[nfbcs] Should JAWS be used for web accessibility testing (wasRe: Opinions?)

[Nicole B. Torcolini at Home]

"In fact, I think the article's author is desperately trying to find a way 
to
lessen work for himself or, put another way, he is hoping he can be lazy and
not do the sort of in-depth testing that is truly required for good
accessibility testing."

Thank you, that was what I was thinking.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Should JAWS be used for web accessibility testing 
(wasRe: Opinions?)


> Jim:
>
> I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. Although I argue in another 
> message
> that there's no good way to include or exclude a particular screen-reader
> from accessibility or useability tests, I also think that excluding a
> particular screen-reader amounts to a value judgment even if it is not
> intended as such. Consider how irked Window-eyes users get when everyone
> tests their sites against JAWS. Why should JAWS users put up with the same
> sort of nonsense?
>
> In fact, I think the article's author is desperately trying to find a way 
> to
> lessen work for himself or, put another way, he is hoping he can be lazy 
> and
> not do the sort of in-depth testing that is truly required for good
> accessibility testing.
>
> I think the only way to do this right would be to specify that *every* 
> site
> should be put through a suite of tests by *human* *beings,* not automated
> tools, using the following screen-readers at a minimum: JAWS, Window-eyes,
> Hal, SuperNova, System Access, NVDA, Coco (sp) and VoiceOver (both on
> i-devices and on the Mac). It's a matter for debate whether or not one
> should specify note-takers such as the BrailleSense and BrailleNote family
> also to be tested.
>
> The only alternative I can see would be to try to get all screen-readers 
> to
> behave the same way and, my friends, that ain't a-gonna happen! (grin)
>
> Mike Freeman
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jim Barbour
> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 8:21 PM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
> Cc: NABS-L
> Subject: [nfbcs] Should JAWS be used for web accessibility testing (was 
> Re:
> Opinions?)
>
> I am in 100% agreement with the statement that JAWS should not be used
> for web site testing.  However, my reasons differ from the ones
> written in the article.
>
> It is not possible today to design and build accessible websites
> without performing usability tests.  Further, there are too many
> access technologies to test with them all.  So, the question is which
> AT should be used to test, and therefore drive improvements to, web
> site accessibility?  Whichever one gets chosen will have the
> opportunity to informally set standards around how certain types of
> content will be handled.
>
> Given this, I think JAWS is not the right answer.   Perhaps NVDA or
> SA to go or some other screen reader I'm not aware of could step in?
>
> Jim
>
> On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 07:21:31PM -0800, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home 
> wrote:
>> When doing some research for a project, I found the following article.
> What do people think?
>>
> http://clearhelper.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/stop-using-jaws-for-web-accessib
> ility-testing/
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