dxw Accessibility ManualTesting with a screen reader
Testing with a screen reader helps you to understand how it announces the contents and structure of a page.
Depending on the screen reader you’re testing with there are different tools and shortcuts or gestures (for touchscreen devices) it has to help interpret and navigate content.
Keyboard shortcuts #
Download a list of keyboard or gesture shortcuts from the following links from Deque University to help navigate using your chosen screen reader.
- VoiceOver Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac
- Narrator Keyboard Shortcuts
- NVDA Keyboard Shortcuts
- JAWS Keyboard Shortcuts
Examine the page structure #
Each screen reader has its own methods for navigating through the contents of the page. For example, using VoiceOver on Mac, you can begin testing by opening the Rotor menu with the shortcut VoiceOver key + U. This will present a dialog with a list of all the landmarks, links, forms and heading on the page which you can navigate between using tab, arrow keys and enter.