Using the screen reader and your keyboard, practice navigating from link to link with the tab key. Use shift + tab to go backwards through links. Use the enter key to click on links. Use the keyboard shortcuts (which are different for every screen reader) to navigate from heading to heading, or to get a list of links, or to enter into table navigation mode and navigate from cell to cell within tables. Get to to know some of the features of screen readers.

As you use the screen readers, consider these questions:

• How is the screen reader experience different from the visual experience?
• Can screen reader users get a sense of the entirety of the page in the same way that visual users can by scanning the page with their eyes?
• If you used a screen reader on a daily basis, what would you want web developers to keep in mind?