Screen readers 101
I came across an interesting Shockwave simulation that shows you how frustrating it is to browse most of today’s Web sites using a screen reader. Go there and try completing some of the tasks they have listed on the lefthand side of the screen:
- Fake Web site for University of the Antarctic (Shockwave plug-in required)
I still see some of my favorite Web sites making mistakes using alt and title attributes as I surf today. I couldn’t imagine this sort of problem ever being solved, especially in the commercial world of Web design.
If anyone knows where I can get my hands on a free screen reader, please let me know.
Chris,There is a demo version of JAWS that you can download[1]. I believe it works for 45 min. per login. So you can just log out of Windows and log in again to get another 45 min.
[1] http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws.asp
Comment by Kristopher Schultz — July 12, 2005 @ 8:47 am