The features of an accessibility overlay will depend on what you want it to do. Overlays can be designed to alert people with sight loss. For example, they are approaching the edge of a page, so they don’t need to use the scroll bar, or their screen reader will say out loud “edge” as they near it. Different overlays would be used to direct people with sight loss around a website, for example, to inform them that certain content is an advertisement or that the borders are solid.

An overlay should also describe things like color contrast, font size, and color schemes in order to help users with visual impairments”.” The features of an overlay will depend on what you want it to do. Overlays can be designed to alert people with sight loss, for example, that they are approaching the edge of a page, so they don’t need to use the scroll bar, or their screen reader will say out loud “edge” as they near it. Different overlays would be used to direct people with sight loss around a website, for example, to inform them that certain content is an advertisement or that the borders are solid.

An accessibility overlay (also known as an “accessibility widget”) can be thought of as a piece of software or hardware that provides important information regarding the functionality of the computer system to people with disabilities, including those who are blind or visually impaired. These overlays/widgets can also be called usability overlays.

Different types of overlays include:

Sighted Assistant: An example of this would be a sighted assistant that works on the screen reader Jaws and provides information about where you are in software such as Microsoft Word. These assistants rely on information provided by the operating system (e.g., Windows), not by the software itself (e.g., OpenOffice). They use only basic functions offered by the OS and don’t interfere with any one program or document format. Sighted assistants can be useful for users who work primarily within one application and authoring environment – e.g., someone working in MS Office might want to use assisted browsing features for word processing, but it’s unlikely they’d want as much assistive technology outside of word, so a separate software would be needed.

Accessible Overlay: Accessible overlays are those which provide information from applications to screen readers and other assistive technologies. They work at the level of the operating system to communicate with applications rather than just within a single application.

Keyboard Navigation Overlay: A keyboard navigation overlay is a transparent layer on the screen that shows the user where they are at any given time by highlighting certain keys or showing a cursor. In order to use them, users need to be able to see the screen and have some manual dexterity of their hands.

Adaption of Screen Reader Overlay: This type of overlay is capable of adapting a screen reader to the user’s settings. It allows specific program functions, such as navigating between objects or reading text from different content types that are accessed by pressing different keys on the keyboard.

Text-To-Speech Overlay: These overlays speak out loud the information on the screen. They work with all kinds of software and web-based programs, including browsers.