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RE: Netscape and screen readers

for

From: sean keegan
Date: Apr 28, 2005 2:30PM

> One hopes and hears rumors.



I always enjoy a good rumor. However, I did find some information on the GW Micro website, and all it says is:



Mozilla

Window-Eyes 5.0 is proud to be the first screen reader to include robust support for the Mozilla web browser, a popular alternative to Internet Explorer.



I believe the support was to be for Mozilla 1.8x, but all I can find on the Mozilla.org website are public releases of 1.7.7, so I am guessing that the Window-Eyes support for Mozilla 1.8x is for those individuals comfortable with betas.





Sean Keegan

Web Accessibility Instructor

High Tech Center Training Unit for the

California Community Colleges

Cupertino, CA

408.996.6044

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Allan [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 9:09 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] Netscape and screen readers



Screen readers for Windows work with IE. They use either the IE document object model (DOM) or Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) to navigate a page. As Netscape has neither of these, screen readers cannot automatically navigate the page, nor get a list of headings, nor use a host of other tools provided by the screen reader. Screen reader users do not use Netscape, because screen readers don't work with it. There may be movement in the screen reader field to begin work on working with the mozilla family of browsers...though a quick check of the JAWS and GWMicro sites shows no evidence of this. One hopes and hears rumors.



Jim Allan, Webmaster & Statewide Technical Support Specialist
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
voice 512.206.9315 fax: 512.206.9264 http://www.tsbvi.edu/
"I see the Earth. It is so beautiful."--first words spoken by human in space.
[Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, from the Vostok 1, April 12, 1961.]

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]On Behalf Of Harlan, Jane E.
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2005 10:11 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Netscape and screen readers

Hello, Can anyone tell me how to solve this problem? Im using Dreamweaver to create some pages and testing their accessibility by screen readers using a demo copy of WindowEyes. When previewing the pages in I.E., it works well: the screen reader reads the text through, including the alt text. In Netscape however, it doesnt read anything past the name of the document without manually using the arrow key or mouse. In addition, none of the alt text is picked up.

Perhaps this is a clue?: Looking at my pages on the screen (with or without using WindowEyes), the alt text is not visible on mouse-over in Netscape, although it is in I.E..

Thanks,

Jane