I'm embarking on a project where accessibility to WCAG 2.0 and the ability to use the web application in the JAWS screenreader are key requirements.
I'm looking for insights as to how JAWS treats Javascript, is it a plete no go or is JAWS smart enough to cope!?
I'm embarking on a project where accessibility to WCAG 2.0 and the ability to use the web application in the JAWS screenreader are key requirements.
I'm looking for insights as to how JAWS treats Javascript, is it a plete no go or is JAWS smart enough to cope!?
Share Improve this question edited Nov 28, 2014 at 19:47 JasonMArcher 15k22 gold badges59 silver badges53 bronze badges asked Jun 1, 2009 at 22:41 AJMAJM 32.5k50 gold badges161 silver badges248 bronze badges3 Answers
Reset to default 5I'm a jaws user and the short answer is it mostly works. With out knowing your exact requirements I can't be very specific. Apps like gmail in basic html view work perfectly, gmail in normal view works although I use the jaws cursor a lot to simulate a mouse, stackoverflow works fine, google spreadsheets is pletely inaccessible, google docs is mostly inaccessible, and google reader works fine although I have to use the jaws cursor to click on options like expanded or list view.
You should look into ARIA, that is what the standards are moving towards to make JavaScript more accessible.
jaws doesn't know about javascript, it just reads screen and makes some actions. It's just a plugin for browser.
I was working on a project with similar requirements not so long ago. We've used YAML css framework which is designed for accessibility. And we've used only a few ajax and javascript improvements.
And I hope that this and this link will help you too.