5 things about screen readers

5 things about screen readers

Icons, Amsterdam May 2017

Who?

Not just blind people

Not just disabled people

What?

Software

That translates on-screen content into synthetic speech

On every platform

Jaws NVDA Voiceover Narrator

Screen reader demo: text

Screen reader demo: headings

Screen reader demo: language

Where?

Platform controls

Windows 10 bold checkbox
Role
checkbox
Name
Bold
State
Focusable, Focused, Checked

Web controls

<label for="this">Bold</label>
< type="checkbox" id="this" checked>
Role
checkbox
Name
Bold
State
Focusable, Focused, Checked

Accessibility APIs

Windows
UI Automation (UIA)
MS Active Accessibility (MSAA)
IAccessible2 (IA2)
Mac OS
OSX Accessibility Protocol (AXAPI)
Linux
Accessibility Toolkit (ATK)
AT Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI)

Accessibility mappings

Define how role, state, properties, and keyboard focus are handled in the browser

HTML mapping support

Browsers may support an element, but not accessibility support it

A browser may accessibility support an element, but a screen reader may not

When?

DOM tree

DOM information for an HTML checkbox

Accessibility tree

Accessibility tree information for an HTML
checkbox

Manipulating the DOM

Why?

Because it feels good

We want to create things that people enjoy using

Because it's your responsibility

We have a professional responsibility to make things accessible

Because you have a choice

But not everyone else does

Because it doesn't have to be perfect

Just a little bit better than yesterday

5 things about screen readers

Icons, Amsterdam May 2017