The Lab Rubric specifies that screen reader software should provide descriptive text for most user interface elements in the development environment, and that interface elements without tab stops or other keyboard shortcuts are still readable.
There is additional information available on screen reader software. Most of the below tests were run using the NVDA screen reader.
| Development Environment | Languages | Accessible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| bash shell | bash script, C/C++ (via gcc) | Yes | Some experimentation will be necessary to determine the best solution for a particular student. bash is a text-based program that runs in a terminal window, such as xterm, GNOME terminal, PuTTY terminal window, and several others. GNOME terminal in Linux is compatible with the Orca screen reader, and MinGW under Windows is compatible with the NVDA and JAWS screen readers. xterm under Linux and cygwin under Windows are not compatible with ORCA or NVDA, and require the use of Linux Speakup. PuTTY running on a Linux system requires Speakup, but PuTTY running on a Windows system will work with JAWS or NVDA. |
| Bloodshed | C/C++ | Yes | |
| BlueJ | Java | Yes | BlueJ is compatible with screen reader software, but requires Java Access Bridge to be enabled (it comes packaged with Java, but is disabled by default). |
| CeeBot | CeeBot | No | |
| Chrome | Javascript | Partial | Chrome is compatible with some screen readers but not all. Note that the linked page claims that Chrome is compatible with NVDA, but I had some problems accessing Chrome content with NVDA that I didn't have with Firefox or Internet Explorer. It is also not compatible with Orca under Linux. |
| Dreamweaver | HTML/CSS/Javascript | Yes | Adobe claims screen reader support for DreamWeaver. However, this hasn't been thoroughly tested at PCC at the present time. |
| Eclipse | Java, C/C++, PHP | Yes | |
| Flash | ActionScript | Partially | Some user interface elements in the Flash development environment are screen-reader compatible, but many actions require the use of the mouse and screen, and making the requested output accessible requires significant additional work. |
| GameMaker | GML, GameMaker | Partially | Some user interface elements in GameMaker are screen-reader compatible, but many actions require the use of the mouse and screen, and making the requested output accessible requires significant additional work. |
| gcc/gdb | C/C++ | Yes | When used with a compatible terminal window (see the notes for "bash shell" above), gcc and gdb will be accessible. |
| Internet Explorer | Javascript | Yes | |
| LabVIEW | LabVIEW | No | Not compatible with JAWS or NVDA. |
| LaTeX | LaTeX | Yes | If used with a screen-reader compatible text editor, then LaTex will be screen-reader compatible. Please see the Accessible Content Creation in Mathematics Subject Area Study for more details. |
| MS Access | Access | Yes | |
| MS SQL Server Management Studio | SQL | Yes | |
| Notepad | HTML, CSS, Javascript, Java, PHP, etc. | Yes | |
| Notepad++ | HTML, CSS, Javascript, Java, PHP, etc. | Yes | |
| Oracle SQL Developer | SQL | Yes | Oracle SQL Developer is compatible with screen reader software, but requires Java Access Bridge to be enabled (it comes packaged with Java, but is disabled by default). |
| PuTTY | bash script, C/C++ | Partial | Compatible with JAWS or NVDA under Windows, but not compatible with Orca under Linux. |
| Scratch | Scratch | No | |
| Unity | UnityScript, Unity | Partially | Some user interface elements will be screen reader accessible, but many critical activities require the use of the mouse and screen. |
| Visio | Visio | Partially | Some user interface elements will be screen reader accessible, but many critical activities require the use of the mouse and screen. |
| Visual Studio | C/C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET | Yes | Some tools, such as the Forms Designer tool, may not be fully compatible with screen reader software. |
| XCode | C/C++ | Yes | Some tools, such as the Interface Builder tool, may not be fully compatible with screen reader software. |
| xterm | bash script, C/C++ | No | xterm is not compatible with Orca. It may work with Speakup under Linux. I have tested running MobaXterm on my Windows machine, and using PuTTY to open an xterm window on my Windows machine, but NVDA doesn't read the contents of that window either. |