Although accessibility checklists are important, testing for web accessibility requires more than that. Some testing requires tasks which can only be done by a human including testing with a screen reader. It’s best for a regular screen reader user to do the testing, but it’s also good for a developer or designer to do at least the basics (there was a big discussion on this last fall in Should Sighted Developers Use Screenreaders To Test Accessibility?).
Here are some good articles to help learn how to use a screen reader to test for web accessibility:
- Using NVDA to Evaluate Web Accessibility (WebAIM)
- Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility (WebAIM)
- Setting up a screen reader test environment (by Henny Swan)
- Easy Accessibility Testing with the NVDA Screen Reader (Yahoo)
- How to use NVDA and Firefox to test your web pages for accessibility (Marco Zehe)
- Establishing a screen reader test plan (by Henny Swan on spotlessinteractive.com)
- Testing with Screen Readers: Questions and Answers (WebAIM)
More from comments:
- Browser & Assistive Technology Tests Redux (The Paciello Group)
- Using VoiceOver to Evaluate Web Accessibility (WebAIM)
4 replies on “Learning How to Test with Screen Readers”
How about testing with Gnome Orca?
Hi
I think Steve Faulkner’s collection of links about testing would be a good addition to your list:
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2011/10/browser-assistive-technology-tests-redux/
Here’s another WebAIM link, to add testing with VoiceOver to our bag of tricks 🙂
http://webaim.org/articles/voiceover/
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