Screen readers provide many shortcuts for navigating and interacting with elements on a webpage. Some common shortcuts include the following.
Navigate by line, sentence, word, character, etc
Navigate by region or landmark
Navigate by heading, link, button
Open a list of elements on the page and jump to specific elements. This is called the Web Rotor in VoiceOver, and similar functionality exists in NVDA by pressing insert+F7
A sighted user can usually scan a webpage without reading all of the content to identify sections of content, shared regions, headings, and points of interest. These screen reader shortcuts allow blind and low vision users to scan a document and glean similar information.
A note on differences between VoiceOver and NVDA
Both VoiceOver and NVDA are similar in many ways, but are also very different.
Similarities
Both provide shortcuts to jump to different elements
Both let users navigate static content
Both make similar announcemenents that include semantics
Differences
NVDA (and most Windows screen readers) flatten the document and linearize content for navigation.
VoiceOver keeps the tree structure of the document. Users can navigate into and out of some objects (such as iframes, menus, and application regions), as well as navigate through the contents of those opjects.
In practice, VoiceOver allows most web content to be navigated as though it were flattened and lineraized, but there are situations where a user will need to navigate into and out of certain onbjects.
Try out some of the commands and try to navigate to different elements on the page
When your group is ready, demonstrate to your instructor:
How to navigate by headings
How to navigate by links
How to navigate to navite static content such as paragraphs
How to open a list of elements
How to navigate to different regions of the page, such as the main or footer.
How to make the screen reader shut up (stop the current announcement)
Reading 3: Screen reader modes (10min)
Most Windows and Linux based screen readers have a concept of 'modes'. VoiceOver does not have a concept of 'modes'. In its simplest form, screen readers offer two modes of operation.
Browse mode: lets users navigate static content and provides shortcuts for jumping to specific elemnts with static content. In this mode, the screen reader intercepts key presses.
Interaction mode: (also commonly called 'application' mode) lets users interact directly with native controls and input data into form controls. Key presses are routed to the application instead of the screen reader.
Most 'documents' such as web pages, PDFs, and word documents support 'browse' mode.
Most 'application' such as native windows applications only support 'interaction' mode.
By default, NVDA will automatically switch to 'browse' mode when you open a web page.
Certain elements may cause NVDA to automatically switch to 'interaction' mode. Examples include form controls, and other roles that extends the abstract ARIA widget role.
Users can switch between 'browse' and 'interaction' modes at will.
VoiceOver does not have a concept of modes, but QuickNav shortcut keys can be used in a smilar way to the NVDA arrow key navigation in browse mode.
Tab to the first tab and then use arrow keys switch tabs
When your group is ready, call your instructor over and answer the following questions
Why did NVDA switch modes automatically? What benefit does this give the end user?
After selecting another tab, how do you navigate to the tab panel?
How does this experience differ for VoiceOver users? If no one is using VoiceOver in your group, find someone who is or ask your instructor to demo it.