Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Help with JAWS/NVDA (self.Blind)
submitted by Loststrawberrypie
Hi, I work for an e learning company and we are trying to make sure all of our products work with screen readers. We are using JAWS and NVDA to test but we would like to know if anyone knows any resources we could look at about using JAWS and NVDA to navigate through online learning, or websites if that is too specific.
If anyone has ever done any e learning and there was anything that you had difficulty with due to using a screen reader and would like to vent I would be interested in hearing so I can improve the quality of our courses.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
If anyone has ever done any e learning and there was anything that you had difficulty with due to using a screen reader and would like to vent I would be interested in hearing so I can improve the quality of our courses.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
[deleted] 5 points 2y ago
[deleted]
Loststrawberrypie [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Thank you for your reply, we have used software like that before but the problem is it doesn't necessarily reflect how real people use the software in the real world
[deleted] 3 points 2y ago
[deleted]
nkdeck07 1 points 2y ago
If you are looking for a service on this the Perkins institute for the Blind in Watertown MA actually has consulting services for this exact purpose. It's also not that hard to learn how to use screen readers as a sighted person and that can be a first place to look at problems (I am sighted but used to do a ton of accessibility audit work and I'd catch probably 80%-90% of the stuff that the screen readers were totally whiffing on)
bradley22 1 points 2y ago
Exactly, using real people is the best.
gumbygirly 3 points 2y ago
Hey - for information and resources on this topic I would suggest joining groups focused on WCAG and web accessibility. I’ve managed to find some on Reddit and more on Facebook.
I work for a University and perform manual tests using screen readers during the process of web design and remediation. I use the two you mentioned as well as VoiceOver. Learning to use a screen reader can be very difficult, and as a sighted person, it is very hard not to “cheat” and use your mouse when things gets hard. The really is no replacement for manual testing and you only option is to learn how to do it yourself or pay someone else to do it.
Last thing - you never mentioned if you are K12 or higher ed (I don’t mean to assume you are American, but you know what I mean), but Accessing Higher Ground is a conferencing coming up that will be held virtually in November. It focuses on higher ed, but I believe it address many issues any online educational platform would encounter. You may want to check out the program and see if it could be helpful.
I work for a University and perform manual tests using screen readers during the process of web design and remediation. I use the two you mentioned as well as VoiceOver. Learning to use a screen reader can be very difficult, and as a sighted person, it is very hard not to “cheat” and use your mouse when things gets hard. The really is no replacement for manual testing and you only option is to learn how to do it yourself or pay someone else to do it.
Last thing - you never mentioned if you are K12 or higher ed (I don’t mean to assume you are American, but you know what I mean), but Accessing Higher Ground is a conferencing coming up that will be held virtually in November. It focuses on higher ed, but I believe it address many issues any online educational platform would encounter. You may want to check out the program and see if it could be helpful.
nkdeck07 1 points 2y ago
There's a few good Slack ones as well and these are great since you can get more instant feedback.
Loststrawberrypie [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you for your help! I am based in the UK, but I will see about the conference it sounds interesting!
IronDominion 3 points 2y ago
The most sure fire way is to hire technology testers. These are people who are usually blind/visually impaired who do short contracts for companies to test their software or website with screen readers, then write a report of any issues or bugs they have found. This is something that is then given back to you as the company and then you can tell you devs the issues so they can be fixed.
Loststrawberrypie [OP] 1 points 2y ago
We do that at the moment but due to world events budgets are getting tight so we want to check as much as we can ourselves
Drop9Reddit 2 points 2y ago
Axe is a good tool as well
Loststrawberrypie [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you, we'll look into it
Thin-Ad-1075 1 points 2y ago
Ive earned some credentials from HarvardX, University of Texas AustinX via the EDX platform with very good success. If you are still looking for any insight I would be glad to offer my views.
siriuslylupin6 1 points 2y ago
As to e learning the interesting thing is most of them are accessible but kinda or really clunky. Accessible in theory but maybe not in practice.
SixtyForceDemon 1 points 2y ago
Sounds like a great way to hire some blind people!
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