Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
16 results found in screen reader.
- ARIA Live Region (Live Region, aria-live)
- A section of a web page marked with the aria-live attribute that is dynamically updated and should be announced by assistive technologies when changes occur, even if the user's focus is elsewhere. Liv…
- Aural Glancing
- The auditory equivalent of visually glancing at a web page — the ability for screen reader users to quickly get a sense of what sections and content are available on a page without being forced to lis…
- Conversational Glanceability (Conversational Layout Support)
- A proposed design approach that uses conversational AI agents to provide blind and visually impaired users with the equivalent of visual glanceability—the ability to quickly scan and identify content …
- Explore by Touch (Touch Exploration)
- A screen reader interaction mode on touchscreen devices in which users drag their finger across the screen to discover and hear descriptions of interface elements beneath their fingertip. When Explore…
- Linearization (Content linearization, Serial presentation)
- The process by which screen readers convert two-dimensional visual page layouts into a single sequential audio stream, reading content in DOM order. Linearization strips away spatial relationships, vi…
- Mercator
- A research screen reader system developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology by W. Keith Edwards and Elizabeth Mynatt for the X Window System on Unix workstations. Mercator pioneered the approach …
- Microscopic Navigation (Within-Page Navigation, Page-Level Navigation)
- The process by which screen reader users navigate through individual elements and content within a single web page to find relevant information, as distinct from site-wide navigation between pages. Mi…
- NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access)
- A free, open-source screen reader for Microsoft Windows developed by NV Access. NVDA enables people who are blind or have low vision to use computers by reading on-screen text aloud through a speech s…
- Non-Visual Web Browser (Self-Voicing Browser, Audio Web Browser, Talking Browser)
- A web browser specifically designed for users who cannot see the screen, providing audio-based or haptic interfaces for navigating and interacting with web content. Unlike standard screen readers that…
- Page Linearization (Content Linearization, DOM Linearization, Source Order)
- The process by which screen readers and other assistive technologies present web page content as a sequential, one-dimensional stream of text, typically following the order of elements in the HTML sou…
- Screen Recognition
- A computer vision feature in Apple's VoiceOver screen reader that automatically interprets the pixels of a graphical user interface to identify and label interactive elements when applications have no…
- Skimming (Scanning, Speed Reading, Content Skimming)
- Skimming is a speed-reading technique in which a reader quickly glances through text to get the general idea or gist without reading every word. Sighted readers skim by scanning headlines, bold text, …
- Table navigation (Table browsing, Grid navigation)
- A set of screen reader commands that allow users to move between cells, rows, and columns within HTML tables, hearing row and column headers announced for context at each position. Effective table nav…
- TalkBack (Android TalkBack, Google TalkBack)
- The built-in screen reader for Android devices, developed by Google as part of the Android Accessibility Suite. TalkBack provides spoken feedback, vibration, and other audible cues to help blind and v…
- Verbosity (Verbosity Level, Screen Reader Verbosity)
- Verbosity refers to the level of detail that an assistive technology — particularly a screen reader or voice browser — provides when announcing interface elements and content. Most screen readers allo…
- Virtual Cursor (Browse Mode Cursor, Virtual PC Cursor)
- A navigation mechanism used by screen readers that creates a linearized, text-based representation of a web page through which users can move sequentially. Unlike a visual cursor that points to a loca…