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RE: Do screen readers read hidden text?

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From: Hoffman, David
Date: Jul 13, 2003 7:55AM

Hi Alastair,

The label tag _is_ just for form controls.

Exactly how do you use hidden text now? I welcome the opportunity to ensure
that any proposed or defector standards meet all coding requirements (as you
indicated, through my "JAWS source", as appropriate).

From what I can tell, the media attribute of CSS2 will be a preferred
technique once it is fully supported by browsers and once the vast majority
of the target audience uses those browser versions and once it is assured
that ignoring media="screen" will not prevent screen readers from reading
information that is intended for all users. As it stands now, media="aural"
(intended for speech synthesizers) is not supported by browsers.
Media="screen" has limited support, and seems to be used primarily to
differentiate from print, rather than to restrict screen readers from
reading information that appears on the screen. Restricting screen readers
from reading information that is intended for the screen, without ensuring
that there is an appropriate alternative for screen readers would be
dangerous! See
http://www.codestyle.org/css/media/screen-BrowserSummary.shtml and
http://www.greytower.net/en/archive/articles/cssmedia.html for more
information about browser support.

Hidden text is actually common in web applications or dynamic web sites. It
may be used to hide information that was served with a page, but is not
always displayed (depending on various circumstances). It can also be used
to hide information that is required for programmatic purposes but is not
intended for any users, under any circumstances. If the screen reader reads
information that is intended to be hidden from all users, (temporarily or
permanently), the pages can become virtually unusable. Therefore, even if
CSS2 were fully supported, browsers should still ignore hidden text -- and
you would anyway have alternative means (media="aural") of providing
information just for screen readers.

An exception is being made for hidden text in label tags because it is
extremely useful to be able to provide additional information with a field
label and because developers do not seem to have a need to use hidden text
that is not intended for any user -- within label tags.

I welcome further discussion on this matter.

Take care,
David

David Hoffman
IT Accessibility Specialist
MILVETS Systems Technology, Inc.