Accessibility
What this site offers readers with impaired sight, hearing or dexterity, and how to switch on the tools your own device already has.
This page covers two things: what the site itself provides, and how to switch on the tools already built into your phone or computer. The second matters more — there is a limit to what a website can offer, and none to what your device’s own screen reader can.
What this site provides
Listen to the page. Every explainer opens with a “Listen to this page” button. Only the article itself is read — the heading, the summary and the body; menus, the footer and the “on this page” list are not. You can pause, resume and choose one of three speeds, and the paragraph being read is marked on screen. The button does not appear if your device has no voice installed for that language, because a button that does nothing when pressed is worse than no button.
Larger text. Beside it are an A− and an A+ button. The text grows through four steps, and your choice is remembered: the next page opens at the size you chose.
Light and dark themes. The moon button at the right of the header switches between them. If your device is set to dark, the site opens dark.
Keyboard use. You can move through the site without a mouse. As you tab, the element you are on is always shown with a visible outline. The first tab on any page goes to a “Skip to content” link, so you can drop straight into the text without hearing the whole menu first.
Text alternatives for images. Every diagram, illustration and endoscopic image on the site has a written description. For diagrams that description also carries every word printed on the picture, because a screen reader cannot read text that is part of an image.
Large targets. On a touch screen, every button and link is big enough to press comfortably with a finger.
What listening cannot do
The button reads the text; it does not navigate the site. To move between links, jump from heading to heading or fill in a form, you need one of the screen readers below. Listening is for a reader who would rather not install one — or who simply prefers to listen.
Your device’s own screen reader
Your phone and your computer already have a screen reader you can switch on without installing anything. It reads everything on the device, not only this site.
iPhone and iPad — VoiceOver. Settings → Accessibility → VoiceOver. To make it easy to turn on and off: Settings → Accessibility → Accessibility Shortcut → VoiceOver. After that, triple-clicking the side button (the Home button on older models) is enough.
Android — TalkBack. Settings → Accessibility → TalkBack. Most phones also have a shortcut: press and hold both volume keys together for a few seconds.
Windows — Narrator. Windows key + Ctrl + Enter. There is also NVDA, a free and widely used screen reader.
Mac — VoiceOver. Command + F5. On models with Touch ID, triple-pressing the Touch ID button also works.
Menu names vary a little between makes and versions; if you cannot find the path, typing the reader’s name into the search box in Settings is the quickest way there.
Making the text larger still
The A+ button on this site enlarges the text only. To enlarge the whole page — menus, images and all:
- On a computer: Ctrl and + (Command and + on a Mac). Ctrl and 0 returns to the original size.
- On a phone: Settings → Display → Font size. On an iPhone, Settings → Display & Brightness → Text Size.
If something does not work
If there is something on this site you cannot read, a button you cannot reach, or a word the read-aloud says wrongly, write to us from the Contact page. Telling us which device and which screen reader you use makes the problem far easier to find.
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