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Re: Screen Readers as a Development Tool for Web Developers

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From: Sean Curtis
Date: Jul 28, 2015 6:25PM

Joseph,

When I ran the trial of JAWS the screen reader went absolutely silent the
second I started to navigate a web browser. This wasn't just licensing or
the EULA, the functionality was disabled. I'm not sure if this has changed
since JAWS 15, but it was definitely the case when I was originally testing
things.

We use NVDA, VoiceOver and Window Eyes. We use JAWS, but only because I
managed to get approval for the purchase. Also it's not just $1000. We cop
an "Australia" tax here when buying things from overseas. If I was to buy
JAWS from the local distributor, it ends up being nearly $1800. That's a
HUGE mark up in price.

As I originally stated, I'm lucky to be privileged enough to work somewhere
that can afford to buy this. Most freelance web developers would not be
able to afford this (or at least would not justify paying for this when
they could just use NVDA instead). It just means things only get tested in
1-2 screen readers, rather than 4-5.

Cheers,

Sean

On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 11:36 PM, Joseph Sherman < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> Hi Sean. Let me start by saying I do not use JAWS trial. However, I think
> there are two different issues. The trial version of JAWS is fully
> functional for the 40 minute time limit, so when you say "nothing was
> getting announced", that is not related to the trail version. The blog post
> you link to below refers to the terms of the JAWS EULA, which states that
> the trial version cannot be used for web testing. It is a licensing
> restriction, not a product feature restriction.
>
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> Also note that NVDA is a free, open source screen reader that can be used
> for testing.
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> Joseph
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