Screen reader

Lets get to know and play with one!

@PraeSongprasit

Today's flow

Why I'm here
What is a screen reader
Who uses it
How to use OSX VoiceOver
Takeaways

About me

First, a little bit about me

I'm a UX engineer, who loves helping people create accessible web products.

And creator of Web Access Club, an accessibility podcast for web creators. Launching later this year.

I've been in the NZ tech industry for about 8 years now, specialising in UI front-end work.

I worked on large scale responsive sites like newzealand.com, and Xero Central - a customer help portal.

These projects have given me a lot of experience working with UX practitioners. So I have a deep appreciation for this craft. I do owe a significant part of my career to designers I've worked with to solve all sorts of usabilty issues.

In my free time, I practice Japanese archery, and eat around town. I am a little bit of a foodie.

In the last couple of years, I've started to dive into wonderful world of web accessibility. Afterall, UI front-end's bread and butter, HTML, plays a crucial role.

That is why I'm here

Why am I here?

to learn, share, and recruit more a11y friends❣️

This year, I'm studying to become an internationally certified accessibility practitioner. The CAAP certification, by IAAP (International Association of Accessibility Practitioners).

What all that means, is that right now, I'm no master at accessibility. There's so much I don't know, but I've committed in learning the craft.

As we all know, the best way solidify your learning, is to share it.

Who's better than my UX friends! Afterall, you're front-end developers' partner-in-crime.

For engineers to create the most accessible product possible, all of us need to be able to understand different users' access needs.

As we progress with this talk, it will become increasingly clear that a lot of the critical accessibility issues can be resolved early at the UX design phase, then driven home via proper front-end implementation.

It's going to be a fun!

What's a screen reader?

Assistive software that
reads digital content and interfaces

So first up, what on earth is a screen reader??

True to its name, it's an assistive technology, like my glasses.

It's a software that reads digital content and interfaces. It helps users who cannot look at the interface, for whatever reason, access other software and its content.

I'm emphasising on 'software that lets you access other software' here.

As web creators, it's often easy to forget that assistive technologies aren't solely made for accessing the web.

It's made so that users can access anything on their device. Installed apps and etc. Your web product just happen to be run on an app called a browser, something that assistive tool like screen reader could be used on.

This is one of the reasons why there's currently no way to track who uses assistive technoliges on your website. Browsers don't collect information on weather another software is interacting with it, or if it's also installed on the same device.

Chrome isn't always aware that you're cheating on it, by having Firefox and Safari installed, or how you're using those other browsers? And why should it?! That would be even creepier than the status quo!

If the lack of user data makes you worried, don't be. If we follow universal and inclusive design principles, screen reader is just another access need we consider as a part of our process. We shouldn't explicitly need stats for how many of these users access our products to design something that also works for them.

Who use screen readers?

Blind users
Neurodiverse users
AI assistant users

When I first learnt about screen readers, I thought only those who are completely blind uses it.

When I heard the word 'blind', I immediately visualised people who use a guide dog or a stick to move around.

Oh... how wrong I was. There are so many different access needs that is helped by screen readers. Here are a few that I'm aware of

As I mentioned, many blind users use screen readers. But it's important to note that people can be 'blind' in different ways.

There is a spectrum!

Some people are fully blind from birth. Some lose their sight afterwards. Accidents and eye disease can happen to anyone.

Some are not completely blind, but are 'legally' blind, which means they have partial use of their sight. Can still see shapes and forms, but perhaps not well enough to drive without glasses.

Some of these legally blind users could also have different visual impairments like tunnel vision, where they can only see through a tiny gap, as if someone blocked parts of their eyes.
Perhaps not as common. But neurodiverse users, which could include people with ADHD, Autism, and other cognitively diverse attributes, also use screen reader to help consume information.

If you're wondering how... Have you ever been read to, or joined reading class at school? There's benefit in providing multiple ways to consume the same information. Especially when learning.
AI assistant users are pretty much general high tech population.

This may come as a surprise to you, but tools like Alexa, Siri, Google home essentially functions as screen reader when you ask it to look things up and read out to you. It's reading information from an app or a website to users.

Classic curb cut case, where benefits of designing for access needs like completely blind users also extend to other user groups.

Screen reader 101 time!

Introducing OSX/Mac's VoiceOver

Takeaway 1

Content first design and
keyboard only navigation is 🗝

Takeaway 2

Learning to use screen reader
does not replace testing with real users

Become an a11y with me

@PraeSongprasit or @WebAccessClub