WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: FW: HTML - <abbr> and <acronym> settings

for

From: Kynn Bartlett
Date: Mar 23, 2006 1:30PM

On 3/23/06, Daisy < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> I don't know the mechanics behind it but would it be possible to provide a
> screenreader service in a similar model to browsercam?
>

Well, the problem is that screenreaders are interactive, so you can't just
dump a screenshot or the like. Screenreaders are a way of navigating through
the content, and in fact that's where a lot of the problems result.

The solution also isn't "just test with a screenreader" because most
developers won't spend the time necessary to learn to how to use a
screenreader, and are thus unable to use them to evaluate web sites. Too
many false positives and false negatives will result.

(By "spend the time necessary" I mean at least 2 weeks straight of using a
screenreader, with monitor turned off, as your only means of accessing a
computer.)

Screenreader demos are good for raising awareness -- most web developers
have never "heard" a web page before -- but they're not good for testing
purposes. Web developers should be aware of how and why screenreaders work,
but they don't actually need screenreader output, which would be worthless
to most of them.

--Kynn