WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Question about Screen Readers

for

From: John Goldthwaite
Date: Aug 14, 2001 2:44PM

Using Lynx is an approximation of what the blind person hears when using the
screenreader, however you have to remember that speech takes a lot more time
than reading. A better approximation would be to look at Lynx through a
drinking straw so you only see a word at a time. The screenreader has
keyboard commands so that the blind user has control over the reading.
There are several courses on developing accessible web content. The
tutorial on the WebAIM site is a good place to start. We have a course that
is currently on Jim Thatcher's website at
http://www.jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm The WAI has a web based course at
http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/ and the Federal Information Technology
Access Initative has one at http://www.section508.gov/classes.html


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]On Behalf Of
Michael Goddard
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 4:01 PM
To: WebAIM forum
Subject: Question about Screen Readers.

I am curious as to exactly what do the screen readers "read and speak". I
am deaf so I cannot "first-hand" experiment with something like this.
I have downloaded the Lynx browser to see what might a screen reader "read
and say" is this a reliable thing? Do the screen readers just speak the
text or do the screen readers actually speak the HTML coding as well?
I am trying to migrate more into the accessibility field for web design and
development since I believe it is going to explode in the near future.
Currently, I have over 5 years experience working in the field of web
development (strictly HTML coding) have learned many more skills including,
graphics, PHP, MySQL programming.
Anyone know of some online training for this? I know that WebAIM has
courses but I cannot afford something like that. I am hoping there might be
free courses anywhere?
Thank you,
Michael