WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Is VoiceOver more similar to NVDA or JAWS with respect to the accessibility tree?

for

From: glen walker
Date: Jun 3, 2020 9:50AM


Yeah, I figured the heuristics might be IP so was looking for more
anecdotal info. Anything people might have observed when comparing screen
readers. The missing label is the most common one I'm aware of.

But I don't totally agree with your WCAG audit definition but that might be
more about terminology.

> A WCAG audit should be done by inspection of the code and user interface, *using
tools *where they are helpful.

I consider a screen reader a *tool* used to test for WCAG conformance. It
helps me find bugs. I'm not using the screen reader to emulate a user
experience. I treat a screen reader like I do a color contrast analyzer or
html validator or a page scanning tool or a bookmarklet. It's just one of
many tools in my toolbox.



On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 8:54 AM Steve Green < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> Since the heuristics are a significant piece of intellectual property for
> an AT vendor, I would be very surprised if any vendor published theirs.
> That said, I too would be very interested if there are such lists.
>
> I would also make the point (again) that there is a difference between
> doing a WCAG audit and an accessibility audit. It is not necessary to use
> any assistive technologies when doing a WCAG audit, and arguably you should
> not use them. A WCAG audit should be done by inspection of the code and
> user interface, using tools where they are helpful. The behaviour of
> assistive technologies is irrelevant and unhelpful.
>
> By contrast, an accessibility audit can be anything you want it to be, and
> you may well choose to include testing the user experience with one or more
> screen readers. The choice of operating system, browser and AT should be
> determined by factors such as your audience and contractual obligations. I
> would go so far as to say it's unprofessional to test with a particular
> platform simply because it's what you've got or what you want to use.
>
> Steve Green
> Managing Director
> Test Partners Ltd
>
>
>