[NFBCS] A Web Access Curiosity

[Steve Jacobson]

With all of the things that prevent us from easily accessing websites, I am sometimes amazed at the new things I encounter.  I'm wondering if anybody here has thoughts on the following problem even though I've found a solution.

I have two different computers that I use to enter my time for my employer.  My employer still asks that we use Internet Explorer so that is the browser I am using for this.  Without having us go off on a tangent, I've used Chrome on this website and it works, but frankly, it actually does not work as well as Internet Explorer.  That isn't relevant here, though.

Here is the issue.  One of my computers works fine.  However, when I use the other computer, some links and text near the top of the page do not appear.  The entire remainder of the page is exactly the same as it is on the computer that works.  I am normally using JAWS, but I tried both Narrator and NVDA on this page and all three give the same results.  It doesn't seem to matter which cursor I use or scan mode or anything, the first three or four links and some associated text just don't seem to be there at all on one computer.  

I started checking settings, and I found that the Zoom level was set to 175% on the computer missing text and links.  I don't know how that would have happened since I do not use my computer visually, but so be it.  While I realize that a zoom level would cause less of the page to appear on the computers display, I didn't think that would affect what is in the virtual buffer, but I set the Zoom level to 100% just in case.  All of a sudden, the missing links and text appeared and both computers acted the same way on this particular web page.  My problem has been solved, and clearly I will now remember to check the zoom level.  However, I am left wondering what other parameters may affect what is displayed that can explain why some people can use a site without a problem while others have difficulty?  Since I do not believe that what appears on the screen likely affects the virtual buffers used by screen readers, I am thinking the website is displaying differently based upon what settings it finds.  I know that there are sites, for example, that display differently on small screens.  Is it possible for a website to know the zoom level and render differently taking that into account, or is something else happening in this case?  At least screen reader behavior seems to be consistent in this particular case.  

I wonder if there might be advantages to reducing the Zoom Level more to make sure that as much is on the screen as possible.  Of course, it occurs to me that putting too much on the screen might cause a website to not display text labels that are helpful to us.  <smile>  Any thoughts on all of this?  At the very least, this has implications for those having low vision that use the Zoom Level to make text more visible.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

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