Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers

Gold
Friday, June 11, 2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Share the love for this talk
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers
Speakers: Sam Proulx
Link:

Summary

Starting out with a ten-minute live demo from an expert screen reader user, Samuel Proulx will introduce you to not only how they work, but the thought processes behind using the Internet with a screen reader. What are some of the most important things to take into account when attempting to construct a mental model of a screen reader user? After this introduction, the floor will open to your questions! If you’ve never worked with a screen reader user before, or if you have burning questions about how people who are blind use the Internet, this is your chance! Ask any question at all in an open, safe learning environment.

Key Insights

  • Screen readers like NVDA are extensively customizable; almost no user relies on default settings.

  • Screen reader users navigate webpages primarily by semantic elements like headings and landmarks, not by tabbing through every item.

  • NVDA has separate modes: browse mode for navigation and focus mode to interact with editable fields or complex web apps.

  • Many web pages fail to properly manage keyboard focus when dialogs (e.g., cookie consents) appear, leaving screen reader users unaware.

  • Web apps must handle all keyboard inputs precisely and maintain correct focus and semantics to be accessible.

  • Custom keyboard shortcuts in apps should be minimized if the app is used infrequently; learning many shortcuts is burdensome.

  • Mobile screen readers rely on limited gestures and intercept all touches to allow exploration without accidental activation.

  • Desktop screen readers offer more shortcuts, making them more efficient than mobile screen readers for complex tasks.

  • Accessibility improvements must include updates to semantics (like ARIA states) alongside visual changes for effective screen reader feedback.

  • Real user testing with participants using their own environment and customized settings yields more authentic accessibility insights.

Notable Quotes

"I don’t know anyone who uses the configuration out of the box without customizing it heavily and extensively."

"What a screen reader user does is they don’t start at the top and tab through every single element; they navigate by headings and landmarks."

"Screen readers have two modes: browse mode for navigating content and focus mode to interact with form fields or apps."

"If a dialog pops up but the keyboard focus isn’t moved into it, a screen reader user might not know it’s there."

"Google Docs is not a web page; it’s a web app that requires handling many keyboard shortcuts and focus management."

"If you make an app that users only use once a year, don’t expect them to learn dozens of custom shortcuts."

"On mobile, the screen reader intercepts all touches so users can explore without accidentally activating anything."

"Desktop screen readers can run at speeds up to 800 words per minute because users get used to synthetic speech."

"Reddit recently fixed their upvote button so it announces toggle states, something many sites neglect."

"Testing with the tab key is important, but it has nothing to do with a screen reader user’s actual experience."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jon Temple
Panel: Stacks, Security, and Stakeholders: The Hidden Work of UXR Tool Procurement
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Coffee with Lou
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Dane DeSutter
What co-speech gestures reveal about users’ thinking during interviews
2023 • Rosenfeld Community
Liwei Dai
The Heart and Brain of the AI Research
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Ivana Ng
Level Up Your Program with ProductOps
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Lais de Almeida
Designing Data Services
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
George Abraham
Design Systems To-Go: Indigo.Design Overview and Exploring the Developer Workflow (Part 3)
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Sheryl Cababa
Expanding your Design Lens with Systems Thinking
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Indi Young
Thinking styles: Mend hidden cracks in your market
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 2 Intro
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Mark Templeton
Creating a Legacy: the ultimate experience
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme Three Intro
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Alberto Ferreira
Making it Count: Developing a custom digital metric framework that works
2021 • QuantQual Interest Group
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Sarah Auslander
Insights Panel
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold

More Videos

John Cutler

"It is impossible to survive in this industry by pushing against the current all the time; you must put yourself in positions to leverage the current."

John Cutler

Oxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)

December 3, 2024

Darian Davis

"Creating a roadmap built enough space to make meaningful design changes for developers to implement."

Darian Davis

Lessons from a Toxic Work Relationship

January 8, 2024

Dave Gray

"If you have a feeling you’re having the same conversation over and over, a canvas like this can ratchet the conversation forward."

Dave Gray

Group Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps

November 7, 2017

John Cutler

"The highest leverage thing you can do is design statements that capture the essence in ways that set sail a thousand ships."

John Cutler

The Alignment Trap

November 29, 2023

Abby Covert

"The key to good diagrams is accessibly rendered, content driven, and visually supported."

Abby Covert

Stuck? Diagrams Help

October 27, 2022

Mark Interrante

"We started to build an API for how other teams could interact with us like a contract."

Mark Interrante

Collaboration Flows in Product Development

June 9, 2017

Devon Powers

"Afrofuturism shows us the future must reckon with the past and center difference and diversity."

Devon Powers

Imagining Better Futures

March 9, 2022

Prayag Narula

"You should not be struggling with best practices, recruitment, or documentation when conducting your own research as a designer."

Prayag Narula

How to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To

June 10, 2022

Peter Van Dijck

"You can’t just be a designer adapting UX workflows assuming everybody else’s workflow stays the same; everything is changing with AI."

Peter Van Dijck

Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people

October 22, 2025