As well as new features intended to help Microsoft compete with Apple and Google Android, such as an app store, Windows 8 is the first version since Windows 2000 to include radically enhanced access features.
Windows 8 and the slightly updated 8.1 marked a significant change from Windows 7 due to the introduction of features based on the use of a touch-screen device. While this led to significant improvement in the built-in accessibility features over Windows 7, many users found it difficult to use the touch-screen optimised environment using a traditional mouse and keyboard.
There are a number of new features that have been introduced by the iOS software update. These include:
As noted in our test of the developer preview,the Narrator screen reader has been significantly updated in its ability to read elements in Windows and in Internet Explorer. While people who are blind may still prefer a more advanced screen reader such as NVDA, one advantage of the updated Narrator is that it can be easily used on a touchscreen.
