Web authors committed to Web Content Accessibility have long complained that there was no fully functional "real life" screen reader available at a reasonable price that they could use to check their web pages.

There are now numerous screen readers available. Visit Disabled World - Screen Readers for the Visually Impaired for a comprehensive listing accompanied by thumbnail evaluations. Some implementations are available as free trial downloads.

My own favorite audio screen reader is TextAloud which I find very easy to install, set-up and use. It is a Windows (including Vista) implementation and is available at NextUp.com as a 15 day free trial download.

TextAloud is a quick and easy download and installation and is ready to use after a Computer re-start. An excellent toolbar is automatically installed in Firefox and IE Browsers. I have found that setting Sentence Pause Interval to .1 seconds, and Paragraph Pause Interval to 1.0 seconds, using Options> TextAloud Options> Pre Defined Pauses from the toolbar menu to be ideal for readability. The free trial version does not include premium voice choices, but the speaking voice selections provided are really not bad. The voice of "Anna" is used for one of my installations, and that of "Sam" for the other. I prefer "Anna", but "Sam" is not bad. The computer sound card is used for voice transmission.

The speaking style and pronunciation may take a little getting used too, but the text is readily understood with a little familiarity. Authoring for audio screen reader usage requires some adjustments. Paragraphs are afforded the longest vocal pauses, followed by periods, semi-colons, commas, exclamation points, and question marks, all of which have approximately equal weight. There are no vocal pauses or indications for colons, dashes, parentheses, brackets, and quotation marks.

Audio screen readers are also invaluable for Web authors in proof reading web page content.

James

Isn't there something open source for this? Why should visually disabled people have to pay for "reading" websites?

There's money in disability.

Why should my mum have to pay for a stairlift?

Because that's material. There are no free stairlifts are there? There's tonnes of free software though..

Does Leopard come with any type of screen reading software for Safari? I remember Steve Jobs boasting about their new spoken voice utility in one of Apple's keynotes, and it is quite impressive.

There is a list of free screenreaders (some open source) with notations at Disabled World - Screen Readers for the Visually Impaired

James

I have updated the information relating to TextAloud on my Screen Readers page.

James

And you think it costs nothing to develop good software?

There are free screenreaders; but the most popular one (JAWS) is not free.

...not that I'm saying JAWS is good software.

I didn't say developing software doesn't cost anything, I just said there IS a lot of good free software, there are probably not so many good free stairlifts.. Chances of getting free software are bigger

Approximate current purchase prices of the three most popular screen readers:

JAWS: 455 GBP ($895)
Window-Eyes: 455 GBP ($895)
HAL: 404 GBP ($795)

James

A nice online reference:
BBC Edited Guide Entry: Screen-readers and Speech Synthesisers

James

True.

Although, given she needs a stairlift, you might think one would be provided by social services. Apparently that's not what they're for.

Sorry. Bit of a sore subject with me. There's loads of other examples of "disability as a business" I could go into, but I won't. The basic principle is this: charge rip-off prices to people who cannot avoid purchasing the product, because they depend on it for daily life.

On the other hand, other aspects of UK social services for the disabled are superb (free live-in carers, for instance). Perhaps I shouldn't whinge so much. God knows what it costs in America.

This post has been edited by MikeHopley: May 5 2008, 12:17 PM