An example of division of labor

Hi,
Here's an example of division of labor between browser and screen reader.
Suppose that the user has been navigating through the web page using
keyboard navigation.  Each time the browser changes the focus, it would
be helpful if the screen reader could announce what kind of object
was just highlighted.

There are a couple of ways that the division of labor could be handled.
One is that the brower tells the screen reader where in the HTML object
the highlighted object is.  The screen reader then has to figure out
what the highlighted object is from the HTML object, get the appropriate
information about the object, convert the information to speech format
and then speak it.

The disadvantage to this is that each screen reader has to know about HTML
objects.  In adition, as versions change, the screen reader has to know
what version is being used.

A different approach is that the browser tells the screen reader what
is highlighted and provides the screen reader with a text string
describing the object, e.g. "link  -  updated sales report".  The screen reader
just says the words in the text string.  This division means that the screen
reader has to know much less of HTML.



A similar example is that the user wants to know more detail about the
highlighted object.  The user uses the "Info" menu item or short-cut key.
The browser then gathers the appropriate details and pops up an information
box.  The screen reader then speaks the message/information in the
information box.  In this way, the screen reader only needs to know
how to handle a message box and doesn't need to know about HTML
objects.


Does this type of division of work between browsers and screen readers
make sense?

Scott

Received on Wednesday, 11 March 1998 20:21:31 UTC