Well, that would be an easy way out, but before you start making excuses, let's take a look at what you'd be missing out on. Screen reader users are one of the primary beneficiaries of your accessibility efforts, so it makes sense to understand their needs.Cognitive learning systems of course, you don't want to fall into the trap of thinking that accessibility is only relevant to screen reader users. Too many people focus on blindness to the exclusion of people with other disability types (motor, auditory, cognitive, low vision, etc.) whose needs are just as relevant.Cognitive learning systems

Although a screen reader isn't a "browser" in the same way that chrome, firefox, safari, and internet explorer are browsers (in fact, in most cases the screen reader depends on those browsers), screen readers are a way of accessing web content that is different from the way that sighted people use browsers.Cognitive learning systems if you don't understand these differences, you won't understand what the accessibility challenges are for screen reader users, and you won't be able to design effectively for this audience.Cognitive learning systems

Blind users access web content in fundamentally different ways compared to sighted users. To begin with, screen readers exclusively or primarily use the keyboard for navigation.Cognitive learning systems many keyboard shortcuts are available, most of which the user has to memorize. Sighted users are accustomed to using a mouse for navigation.Cognitive learning systems they're also accustomed to visually scanning a page in all directions almost simultaneously. Both of these are habits that a sighted person must set aside while testing with a screen reader.Cognitive learning systems

But habits and techniques of navigating web content are only part of the story. In a very real sense, screen readers make you think differently.Cognitive learning systems A sighted person tends to think of web sites in terms of blocks of information organized visually. Most web pages have navigation features either at the top or side of the viewable area.Cognitive learning systems they often have graphics designed to attract your attention to "important" elements like new content, specially-priced merchandise, or other things.Cognitive learning systems good designs draw your visual attention to the content and use visual cues to help you understand the site's organization almost instantaneously.Cognitive learning systems

Screen reader users cannot survey the entirety of a web page with such immediacy. Web content is linear and text-based. They don't often think in terms of left and right or position on the page.Cognitive learning systems it is irrelevant to them whether the most important content is visually in the middle with the boldest colors and most artistic design. Positioning and visual artistry do not inherently help or hinder the accessibility of web content for screen reader users.Cognitive learning systems this type of information is simply useless to them.

When reading the content of a page, the screen reader users hear the title of the web page (assuming there is one), then each text element in the order that it appears in the source code of the document.Cognitive learning systems now, they don't hear the source code directly, but all text content within the page markup and any relevant structure and semantics. The order of these is important.Cognitive learning systems

Screen reader users have multiple ways of navigating within a page. Screen reader users can navigate from heading to heading, get a list of links organized alphabetically, use the tab key to navigate to links and form controls, and search within the page for keywords, among other methods.Cognitive learning systems screen readers allow users to navigate through data tables, going from cell to cell and (assuming the table has been marked up correctly) informing the user what the row or column headers are for each cell.Cognitive learning systems so even though the content is linear, screen reader users have many options to navigate through that content, and everyone has their own favorite methods.Cognitive learning systems

It is rare that a screen reader user would listen to an entire web page from start to finish without skipping some portion, such as the navigation links at the top of the page, the copyright information at the bottom, or other parts in-between.Cognitive learning systems users are more likely to listen to an entire page if they are unfamiliar with a site and if the content is very important to them, but most of the time they attempt to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.Cognitive learning systems headings, landmarks, searches within pages, and lists of links (or tabbing from link to link) are among the most common methods used to find content quickly.Cognitive learning systems

First of all, not all blind people are proficient screen reader users. Inexperienced users can offer a valuable perspective (the perspective of novice), but they may not be able to give you the broader perspective of screen reader users in general.Cognitive learning systems in some cases, inexperienced blind users may give you bad advice as a result of their lack of expertise. On the other hand, expert screen reader users may not be able to give you the full perspective of less experienced users.Cognitive learning systems in other words, as with any user test, you have to make sure that your users accurately reflect the target audience. You don't want to fall into the trap of saying "fred, our blind screen reader user, said we should do it this way." fred may or may not be representative of the majority of screen reader users.Cognitive learning systems he may also have customized settings that render content differently than the vast majority of other screen reader users. Ideally you would have a user group consisting of several individuals of varying levels of expertise.Cognitive learning systems it may not be feasible or practical to always have such a group available, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to occasionally invest in user group studies, especially before launching new versions of complex web sites.Cognitive learning systems

Second, blind users may or may not be able to recognize when content is inaccessible to them. For example, if the main content of a web page consists of complex, inaccessible javascript, the user may not even know that the main content is there at all.Cognitive learning systems if the screen reader doesn't read it to them, the content may as well not exist. A sighted user, on the other hand, could look at the content and listen to it.Cognitive learning systems this person could recognize that none of the main content is being read. Of course, having sight can also be a disadvantage in this testing process.Cognitive learning systems sighted users may rely too much on what they see, and not realize that not everything they see is being read by the screen reader.

The lesson to be learned here is that you should have a variety of people with a variety of abilities test your content.Cognitive learning systems it is best to not rely on just one person's interpretation. One way to involve blind users is to solicit their advice on the webaim discussion list and other online forums.Cognitive learning systems sometimes they'll offer their advice for free. Other times it may be more appropriate to contract with them to provide testing or evaluation services.Cognitive learning systems