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

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From: Jonathan Avila
Date: May 12, 2017 8:13AM

> sniffing for a screen reader (for example) doesn't mean that the end user is actually using the screen reader themselves (it may be a shared machine, where 1/2 of a "couple" need a screen reader, the other doesn't), or situations where both sighted and non-sighted users are looking at the same web page together at the same time.

I'm not talking about whether a screen reader is installed but rather looking at the user's behavior on the site to predict whether the user is navigating with a screen reader. I agree that a person could be using a screen reader and also use a mouse and the person may not have a disability. That supports the point that I am trying to make that the purpose is not to detect people with disabilities but to understand user behaviors using different technologies. So this isn't about disability -- many people without disabilities use speech output for navigation and speech output (and input) with Alexis and Siri. So it's more about understanding how the user is interacting with the site regardless of anything else.

> Thus, the presence of AT alone is meaningless, and attempts in using that data to modify the user-experience will likely fail as often as succeed.

I never suggested that the data should be modified or redirected for a screen reader user. That's the knee jerk reactions that everyone has had. I am against alternative sites. Separate is not equal.

In the future we will be interacting with content in many different ways both accessing the information and operating the content. Having information on those interactions is important to supporting different method of interaction, adaption, etc. It's nice to say just create your website using universal design and it will work for everyone. But that's an oversimplification that doesn't address the real world obstacles that even WCAG conformant sites have. We are living in a situation where assistive technology is always behind the current technology and where huge gaps in user agent support exist. This isn't just about screen readers -- for example, we need better data on other user behaviors such as zoom. Low vision people are asking for 400% zoom with no scrolling in the direction of the text in WCAG 2.1 on sites and some on this list are pushing back suggesting 150% is only possible. But without data we don't know what most people are using and we don't know what sites are really capable of. Data is an important part of research and can help us make more informed decisions on how prevalent zoom is used and at what level, etc.

Jonathan

Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group 
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703.637.8957 (Office)
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