Top 3 Screen Readers in the US
Published: Jun 21, 2007
Screen-readers are software packages that translate the screen information to the user via auditory feedback. Only a few of the programs are successful in accomplishing the task.
The screen-reader also serves as a mouse pointer in navigating the screen using keyboard command, without selecting anything, to be able to read text, icons, menu options, buttons and symbols. Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) is a vital component that tells the screen-reader that the object selected is a “button,” a dialogue box, a hypertext link, a menu, or other on-screen feature.
The screen reader essentially becomes the blind users’ interface to the application. For example, when a word processing document is opened, it reads the document title, application name and cursor position, and tells any additional information, such as the existence of headers and footers, and what they say. Only then, and on command, will it read the whole document.
The three main screen-readers in North America are (in order of market share) JAWS, Window-Eyes and Hal, which together sell around 3000 yearly. Before choosing any of three screen readers, it would best to go through the list of pointers from the American Foundation for the Blind that are available on there website.
