Screen readers and IE 7
Hello, I run a website and we have spent a lot of time making it screen reader compliant. It loads fine on every imaginable browser, except Internet Explorer 7. Any ideas anyone?Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share: 
Hi Belle,
Good old IE7 eh?
What, precisely, is the problem? A link to the site would also help us to give relevant advice.
Cheers!
Share:
Thanks for your interest. The site is www.sceneandsound.co.uk - the problem first came to my attention when I used a consultancy firm to check the usability of the site (for screen readers) - I quote. "Initially there were site loading issues with IE7. We confirmed with other screen reader users establishing that with a screen reader those running IE7 on XP systems could not open the homepage." IE 8 is fine as is Mozilla Firefox.
I am not a screen readers user myself, so all this is third party reporting.
Thanks again, it would be good to sort it out.
Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share:
Hi Belle, and welcome to the forum
I'm surprised that your consultancy firm told you about a problem without explaining the cause or offering a solution!
Anyway, I notice the site has loads of Javascript which could be causing problems. I don't have access to IE7 just now but I'll try to have a look tonight when I'm on another computer which does.
James Coltham - Local gov web manager by day, web and accessibility blogger at lunchtime, freelancer by night. Tweets at @prettysimple.
Share:
Thanks, James. That would be good and very good of you!Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share:
Just had a look at it. I get quite a few Javascript warnings when visiting the site, most relating to shadowbox.js, sizzle.js and jquery.js - maybe the root of the problem lies there?James Coltham - Local gov web manager by day, web and accessibility blogger at lunchtime, freelancer by night. Tweets at @prettysimple.
Share:
Why would that just affect IE7 and not Firefox or IE8? And what should I ask the designer to do about it?
Sorry, James, I am a real novice and very, very grateful for your advice.
With huge thanks.
Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share:
Sorry Belle, just realised I've got IE8, not IE7... 
Anyone using IE7 able to have a look and see what's up?
James Coltham - Local gov web manager by day, web and accessibility blogger at lunchtime, freelancer by night. Tweets at @prettysimple.
Share:
IE7 keeps crashing when trying to load the site - no idea why unfortunately.
As James has said, there are a lot of Javascript problems with site. Plus, there are an awful lot of stylesheet imports! Why not have one stylesheet, with the imports being carried out in the stylesheet itself.
Another point - the left-hand navigation bar is fixed. You can't see the last 2 links at 1024 x 768 resolution or below.
HTH!
Share:
Thanks Gary - I have passed on your comments to the site designer ... this is so useful - I will get there eventually!
Meanwhile, if anyone has any idea about the IE7 problem, do let me know. The original consultant blamed Microsoft.
Thanks again to all ...
Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share:
Good example of an overcomplicated front end development.
The bug will be related to z-index and absolute positioning and happens only with IE7. Try adding a z-index even to relative div's and then try Z-index 99999 on the ul of the list.
Remove all your tab indexes as there is no need to confuse the natural order of a website by changing the tab order. For example just why is the menu last and to get to it we have to navigate all the way past the footer links? You already have a jump to content link so there is no need to put the menu last.
Johan De Silva / Portfolio
Share:
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. This was an early attempt - so hopefully we'll get some cash togethre and re-develop with all your suggestions (very helpful) in mind!
Thanks you all so much - it has been eyeopening! And really helpful.
Making live theatre more accessible to Blind and Deaf people.
Share: