CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cross-browserscreen-readersjaws-screen-readeraccessibility
Austine
Austine

Reputation: 65

Can we automate Screen Reader testing for web accessibility

Is it possible to automate screen reader testing using Jaws and NVDA across all the browser platforms for checking web accessibility ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1231

Answers (3)

Vimukthi Saranga
Vimukthi Saranga

Reputation: 69

Yes you can do it now, This might be bit late but now we have an option to solve this problem. We can access the Accessibility Tree of the browser via codes now. You can simply access the Chrome Devtools Protocol and then call the accessibility DOM to get the tree. But this is an experimental API still and can change in the future. More ref : https://itmastermindblog.wordpress.com/2023/12/04/screen-reader-automation-testing/

Upvotes: 0

Adam
Adam

Reputation: 18807

  1. It's a common mistake to think that accessibility only targets screenreader users and blind or partially blind people. Screen reader testing will only test for a small part of what accessibility guidelines focus on.

  2. Manual screenreader testing is encouraged to test for human interaction according to the 4 WCAG principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust). Automating screenreader testing is equivalent to suppress screenreader testing.

Upvotes: 1

GrahamTheDev
GrahamTheDev

Reputation: 24825

Short answer is no, you cannot effectively do this.

However there are lots of automated tools that will identify around 40% of accessibility errors, such as empty links etc.

The reason you need to test manually is that they cannot test for things like logical tab order, keyboard traps etc.

Axe do a decent plugin for Google Chrome that is reasonably good as a starting point. Look in the Play store for that.

Other than that, learn how to use a screen reader (it doesn't take long) and test the site manually, you will pick up accessibility issues far quicker and learn more than trying to follow rules etc.

Upvotes: 2

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