Re: Screen reader support for browsers

scripsit Jim Thatcher:
 
> I would be interested in understanding how you believe your web access would
> be changed if your screen reader supported a different browser, say Opera. I
> assume you would want the same handling of the page that JFW now provides
> under IE through parsing the HTML. So what is going to be different?
 
Perhaps one is using older hardware which lacks the `horsepower' to run
a modern MSIE (which needs a _lot_ of resources), but could easily run
Opera with good performance.  Perhaps one likes the idea of Opera's
tabbed interface, which allows having several pages open with only one
window, the user being able to switch between them with CTRL-TAB without
having to wade through other Windows applications' windows in an
ALT-TAB.  This is a real boon when one has a slow network and pages take
many minutes to load.  Perhaps one likes the ability to manage privacy
concerns more closely than MSIE allows, or wants the ability to control
popup windows, etc.  Or perhaps one is Norwegian, and wants to support
local small business.  There are a multitude of reasons one might want
to use a browser other than MSIE.

Browsing the Web using even the best aural interface is not an exercise
for the impatient.  Anything that can be done to make that task easier
is going to be very welcome indeed.  On the other hand, throwing up
further limitations -- like only being able to use one browser, when
sighted users have so many to choose from -- is doing visualy impaired
users a great disservice.

-- 
Thanasis Kinias
Web Developer, Information Technology
Graduate Student, Department of History
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A.

Ash nazg durbatulūk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulūk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

Received on Friday, 19 April 2002 12:22:59 UTC