Bought a $500 screen reader for testing and it changed how I see my own work

I remember a few years back, I thought checking color contrast was enough for accessibility. Then I spent about $500 on a JAWS license for my work computer, just to test our web forms. Hearing that robotic voice struggle with a button I coded was a real wake-up call (it kept reading 'submit' as 'sub-mit'). Now I run it on every project before we go live. Has anyone else had a tool show them a blind spot they didn't know they had?

3 comments

3 Comments

keith_henderson5d ago

That "robotic voice struggle" you mentioned hits home. I had a similar moment testing a site with a screen magnifier. Watching someone try to click a tiny "close" button that looked fine to me was brutal. It made me realize I was only checking for people who can't see at all, not people who see things differently. Now I zoom every page to 400% as part of my routine.

the_brooke5d ago

Zooming to 400% is such a REAL eye-opener, I had the same shock with keyboard navigation.

schmidt.kim3d ago

What about testing with just a mouse? I forced myself to navigate a whole checkout using only a trackpad, no keyboard at all. I got stuck for ten minutes on a dropdown that wouldn't open without hovering. It was a basic thing I never even thought to check. Now I make sure every interactive element works on both click and key press.