Getting VoiceOver to read a web page

By netvillage, 11 June, 2019

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

I have a very simple we page. When I go to it JAWS or other readers will start reading right away but Voice over will not read until I start swiping right. Is that by design? Or is there something wrong on the web page I created

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By tunmi13 on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 22:29

This is because on the Windows side of things, the screen can't always necessarily be explored by touch. On iOS however, you are able to do this.
However, if you do want to read a webpage, here's how.
1. Open Settings>General>Accessibility
2. Select the Speech button, the Speech option under Accessibility, not the one under VoiceOver settings.
3. Make sure Speak Selection is turned on, then return to the web browser.
4. If you want to only read the main contents on the page, check to see if the browser has a reader. If not, launch iOS's Safari app or another browser that supports it, like Firefox.
4.1. Select all the content on the page, and the action menu bar will show up. Find Speak Menu Item and select it, iOS's TTS voice will start reading the content aloud.
5. If you want to do this without reader, you may want to try the steps above, or look into the App Store for apps that do this, such as one called Web Reader, which is pretty accessible with VoiceOver.
In case of apps that have the same name, it's by Mahesh Thakre, or you can use this link.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/web-reader/id1406080037
Hope this helps.

By Yvonnezed on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 22:29

Try flicking down with two fingers when you're on the webpage. That should start continuous reading.

By netvillage on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 22:29

thanks for the timely response! I'm totally new at this and trying to develop some apps for the visually disabled. I assumed that the default behavior when you have voiceover on would be it would just start reading the page when you opened it in safari. That is, you hit GO and it tells the url and starts reading the page. I guess I was wrong in that assumption?

Pretty much. It'll tell you that the page is loaded, but what you do after that, read the whole page from the top, navigate by headers, flick through the page, is up to you.

Also, that two finger flick reads down from wherever you are, hence workflows like find the header for an article, flick past it and then read continuously from there.

By Kai on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 22:29

I believe voiceover does that by design, however there is a way to have it read everything on the page to you. There is a speech selection screen option available in the accessibility settings. To get there: Open settings app, go to general, accessibility settings, speech, it’s the second option on this screen. It allows you to swipe down with two fingers for continuous reading of the entire page. I hope this information helps and good luck.

By netvillage on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 22:29

thanks I appreciate it. and I confirm what you are saying after additional research, that is the default behavior.