Tab order in NVDA not working properly

Nov 22, 2021

I'm trying to design screen reader compatible content but I can't find a way to highlight or read the on screen text using NVDA. The up and down buttons on the keyboard don't seem to do anything. I've created a custom tab order but the content is still not being read. Any help you could offer would be much appreciated. 

Thanks!

1 Reply
Elizabeth Pawlicki

Hi Neil! If you'd like to share your slide or a portion of your course so we can take a look, that would be great! One thing I find is that often folks try to use the "tab" key to access content when trying to test with a screen reader, but need to be using the up/down arrow keys, because using Tab will skip text content, as it's not interactive. 

Here's how the keyboard navigation works using a screen reader:

Learners use their screen reader navigation keys (e.g., Down and Up arrows) to move through all text and interactive objects on the slide, listening to each item along the way.

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to jump from one interactive object to another, skipping text and images.

Press the spacebar or the Enter key to activate an interactive object, such as a button or hotspot.