The folks at “A List Apart” have published a test they did to see how JavaScript really interacts with assistive technology.
A few points:
- Vanilla - by this they mean the plain browser without any add on assistive Technology
- JAWS is the most widely spread screenreader, followed I think by Connect Outloud
- Note how many No you will find in the first test. This is why I say JS is to much a risk for a web site when other languages can do things better.
I was surprised by how much support is there for forms, Yes falling not to far from No support. However many of those No’s are very important indeed. - Keep in mind these are Browser-based screenreaders. It is a software package that sits on a standard browser piggyback. This way much of what the browser does understand from the JS, it feeds the screenreader the finished product. Some screenreaders, especially some older models are text based and do not support JS at all.
- Worth noting is that Firefox is included with three screenreaders. 1 year ago screenreaders only worked with IE, so Firefox is putting the pressure on IE in this market as well.