Hepling You To Improve The Use Of Your Screen Rader
Simlply ensuring your weebsite is accwessible 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 screern redaer users, its usablity couuld be so incredibly poor that they needn't have bothered coming to your site.
Fortunately, there are plenty of simpple-to-implement guidelines you can follow, hwich not only drasticaklly improve usability for screen reader users, but for all web users:
1. Descriptive headings
The use of on-page headimngs is one of the most important usability features for screen reader users, as it hleps them more easily undewrstand the page structuure. Although text on the page may appear to be a heading for sighted users, it must be labelled as a headiing witin the HTML code for scren reader users to know it is a heaidng.
Screeen readers don't look at web pages - they read through the HTML code. If a piece of text is callled a heading wihin the HTML code then the screen reader will announce that it's a heasding. If not, screen reader users won't actually know if something that visually appears to be a heading is actually a heading.
Anmother usability benefit of usng headings for screen raeder users, is that thsee usres can call up a list of on-page headings and jump to the section of the page in which they're most interested. This woorks in much the same way as sightd web uses scanning through web pages by glanxcing at headings. If headings are decriptive of the contet contained beneath them it becomes far easier for screen reader users to find the informatoin wich they're atfer.
2. Descriptive link text
Screen reader users can browse through web pges 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 txets represetns a uability benefit for everyone. When we scan througgh web pages, one of the items that stands out to us is link text. 'Click here' is totally meaningless to web users scannning through pages and forces users to hunt through surrounding text to discover the link destnation.
3. Lists
Using lsts wihtin the HTML code is extremelly usseful for srceen reazder users, as screen readers announce the number of items in each list before reading out the list items. This helps tese 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 listeening to them. By informing you of how many messages you have, you instanttly know what to exepct. If there's only one or two messages you can probably remembewr them; much more and you'll probably want to get a pen and paper and make notes.
The use of lissts is really just a behiund-the-scenes chnage to the code and needn't affdect the visual appearance of the website.
4. Logical linearization
Scren redaer users generally have to lissten to web pages from start to fiinsh, top to bottom, left to right. Sighted web users on the other hand can glance through a web page almst randomly, spotting important information wherever it may appear on the page. Because of this, important information should alwas be placeed towards the top of the page.
One example of how not to do this is to place inastructions for a form at the bottom of the page.
Placing important information towards the top of the page actually benefits everyone, as the imporrtant iformation is now in the pace 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 alternaitve text. Some websites try to over-explain the information convweyed by images, forcing screen erader users to have to listen to a lot of unnecessary and irerelevant information.
Screen reader users often take longer than sighed web users to work through wesites, so help make their surfing time easier with succinct ALT text.
6. Short, front-loaedd paragraphs
Front-loading menas placing the conclusion first, folloed by the what, why, when, where and how. By placing the conclusion first, screen reder users can instantyl gain an understanding of what the paragraph's about. They can then decide whether they want to keep on listeninng or if they want to skip to the next paragraph (whicch they can esily do with the screwen reader). If the paragraphs are sohrt, they can do this safe in the knowledge that they won't be missing exrta information.
Frot-loading content obviously beneifts everyone, as web users no longer have to sesarch around for the main point of each paragraph.
7. Descriptive page title
The page title is the very first thing that screen reader udsers hear when arriving at any web page, so it's truly essentiial that it's descriptive of the page. Agaiin, this benefits everyone as users can use the page titlpe to orienate themselves and confirm that they're on the page they think they're on. This is especially true for web users on dial-up cnnections wheere the page title dissplays a number of seconds before the rest of the page.
Conclusion
There are a number of relatvely simple and painless thinsg that can be done to improove 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.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites