Free screen readers (and talking browsers)

There’s really no good excuse for not testing web content in one of the many free screen readers available (no, glancing at your webpage in Lynx is not a substitute).

All platforms

Fire Vox is an extension for Firefox that turns Firefox into a talking browser with some support for Aural Cascading Style Sheets. Most of its development has been done on Windows, but it also works on Mac and Linux.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X Tiger actually comes with VoiceOver. MacVisionaries might even help you test your web site or application for free.

Windows XP

Windows users have a wide choice:

• NVDA, a GPL screen reader written in Python and in active development; already has some level of support for MSHTML (and hence Internet Explorer), Outlook Express, Word, Excel, and Command Prompt.
• Opera includes the ability to read web pages (Windows only).
• WebbIE plus the Thunder screen reader are free for personal use only.
• GW Micro Window-Eyes 5.5 Demo is available to developers (full functionality but limited to 30 minutes per Windows session).

There are evaluation versions of Dolphin’s Hal 7 (limitation: 30 days total, or get an earlier version limited to 30 minutes per session), Baum Engineering’s Virgo 4, FreedomBox for Windows, and Ai Squared’s ZoomText 9, which is aimed at impaired vision rather than blind users. It is not clear to what degree these may legitimately be used for testing pages to ensure that users of those products are not disadvantaged.

There is also an evaluation version of Freedom Scientific’s JAWS for Windows (limitation: 40 minutes per session). But according to Freedom Scientific, even testing for generic HTML support, let alone testing real webpages, violates the EULA for the demo. I am not a lawyer, but as far as I can tell there is no such restriction implied in the EULA for the Connect Outloud demo. Freedom Scientific claims that Connect Outloud is based on the popular JAWS® for Windows® technology and offers additional access to the Windows XP operating system. Connect Outloud has more features for accessing the Web, including support for Internet Explorer and Adobe® Acrobat® Reader. Sadly, this blurb is somewhat misleading, as Connect Outloud is a much less powerful and configurable complement to Internet Explorer than JAWS. Certainly, it cannot be used as a guide to how a JAWS user will experience and interact with a site.

There is also the defunct, but still downloadable magnifying and speaking internet browser pwWebSpeak.

If anyone knows a link for the Japanese screen reader KDS PC Talker, let me know. It’s mentioned in Best Practices For Accessible Flash Design [PDF].

Linux

Linux users may face greater difficulties. Some Linux users use Lynx plus SpeakUp, a kernel module for reading the console. If the very thought of Emacs keyboard combinations doesn’t fill you with a primal horror, you should definitely check out the fabulous Emacspeak, which combines with Emacs/W3 and other text browsers to surf the web. An alternative to Emacspeak is Edbrowse, a similar customization of Ed that includes some JavaScript support.

What about JAWS equivalents that accessify GUI browsers? Baum Engineering’s Gnopernicus works with Firefox, but very badly. LSR (Linux Screen Reader) and Orca are the new kids on the block. The bad news is neither really works properly with Firefox 2 (although Orca can be together with Fire Vox and that works substantially better). Full compatibility should arrive with Firefox 3. For the moment, it’s safer to use LSR and Orca with a text browser, like Lynx or ELinks, in a Gnome Terminal.

There is also an evaluation version of FreedomBox for Linux.

Things to bear in mind

1. No two screen readers will read the same web page the same way.
2. Screen readers are complex software. They typically can read web pages in more than one mode. And they are highly scriptable and configurable.
3. With browsers, as you know, people are not always using the latest or best software. Because of the learning curve for different screen readers and the expense of upgrades, this is even more true of screen readers. (This is also why OATSoft is an extremely important initiative.)
4. All web developers and web designers should gain some experience with screen readers. Probably the only way to get a really good feel for how they work is total immersion: try using a screen reader exclusively for a few weeks. (I should admit I haven’t done this.) If you or your client is a reasonably sized company, you should definitely look into getting testing done by people who use this software on a regular basis. Usability Exchange might help you there.