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cirqlar
cirqlar

Reputation: 13

Do semantic tags allow web content to be better understood by screen reading devices for people with disabilities?

I've recently argued with some developers who said that the answer to the question "Do semantic tags allow web content to be better understood by screen reading devices for people with disabilities?" is No.

I understand that semantic markup helps screen readers better index web pages, enables then to jump through content better, and more. In that light, it seems unreasonable to say that semantic tags do not allow web content to be better understood by screen reading devices.

Our argument hasn't helped me understand any of this better, so I've thought to ask here. Do semantic tags help screen readers? Or do they not?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 67

Answers (1)

Quentin
Quentin

Reputation: 943591

If we look at the manual for a popular screen reader we can see it says:

You can use the Web Item rotor to quickly jump to links, headers, web spots, tables, and more on a webpage.

That demonstrates that semantic markup (like headings) benefits users of screen readers as they can skim headings in a document aurally just as a sighted user can do it by scrolling and letting their attention fall on the bigger, bolder text.

If the headers were styled divs, then that wouldn't work.

That is, of course, just one example.

Upvotes: 2

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