WebAIM’s Screen Reader Survey a few months ago (October 2009) sure drew a lot of attention, and for good reason. It is a much needed and well written survey, performed by one of the leading organizations in web accessibility, WebAIM. Here are some articles written in response to the survey. If you know any others, please leave a comment and let us know!
Related Articles
- Screen reader software usage shifts on desktop and mobile (iheni)
- Results from WebAIM’s screen October 2009 screen reader user survey (456 Berea St.)
- WebAIM screen reader users follow up survey (Less Fuss Design)
- WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey Results (evolt.org)
- WebAIM Study: Screenreaders and Javascript Co-Exist from Ajaxian
- WebAIM’s previous Screen Reader Survey (January 2009)
My Observations
Some of the more outstanding results of the survey I believe are:
- 75% of respondents said they do NOT have JavaScript turned off (most had it on).
- The most problematic items seem to be the same predictable items, unfortunately. The top 10 includes CAPTCHA, Flash, alternative text, forms, and headings.
- 42% surveyed said they didn’t know ARIA Landmarks for navigation existed. I highly suspect this number will steadily decrease.
- Although over 66% of users reported JAWS as their primary screen reader, almost half said that free or low-cost screen readers (such as NVDA or VoiceOver) are currently viable alternatives.
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