From the course: Working and Collaborating Online

Understand accessibility options in Microsoft Edge

From the course: Working and Collaborating Online

Understand accessibility options in Microsoft Edge

“

- [Instructor] An important aspect of the web is that the information found there should be available and accessible to everyone equally. That's why both modern websites and modern web browsers include accessibility features and options to help people browse the web in the way that best suits their needs. For example, the Microsoft Edge browser includes options to assist people who may have vision or motor impairments better navigate the web pages they visit. You can zoom into a webpage by pressing the Control button and the plus sign on your keyboard. And that can make it easier to read the text and to see the images on the page. Similarly, pressing Control and the minus key lets you zoom out, which can make it easier to get a view of the entire page and orient yourself to its layout. Alternately, if you have trouble pressing multiple keys at the same time to use the zoom feature, you can also hold the Control key with one hand and turn the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out. And pressing Control-zero resets the page back to its default size. Another option for reading web pages is the Immersive Reader feature. This is only available or partially available on some webpages. If it's available on the page you're viewing, you'll find the Immersive Reader button here in the address bar of Edge. And as you can see, that displays the text on the page at a larger size and in a cleaner layout with fewer distractions. At the top of the screen, you can click on Text preferences to adjust how the text is displayed and the color of the background it appears on. So I can make the text larger and maybe change it to white on black. For some people, higher contrast themes like this make it easier to read text. I'll close the Immersive Reader view by clicking its button again. You can even have Edge read web pages aloud to you. This can be useful if you have difficulty reading long passages of text, for example. Just right-click on the text you want to have read to you and choose Read aloud and Edge will read and highlight the words as it speaks them. - [Edge] As people continue to turn to online learning to adapt, many people are investing in this highly strategic skill. While all levels within the organization. - [Instructor] And I can pause that with the controls at the top of the screen. You can also click voice options to adjust the speed it reads to you and the voice it uses. And for users who may have difficulty using a mouse when browsing, Edge includes several keyboard shortcuts. Press F6 on the keyboard to cycle through the elements of the browser like the tab bar, the address bar, the content of the web page, and so on. So for example, I have two other tabs open. So I can press F6 until I see the first tab highlight. And then use the arrow keys on my keyboard to navigate to the tab I want to view. And press Enter to bring it to the front. Or I can press F6 until the address bar is highlighted so I can type in the address of the website I want to visit. Pressing the Tab key lets you move forward through the elements on the page. That includes links, text fields on forms, and the address bar. And Shift-Tab lets you move backwards. And pressing Shift-F10 is like right-clicking on a selected element. These are just a few examples of the accessibility features built into Microsoft Edge that make it easier for everyone to browse and interact with webpages.

Contents