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Re: Screen Readers as a Development Tool for Web Developers

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From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Jul 18, 2015 1:45AM

On 18/07/2015 06:52, Bryan Garaventa wrote:

> * Desktop screen readers like JAWS and NVDA use a virtual offscreen
> model where all content that is offscreen but not hidden can be
> interacted with regardless, as opposed to VoiceOver on iOS that uses
> a visual rendering model where only the top layer of the visible UI
> can be reliably interacted with via touch. Additionally, when using
> one finger to explore the visible UI of an iOS device, only the
> visibly rendered model can be interacted with, which does not follow
> the DOM order. However, when swiping from Left to Right or Right to
> Left with one finger to navigate forward or backward from one object
> to the next, VoiceOver is actually following the DOM order and not
> the visibly rendered model, which is why offscreen content cannot be
> reliably interacted with on iOS.

Don't forget desktop screen readers also work on laptops/computers with
touchscreens (admittedly not as common yet, but a growing number of
Windows 8 laptops have it now). In those cases, they behave similarly to
what you describe on iOS (i.e. that users can touch-explore only what's
visible, but can also swipe left/right). So the distinction becomes very
blurred.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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