Blio eReader application/software. Freedom Scientific - JAWS for Windows Screen Reading Software. NVDA – a free, open source screen reader. Testing your work with a screen reader, especially if you’re building something that is more advanced than a basic info website, is likely to help you create a more accessible website. The best thing is to have actual screen reader users test your work, but that isn’t always feasible to do on a day-to-day basis unless you happen to have a co-worker who uses a screen reader. So being able to do some testing on your own is pretty much a necessity. There are several screen readers to choose from, but one that is particularly appealing is NVDA. It is free, open source, works with Firefox, and has support for WAI-ARIA. If you’re wondering why testing with Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader (which is shipped with Mac OS X) is not enough, there are a few reasons.
To start using NVDA, download the latest development snapshot and then read the NVDA User Guide. Setting up a screen reader test environment » iheni :: making the web worldwide. Back in the day when web pages were web pages and not web applications you could just about get away with not testing with a screen reader. Using a combination of text based browsers, accessibility testing tools such as the Web Accessibility Tools consortium Accessibility Toolbar and and browser tools such as Preferences settings in Opera (see Opera > Quick preferences or Preferences), you could more or less muddle your way through. This is not the case now though as browsers, screen readers, guidelines and technology has moved on and in many ways is catching up with one another. What follows are some tips to get you started when setting up a screen reader testing environment. Why test with screen readers WCAG 2.0 and JavaScript: Where WCAG 1.0 had a blanket ban on JavaScript WCAG 2.0 now allows it providing it’s accessible to assistive technologies, or in WCAG 2.0 talk accessibility supported.WAI-ARIA: Screen readers can in fact handle most uses of JavaScript.
Set up a sandbox. Screenreader Visibility - css-discuss. From CSS Discuss Summary: When you hide material from visual display on a PC screen, you almost always hide it from screen readers too. See also Speech Stylesheets . Test results from testing in 2003 are shown further down in this article. More recent test results, from June 2005, are available on Bob Easton's . Detail: As we move from tag soup to CSS governed design, we throw out the layout tables and we throw out the spacer images. This technique has a certain appeal. The results are in: The technique does not work as expected. How do we know? I turned to accessibility gurus and to people who use screen readers everyday, asking them to try my Screen Reader Visibility Test.
How did we get here? First and foremost, the difficulty is with the screen reader products, none of which honor aural style sheets, and few of which pay any attention at all to CSS standards. Open memo to screen reader publishers: It is long past time to start building products that comply with W3C standards. What next? Accessify Forum: Best free screen reader? Screen Readers For Testing Website Accessibility. Thunder Screen Reader Free.
Blog - Jaws, Window Eyes, Parallels, and Boot Camp. Screen readers and my HP laptop have never been friends. JAWS causes major stability issues. Window Eyes stutters a lot. Now that I have an Intel-based Mac with Parallels and Boot Camp for running Windows, I have found the perfect screen reader testing system. Parallels is a program that allows Windows to run within a window under OSX. Disclaimer: You must have up-to-date screen readers (tested with JAWS 8.0 and Window Eyes 6.1 demos), Parallels (build 3214 – June 21, 2007), and Boot Camp (1.3 Beta). Parallels Parallels rocks! For kicks, I have installed Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux in other virtual machines. Boot Camp Boot Camp is a (currently) free program from Apple that allows you to boot your Intel Mac into Windows.
Screen readers on your Mac You can download the 40 minute mode demo (after 40 minutes, your computer or Parallels virtual machine must be rebooted) of JAWS at (54MB). Window Eyes MacBook keyboard mapping. Windows-Eyes screen reader (visual-impairment, illiterate) GW Micro - Window-Eyes Window-Eyes Quick Intro Window-Eyes is nothing less than the most stable screen reader available on the market today. Featuring Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home, Professional, and Media Center), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (all 32-bit and 64-bit versions, including Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium, Vista Home Basic, Vista Business, and Vista Enterprise), all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008, and all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Window-Eyes puts you in the hands of the most powerful screen reading software ever created.
Window-Eyes gives total control over what you hear and how you hear it. Plus, with its enhanced Braille support that control is extended to what you feel as well. On top of all that, the power and stability of Window-Eyes means that most applications work right out of the box with no need for endless tinkering in order to get them to function properly. Pricing Information GW Micro is committed to the user. Testing with Screen Readers: Questions and Answers. You are here: Home > Articles > Testing with Screen Readers: Questions and Answers What are the benefits of testing web content with screen readers?
Listening to your web content rather than looking at it can be an "eye-opening" experience (pardon the pun) that takes sighted users out of their normal comfort zone. It gives sighted users a chance to evaluate their content from an entirely different perspective: from the perspective of a blind person. A lot of times you'll end up finding mistakes that would have been hard to catch visually. For example, spelling mistakes become very obvious when you hear words mispronounced by the screen reader. Should I always test my web content for accessibility using a screen reader? Perhaps. So if I don't know how to use a screen reader, I shouldn't even try?
Well, that would be an easy way out, but before you start making excuses, let's take a look at what you'd be missing out on. Then how do screen reader users experience web pages? You don't.