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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Unfortunately, I can’t share any of the recordings of our user testing sessions, but there are hundreds of different issues. Screen reader users tend to ignore anything they don’t understand, otherwise
tasks would take far too long. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">In theory, they can read words and phrases letter by letter or word by word if they don’t understand them, but in most cases it’s not worth the effort. Likewise, they could use AI tools to identify
the contents of images, but they have to decide if it’s worth the time it takes. Speed usually takes priority, and they learn to live with the resulting errors. This doesn’t usually matter, but there are obviously times it has very bad consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">If you’re going to record screen reader users, one of the skills you need to develop is to identify when they should have encountered a problem they didn’t mention. You need to carefully probe them
on the point without letting them realise what you’re doing. Beware of users who tell you every little thing – they are probably thinking as a tester, not as a user.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Whether you’re using the screen reader yourself or working with a screen reader user, the simplest way to record a session is to use Zoom or Teams. They give you the option to save the recordings
locally, but if you record to the cloud, it’s much easier to give other people access to them. At least it is with Zoom. Teams is sometimes locked down so no one outside your organisation can view the recordings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Obviously, you have to share the screen to make the recording, and you must also share the computer sound when you do this. Zoom and Teams both have a checkbox for this on the screen sharing dialog.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">We used to have our own UX lab, but we do all our user testing this way now. The main difficulty is that recording screen readers on mobile devices is stupidly difficult because the Zoom mobile app
is a piece of garbage. If you record ZoomText, you get the unmagnified version regardless of what was on screen at the time. If you want to record a screen magnifier, you need to use Windows Magnifier, which gets recorded correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">If you’re recording with NVDA screen reader, make sure all the focus indicators are turned on so you can see where the actual and virtual focuses are. This is now a feature in NVDA 2025, but you
used to need a separate plug-in in earlier versions. Without the focus indicators, it can be difficult for observers to understand what they are hearing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Whoever is using the screen reader needs to keep a constant commentary explaining what they are going to do (including which keys they are going to press), what they expect to happen and what actually
happened. Most people are terrible at this at first and often go silent after a while. They also tend to only talk after they have done something, so people watching the recordings have to rewind to make sense of what they previously saw.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Finally, be aware that people often did not do what they say they did and they misunderstand what happened. If they suggest a solution, it’s very often going to be wrong. There’s no doubt they had
a problem, but you need to investigate to identify the real cause and the real fix.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Steve Green</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Managing Director<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Test Partners Ltd<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">From:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"> athen-list <athen-list-bounces@mailman22.u.washington.edu>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Matson, Eric (ecmatson@uidaho.edu) via athen-list<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 01 December 2025 23:46<br>
<b>To:</b> Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list@u.washington.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Athen] Video showing screen reader and common page errors?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt">Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt">Does anyone have any videos showing common errors encountered by screen reader users? Bad link text, bad / missing image alt text, weird emojis etc. Our Faculty have asked for examples of what
happens when they format things wrong, so figured I’d ask here before figuring out how to screen record with a screen reader.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt">Anyone have any tips for screen recording with a screen reader? I haven’t looked into the best way to do it, so just looking for anything that might be a snag.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Eric Matson | Assistant Director - Assistive Technology & Accommodation Operations
</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Center for Disability Access and Resources</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Division of Student Affairs</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">The University of Idaho</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Phone: 208.885.6307 | <a href="mailto:ecmatson@uidaho.edu%7C" title="mailto:ecmatson@uidaho.edu%7C"><span style="color:#0078D4">ecmatson@uidaho.edu|</span></a> </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://teams.microsoft.com/l/chat/0/0?users=ecmatson@uidaho.edu"><span style="color:#0563C1">Message
me on Teams</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Bruce M. Pitman Center 127</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Fax: 208.885.9404</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Campus Zip: 4257<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Treasurer – Idaho Partnership on Higher Education and Disability </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black">Pronouns: He / Him / His</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This communication, including any attachments, is intended solely for the entity or individual(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please notify
me immediately and delete this message. Any disclosure, copying, distribution, or other use of the contents of this message is prohibited.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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