textgoeshere

A screen reader is a software program that reads the contents of the screen aloud to a user. How do people use them? What does this mean for good web design? This is a summary of research observing users of screen readers carried out at the United States National Cancer Institute.

Screen-reader users scan with their ears

• Write for the web
• Use empty ‘alt’ tags for decorative images

Many users skip from link to link or use a links list box

• Provide context in link text must: “click here” or “more” is no use in a links list
• Start links with relevant keywords
• Don’t start lots of links with the same word or phrase: “How do I…”

Some users jump from heading to heading

• Use plenty of h1, h2, h3 headings
• Write informative headings

Most users tab between form fields

• Make sure that important information is contained in the field label itself. Otherwise the user will miss it as they jump from one field to the next.
• Do not put a lot of text before a form without provding a skip link to the form