Screen readers are like helpful assistants for people who are blind or have low vision. When you use a computer or a smartphone, these tools read out loud what's on the screen so that people with vision problems can understand and interact with websites, apps, and documents. They turn text, buttons, and other elements into spoken words making technology accessible to everyone.
The easiest way to understand is by seeing it in action
VoiceOver on MacBooks
VoiceOver is a built-in screen reader that speaks descriptions of items on the screen and can be used to control the computer using only your keyboard.
To enable VoiceOver on or off your Mac:
1. Keyboard Shortcut:
Press Command (⌘) + F5. For MacBook with Touch bar. If you don’t have the function keys showing automatically on the Touch Bar, Press Command (⌘) + fn + F5.
Pressing the same keys again can turn it off.
2. Use Siri: Say something like: “Turn VoiceOver on” or “Turn VoiceOver off”.
3. Manual Steps:
Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen.
Select "System Preferences."
Click on "Accessibility" in the System Preferences window.
In the left sidebar, click "VoiceOver."
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Check the box next to "Enable VoiceOver" or Check the box next to "Disable VoiceOver" to turn VoiceOver on or off.
Here are some useful VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts for Mac:
VO represents the VoiceOver modifier: Control + Option
VO + Right Arrow: Move to the next item.
VO + Left Arrow: Move to the previous item.
VO + Up Arrow: Start reading from the top of the window.
VO + Down Arrow: Start reading from the current position.
VO + Spacebar: Speak the item that's currently focused or click on things.
VO + Command + H: Navigation by heading.
Control: Stop VoiceOver.
VO + Shift + Down: Focus VoiceOver on the browser.
VO + V: Adjust speech velocity.
VO + U: rotor ( Menu full of options you are currently interacting with), Use the left and right arrows to navigate to different Menus.
For more details refer to VoiceOver User Guide