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Re: Web development; How to identify if a screen reader is in use

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From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: May 11, 2017 10:08AM

On 11/05/2017 17:57, Beranek, Nicholas wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> Not for Web Accessibility. On iOS, we have the ability to detect
> whether or not assistive technologies like VoiceOver are running, but
> this is only through native applications. I remember discussions
> about how people would feel if developers could detect whether or not
> they're using a screen reader, magnifier, or other AT. I don't recall
> what came out of those discussions.

There are privacy implications if a site can potentially identify an
individual user based on factors such as AT used. On that point, it
should at the very least be something permissions-based in the browser,
where a user would specifically allow/block sites from accessing
information about any AT that may be running/present (similar to
permission dialogs for things like geolocation, fullscreen,
notifications, etc).

There's also a fear that sites would try to detect AT and simply
redirect to a separate "accessible" version which lacks content/richness
of experience of the "main" site.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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