{"id":36823,"date":"2022-08-22T16:53:04","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T20:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=36823"},"modified":"2022-08-22T16:54:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T20:54:08","slug":"the-hidden-history-of-screen-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/22\/the-hidden-history-of-screen-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden History of Screen Readers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheon Han<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Blindness made working as a mechanical engineer difficult. When he consulted Florida’s Division of Blind Services, a counselor told him that computer programming was becoming a popular career for people who are blind.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

In 1987, they founded Henter-Joyce and soon released the first version of their screen reader for DOS. They called it JAWS, which stands for Job Access With Speech, but is also a playful reference to another DOS screen reader called Flipper, like the dolphin in an eponymous 1960s TV show.<\/p>\n

JAWS was not the only screen reader in the market, but it had original features like the dual cursor — one application cursor for navigating elements on the page and another that could move freely like how our eyes move around the screen. It also had built-in Braille support and a scripting language for users to customize their workflow.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

It was only in 2019 that an open-source alternative — NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) — finally overtook JAWS in popularity<\/a>. (JAWS took back its dominant market share in 2020, but just barely).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

See also: Upgrade<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n