Test accessibility using Screen Reader on desktop
You can test the accessibility of your website using the Screen Reader feature of BrowserStack Live on desktop. When you enable the Screen Reader feature on Live, the NVDA screen reader is used on Windows and VoiceOver is used on macOS in the background.
Supported operating systems and browsers
| Windows Version | Browsers |
|---|---|
| Windows 10 | Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Yandex, Edge (v17 onwards) |
| Windows 11 | Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Yandex, Edge (v17 onwards) |
| macOS Version | Browsers |
|---|---|
| macOS Sequoia | Chrome, Safari (v18) |
| macOS Sonoma | Chrome, Safari (v17) |
| macOS Ventura | Chrome, Safari (v16) |
| macOS Monterey | Chrome, Safari (v15) |
| macOS Big Sur | Chrome, Safari (v14) |
| macOS Catalina | Chrome, Safari (v13) |
Enable Screen Reader
Ensure that your system audio is turned on.
- Log in to the Live dashboard.
- On the Live dashboard, select the device combination to start your test session.
- On the Live toolbar, click Screen Reader.
- To enable Screen Reader, switch the Screen Reader toggle to on.
The Screen Reader feature starts providing the audio description for every action on the website including pointing, clicking, keyboard navigation, etc.
To configure NVDA settings, see Configure Screen Reader settings.
- Log in to the Live dashboard.
- On the Live dashboard, select the device combination to start your test session.
- On the Live toolbar, click Screen Reader.
-
To enable Screen Reader, switch the Screen Reader toggle to on.
The Screen Reader feature starts providing the audio description for every action on the website including pointing, clicking, keyboard navigation, etc.
After Screen Reader is enabled, VoiceOver Utility opens automatically. You can click on the browser on which you want to test your website to bring it to front.
To configure VoiceOver settings, see Configure Screen Reader settings.
Supported keyboard shortcuts for Screen Reader
The Screen Reader feature enables the NVDA screen reader on Windows and VoiceOver screen reader on macOS. You can use the keyboard shortcuts to perform various actions supported by NVDA and VoiceOver.
For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, refer to the following topics:
Configure Screen Reader settings
To configure NVDA settings, follow these steps:
- Enable screen reader.
- Press the
Insert + Nshortcut to open the NVDA menu. - Navigate to Preferences > Settings to open the NVDA Settings menu.
- In the NVDA Settings menu, navigate to the setting you want to configure.
You can configure settings related to speech, braille, vision, keyboard, and more. For more information about all available NVDA menu functionalities, refer to the NVDA user guide.
The following example video starts after step 2 and demonstrates how to change the language through the NVDA menu:
To configure VoiceOver settings, follow theses steps:
-
Enable screen reader.
The VoiceOver Utility window opens automatically once the screen reader is enabled. - Use the VoiceOver Utility to configure settings such as verbosity, speech, sound, and more. For detailed information on the VoiceOver Utility, refer to the VoiceOver user guide.
Do not close the VoiceOver Utility window during an ongoing session.
If you close it during a session, you must disable and re-enable the screen reader to open the VoiceOver Utility again.
It is recommended to keep the VoiceOver Utility running in the background while testing and bring it to the forefront whenever needed.
The following example video demonstrates how to bring the VoiceOver Utility to the forefront and change the VoiceOver language:
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