A screen reader is software that interprets the contents of a
screen and presents it to a visually impaired user as speech or by
driving a Braille display. Popular screen readers include JAWS, Hal
and WindowsEyes.
Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader
users is unfortunately not enough to ensure these users can find
what they're looking for in a reasonably quick and efficient
manner. Even if your site is accessible to screen reader users, its
usability could be so incredibly poor that they needn't have
bothered coming to your site.
Webcredible has
provided the following simple-to-implement guidelines that you can
follow, which not only drastically improve usability for screen
reader users, but for all web users:
1. Descriptive headings
The use of on-page headings is one of the most important
usability features for screen reader users, as it helps them more
easily understand the page structure. Although text on the page may
appear to be a heading for sighted users, it must be labelled as a
heading within the HTML code for screen reader users to know it is
a heading.
Screen readers don't look at web pages – they read through the
HTML code. If a piece of text is called a heading within the HTML
code then the screen reader will announce that it's a heading. If
not, screen reader users won't actually know if something that
visually appears to be a heading is actually a heading.
Another usability benefit of using headings for screen reader
users, is that these users can call up a list of on-page headings
and jump to the section of the page in which they're most
interested. This works in much the same way as sighted web users
scanning through web pages by glancing at headings. If headings are
descriptive of the content contained beneath them it becomes far
easier for screen reader users to find the information which
they're after.
2. Descriptive link text
Screen reader users can browse through web pages by calling up a
list of on-page links, and activating the link in which they're
most interested. As such, non-descriptive link text such as ‘click
here’ should be avoided at all costs as it makes no sense
whatsoever out of context.
The good news is that the use of descriptive link texts
represents a usability benefit for everyone. When we scan through
web pages, one of the items that stands out to us is link text.
‘Click here’ is totally meaningless to web users scanning through
pages and forces users to hunt through surrounding text to discover
the link destination.
3. Lists
Using lists within the HTML code is extremely useful for screen
reader users, as screen readers announce the number of items in
each list before reading out the list items. This helps these users
know what to expect when hearing a list of items (such as site
navigation).
This works in mush the same way as an answer phone telling you
how many messages you have, before listening to them. By informing
you of how many messages you have, you instantly know what to
expect. If there's only one or two messages you can probably
remember them; much more and you'll probably want to get a pen and
paper and make notes.
The use of lists is really just a behind-the-scenes change to
the code and needn't affect the visual appearance of the
website.
4. Logical linearization
Screen reader users generally have to listen to web pages from
start to finish, top to bottom, left to right. Sighted web users on
the other hand can glance through a web page almost randomly,
spotting important information wherever it may appear on the page.
Because of this, important information should always be placed
towards the top of the page.
One example of how not to do this is to place instructions for a
form at the bottom of the page.
Placing important information towards the top of the page
actually benefits everyone, as the important information is now in
the place where sighted users look first - the top of the page.
5. Short, succinct ALT text
ALT text is the alternative text for images that gets read out
to screen reader users. Any website offering even basic
accessibility will provide this alternative text. Some websites try
to over-explain the information conveyed by images, forcing screen
reader users to have to listen to a lot of unnecessary and
irrelevant information.
Screen reader users often take longer than sighted web users to
work through websites, so help make their surfing time easier with
succinct ALT text.
6. Short, front-loaded paragraphs
Front-loading means placing the conclusion first, followed by
the what, why, when, where and how. By placing the conclusion
first, screen reader users can instantly gain an understanding of
what the paragraph's about. They can then decide whether they want
to keep on listening or if they want to skip to the next paragraph
(which they can easily do with the screen reader). If the
paragraphs are short, they can do this safe in the knowledge that
they won't be missing extra information.
Front-loading content obviously benefits everyone, as web users
no longer have to search around for the main point of each
paragraph.
7. Descriptive page title
The page title is the very first thing that screen reader users
hear when arriving at any web page, so it's truly essential that
it's descriptive of the page. Again, this benefits everyone as
users can use the page title to orientate themselves and confirm
that they're on the page they think they're on. This is especially
true for web users on dial-up connections where the page title
displays a number of seconds before the rest of the page.
Conclusion
There are a number of relatively simple and painless things that
can be done to improve usability for screen reader users.
Fortunately, nearly all of them improve usability for all web
users, meaning everyone benefits - which is never a bad thing.
© Webcredible
2005
