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Re: Using a Mouse with a Screen Reader

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From: J Isaac
Date: Aug 25, 2017 1:25PM

Hi Sara,

You asked if using a mouse with a screen reader is a viable test case.

Regardless of others opinions, I do believe it is.

I have had similar experiences as Jon Avila with non-screen reader users trying to test keyboard flows and that is one thing to consider.

As a full time screen reader user, I sometimes use the mouse tracking in NVDA and mouse echo feature in JAWS to gain orientation to screen layout.

I believe this will be a use case that will gain acceptance amongst daily screen reader users over time as these tools become more accurate and use is understood.
If I were to add this case to my testing methodology, I would draw a distinct difference between screen reader with keyboard and screen reader with mouse, ensuring the mouse tracking and mouse echo are off when keyboard testing.

HTH,
== Joel Isaac

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Sarah Jevnikar
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2017 11:51 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Using a Mouse with a Screen Reader

Hi all,
I've been evaluating some accessibility tickets of potential WCAG level A failures, but the original tests were run with a mouse and a screen reader. I use a screen reader but can't use a mouse, and can't replicate the problems the original tests indicated. Is a screen reader user with a mouse a viable test case to explore? If a mouse user finds different results than a keyboard user, does this suggest a WCAG failure, as possibly a failure of 2.1.1? How might something like that be rectified?
Thank you for your help,
Sarah