Browsealoud

While looking at the website of a local housing association Impact Housing I noticed that they had a banner advertising they were "Browsealoud Enabled". What is this?

It is a system where the web page written content can be read back to you by a suitably enabled computer. The key points are

• A small client program is downloaded and installed on the local machine
• Nothing is installed at the website
• Website pays a yearly subscription
• How browsealoud works is controlled by the viewer

From the BROWSEALOUD website I copied the following information.

A considerable section of the population has difficulty reading printed or on-screen text.
Speech enabling electronic text is a proven means of improving comprehension and attracting these potential visitors to your web site.

Browsealoud is a subscription-based solution to speech enable website content.
It is unique in its delivery concept. The software is free to download and the information service provider pays an annual charge to speech enable their web site. Browsealoud enabling your web site will assist in the navigation of your site for the following sections of the population:

• Low literacy and reading skills.
• Where English is not the first language.
• Dyslexic Community.
• Mild visual impairment.

• Dual Colour Highlighting.
• Continuous Read Option.
• Multi-lingual capabilities.
• Reads accessible PDF and Flash.
• User defined settings.
• Webmaster pronunciations control.

WCDA webmaster comments

The contact at Browsealoud was very helpful when I contacted them (through an easy link on their website) and answered a few technical questions I had. They also quickly enabled the WCDA site to be readable for a short test period, due to finish end of October 2005.

An initial quick quote was too much for us, but when they found out more about the size of WCDA they offered to negotiate a more suitable price. This is under review.

Browsealoud is offered by the same company that supplies READ and WRITE software, TextHelp Systems Ltd, and indeed you may well recognise the voices used. It works quite well, just check that your machine is up to the specification suggested. ANY reading software puts a lot of strain on your computer. There is an extensive list of sites which are signed up, and if you are encouraging someone to enable their site, one of the greatest features is that they don't have to add anything extra to their webserver. However the reading program will respond best to sites that are well structured, don't use unusual menu systems or "fancy customised programming", and have comment tags enabled for pictures and menu buttons.

Ian Talbot Oct 2005

LINKS

www.browsealoud.com

www.texthelp.com

www.impacthousing.org.uk

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West Cumbria Dyslexia Association: Contact Doris Pearce 07863 329747

For technical queries about the website email to: