Creating Installers using WiX Suitable For Screen Readers

Question

I've spent a lot of time fighting with WiX to make an installer that works well with a screen reader. I want the Windows Screen Reader to read the labels and control names out in a sensible and predictable manner, but my findings are that WiX is not very good at producing installers that "sound" right.

Are there best practices or samples that show how an installer, written in WiX, should be structured in order to be fully accessible.

Alternatively, what can I replace WiX with in order to make such an MSI? If I need to replace WiX then I will.

Answer 1

If by “Windows Screen Reader” you mean Narrator don’t waste your time. I’m a screen reader user and Narrator is only good enough to allow you to get enough speech to install a good screen reader. No screen reader users use it on a daily basis so testing with it is pointless. To test with a decent and free screen reader try NVDA found at http://www.nvda-project.org I’ve never had issues with installers if they were .msi files; I’ve actually extracted .msi files out of .exe installer packages in order to get passed the custom install code that was not accessible. I had good luck using Visual Studio 2005 to generate accessible installer programs so if your project is a .net app this could be an option.