The Legend of the Typical Screen Reader User

The Legend
of the
Typical Screen Reader User

Jared Smith
http://webaim.org

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Screen reader users prefer...


http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey
and
http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey2


Disclaimers

• The sample was not controlled
• Respondents are likely to be more technical
• Safe to consider the sample representative
of connected, tech-savvy screen reader
users?


Survey #1
January 2009
1121 Respondents

Survey #2
October 2009
665 Respondents


There is NO typical screen reader user


Prevalence of Disability

No
10%

Yes
90%


Screen Reader
Proﬁciency
Beginner
4.7%

Intermediate Advanced
42.8% 52.5%


Those with disabilities
were 6X more likely to
report themselves as
“Advanced” screen
reader users


Internet Proﬁciency
Beginner
1.5%
Intermediate
33.6%
Advanced
64.9%


Primary Screen Reader
75%

50%

25% 66.4%

0%
10.4% 8.9% 4.9% 2.9% 2.6%
JAWS Window Eyes VoiceOver SA or SAToGo NVDA Zoomtext


Screen Readers
Commonly Used
75%

50%

75.2%
25%

23.5% 22.3% 25.6%
0% 14.6%
7.5%
JAWS Window Eyes VoiceOver SA or SAToGo NVDA Zoomtext


Screen Readers
Commonly Used
75%
January 2009
October 2009
50%

74% 75%
25%

23% 24% 26%
0% 15%
6% 8%
JAWS Window Eyes VoiceOver NVDA


Screen Reader Updated in
the Previous Year?

No
16.4%

Yes
83.6%


Screen Reader Updates

• Increased from 75% to 84% in 10
months
• 6% using a screen reader > 3
years old


How did you learn to use
your primary screen reader?
100%

75%

50%

25% 72.9%
0% 32.9% 24.2%
10.5%
Self-Taught Informally Training Other


Browser Usage
50%

40%

30%

20%

10% 32%
26.2%
18.8%
0% 12.7% 8.3%
IE8 IE7 IE6 Firefox 3+ Safari


Mobile screen reader usage
50%

40%

30%

20% 50%

10%

0% 12%
January 2009 October 2009

Up over 400% in 10 months!

Do you see free or low-cost screen
readers (such as NVDA or VoiceOver)
as currently being viable alternatives to
commercial screen readers?

I Don’t Know
32%
Yes
47.8%

No
19.7%


Javascript Disabled?

I Don’t Know
15%
No Yes
74.9% 10.4%


Problematic Items
1.CAPTCHA
2.Inaccessible Flash content
3.Links or buttons that do not make sense
4.Images with missing or improper alt text
5.Complex or difﬁcult forms
6.Lack of keyboard accessibility
7.Unexpected content changes
8.Missing or improper headings
9.Too many links or navigation items
10.Complex data tables

Progress over the previous year

Less Accessible No Change
33.3% 20%

More Accessible
46.3%


Which of the following do you
think has a bigger impact on
improvements to web accessibility?
Better assistive technology
31.4%

Better (more accessible) web sites
68.6%


Use of ARIA Landmarks
Sometimes use landmarks
32%

Use landmarks when present Not supported
20.5% 5%

Unaware of landmarks
42.1%


Social Media Usage
50%

40%

30%

20% 47.7% 51.3%
42% 38.2%
10%

0% 13.4%
9%
Blogs Facebook LinkedIn MySpace Twitter YouTube


Social Media Accessibility
Accessible

Inaccessible
Blogs Facebook LinkedIn MySpace Twitter YouTube


General Social Media
Accessibility
Somewhat Inaccessible

Somewhat Accessible Very Inaccessible

I Don’t Know

Very Accessible


Likelihood of Flash
Accessibility
Somewhat Likely
Somewhat Unlikely
Very Likely
I Don’t Know

Very Unlikely


Headings

76% always or often navigate by headings

50.8% use headings as the primary method of
ﬁnding information in a page


Other Notables
• Text-only versions are not commonly
accessed. Screen reader-only content is
accessed only slightly more often.
• Majority have difﬁculty with pop-up windows.
• Prefer “Skip to main content” or “Skip to
content” over “Skip navigation”.


What suggestions do you have
for developers/manufacturers
of screen readers?


“Focus on web standards
(e.g., ARIA)”


“Be more open. Listen to
your customers.”


“Lower your prices or I’ll
switch to Screen Reader X
(as soon as it’s fully useful).”


“Spend more time ﬁxing bugs
than implementing new
features I’ll never/rarely use.”


“Support/ﬁx Flash accessibility.”


“Remove JAWS demo
mode restrictions on
evaluation and testing.”


“Keep up the good work.
I can’t imagine life without
these wonderful
technologies!”


There is NO typical screen reader user

... but we can learn much about typical behavior


The survey results pages have
much, MUCH more

http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey
and
http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey2


Thank You!

Jared Smith
http://webaim.org
twitter: @jared_w_smith
AHG hashtag is #ahg09


The Legend of the Typical Screen Reader User

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