Summary
Software on a computer that reads the content of the page to a user. If a website is WCAG compliant people who use screen readers will have access to that web content.
A screen reader is a software application that analyzes the user interface and the associated content from an operating system or an application, such as a web browser, and provides its output via the text-to-speech synthesizer or a refreshable Braille display.
Screen readers are a form of assistive technology (AT) that are essential to people who are blind, as well as useful to people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or have a learning disability.
Common screen readers
- Windows:
- JAWS (JAWS tutorial)
- NVDA (NVDA tutorial) (NVDA video demo) - Free download for windows
- Narrator (Narrator tutorial) - Comes with Windows
- Mac OSX
- VoiceOver (VoiceOver tutorial) - Comes with Mac OSX
- iOS
- VoiceOver - Comes with iOS
- Android
- TalkBack - Comes with Android devices