Seeking Best Accessibility Practices

Screen Reader Visibility Test Results

Visibility Tests

This series of tests seeks to understand how screen readers and other assistive technology react to different methods of hiding information from visual display. The following table offers the results from Quizzes 5.2.1 through 5.2.12, test cases 1 through 12.

Table 1: How do screen readers handle material that we try to hide from visual display? Each answer states if the test material is heard/seen. The preferred answer is y/n. NT means not tested.
Test cases (hint: hover over test case numbers)
Screen Reader or user agent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Connect OutLoud 2 n/n y/n y/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/n
Jaws 4 and IE 6 n/n y/n y/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/*
Jaws 5 and IE 6 n/n n/n y/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/n
Jaws 6 and IE 6 n/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/*
Window Eyes 4.5 and IE 6 n/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n n/n n/n n/n n/n n/n n/n
Window Eyes 5 and IE 6 n/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n
IBM HPR 3.04 and IE 6 n/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/*
pwWebSpeak 3 y/y y/y y/y y/y y/y y/y NT NT NT NT NT NT
Mac OSX Text to Speech NT y/n y/n NT NT NT NT NT NT NT NT NT
Microsoft Narrator NT y/n y/n NT NT NT NT NT NT NT NT NT
Opera 8 with Voice NT y/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n
Voice Over and Safari 2.0 NT NT NT NT NY NT y/n y/n y/n y/* y/n y/*
Lynx -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y -/y
Fangs for Firefox (*) n/n n/n n/n n/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n

Notes:

  • Fangs is rated y/n if the hidden material is displayed in the Fangs’ Screen Reader Output text, but not displayed in the Firefox visual display.
  • Test 10 in IE: text overprints next line. In Safari: VoiceOver cursor is visible.
  • Test 11: Text is not displayed, but space is reserved for the text block.
  • Test 12: IE and Safari display first letter of text, sometimes more.

Last updated: 5 June, 2005



Bad Behavior has blocked 26862 access attempts in the last 7 days.