Screen reader
A screen reader is software that reads a page aloud (or renders it as braille) for people who are blind or have low vision. JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver are common examples.
Screen readers work from the page's declared structure, not its appearance: they announce headings, links, and labels as written in the , and pronounce text using the language the page declares. Content that looks fine but is declared badly can be unusable through a screen reader, which is what many accessibility checks detect.
Learn more
- Tools and Techniques - the W3C WAI overview of screen readers and other assistive technology