Microsoft and Accessibility features of IE SP2

Kelly Ford of Microsoft posted information on the Accessibility features of Internet Explorer Service Pack 2, which introduces new security features that complicate the working of Assistive Technology devices. She offered work-arounds for screen reader users.

Nektar, a screen reader user, posted his suggestions for accessibility improvements to IE. He requested access to the toolbar, opposed the "Find as you type" feature and requested care in creating new versions of IE that will break existing screen reader software.

He stated that "Find as you type" will break screen reader controls. I had been aware that the Find as you type feature is not accessible because of refresh issues that prevent the screenreader from being able to confirm what is being typed without losing the data entered., but hadn't considered it conflicting with the keys in JAWS. Nektar is not a JAWS user, but it will be important to test this feature in the new version of JAWS.

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