Is YouTube Accessible to Screen Readers?

YouTube – Tips for JAWS users:

YouTube home page – If you want to search for a specific video or topic, there is a search edit box at the top of the page.  As soon as the page loads, pressing the E key one time should take you to this edit box.

Each search result is a separate heading.  You can browse through these results by pressing the H key.

When you select a video, it will play automatically as soon as the new page loads.  There are different ways to access the video player controls.  You can bring up a list of buttons using your JAWS key + F3.  You can use this method to search for play, pause, mute, or any other buttons on the video player.  Pressing the tab key 3 or 4 times will also take you to the video player controls.  The slider feature on the video player allows you fast forward or rewind the video using your arrow keys.  You can navigate to this slider using your tab key.  You can also use JAWS key + F5 to bring up a list of form fields.

To access the video transcript, activate the “more actions” button.  You can search for this button by name.  If you are using your tab key or B key to jump to the next button on the page, note that the more actions button is after the video player.  You will have to browse through 4 buttons before you reach the more actions button.  When you activate the more actions button, press the tab key twice and select the open transcript option.

Navigate to the transcript heading.  The complete video transcript is below.  The timestamps can be turned on or off using the other “more actions” button after the transcript heading.