Testing with a Keyboard and Screen Readers

Automated tools told you what Ticketly is missing. A keyboard and a screen reader tell you what it is like to use. This is the part of testing that most teams skip, and it is the part that finds the problems people actually complain about. You don’t need to become an expert screen reader user. You need about fifteen commands and a habit of listening carefully.

The keyboard pass

Start every manual test without a mouse. Go from the address bar to the end of the page with Tab, then back with Shift+Tab, and at each stop ask:

1. Can I reach it? Every control a mouse can use must be reachable.
2. Can I see it? Focus is clearly visible and not hidden behind sticky bars.
3. Is the order logical? Focus follows the reading order of the page.
4. Does it work? Enter follows links and activates buttons; Space activates buttons and toggles checkboxes; arrow keys work inside radios, tabs and menus.
5. Can I get out? Escape closes dialogs and menus, focus returns to the opener, and nothing traps focus.

On Ticketly, this pass alone found the positive tabindex, the invisible focus, the div button and the modal that left focus behind, before anyone opened a screen reader.

Which screen readers to test

In WebAIM’s 2026 survey, the most common primary desktop screen readers were JAWS (55.0%) and NVDA (32.9%), both on Windows, followed by VoiceOver on macOS (6.5%). On mobile, 72.2% of respondents use VoiceOver on iOS, well ahead of TalkBack on Android (29.5%). A practical test matrix:

• NVDA with Chrome or Firefox on Windows. NVDA is free and open source, and behaves closely enough to JAWS to catch most problems.
• VoiceOver with Safari on macOS, built in.
• VoiceOver on iOS for anything people use on phones, which at a festival is almost everything.

NVDA essentials

NVDA has two modes. In browse mode, NVDA reads the page with a virtual cursor and single letters jump between elements. In focus mode, keys go to the control, so you can type in a field. NVDA switches automatically when you enter a field, and NVDA+Space switches by hand. The NVDA key is Insert by default; you can also enable Caps Lock as the NVDA key, which is handy on laptops.

Add Shift to any single-letter command to go backwards.

VoiceOver essentials (macOS)

Turn VoiceOver on and off with Cmd+F5. The VO keys are Control+Option. Before you start, open Safari’s settings and enable “Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage”; otherwise Tab skips links in Safari and you will report false bugs.

On iOS, swipe right and left to move between items, double-tap to activate, and rotate two fingers on the screen to open the rotor.

What correct sounds like

Every interactive element should be announced with a name, a role and, where relevant, a state or value. Listen for the missing piece:

Also listen for what doesn’t happen: no announcement after adding a ticket, nothing said when a dialog opens, an error that appears silently.

Writing it up

A finding a developer can fix in one go has six parts:

Title:    Quantity stepper buttons have no accessible name
Where:    /events/friday, Friday pass card
Steps:    NVDA + Chrome. Tab to the "−" button after "Quantity".
Actual:   NVDA says "button". Same for "+".
Expected: "Fewer Friday passes, button" and "More Friday passes, button".
WCAG:     4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). Severity: high (blocks purchase).

You now have every tool you need: automated scans, a keyboard and two screen readers. The final lesson puts them together into a complete audit of Ticketly, and into habits that keep it accessible after you leave.