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Re: BrowseAloud

for

From: Jon Brundage
Date: Mar 23, 2011 2:51PM


Hi Birkir,

There really is not a way for assistive technologies to work independent of
the code base provided on a web site. For example, how would a screen reader
handle an image link that has no ALT attribute? How about a series of links
all worded as "click here"? Flash with no control labels? I'm not sure what
you are really saying in this post. Surely you do not mean to say "Code the
page any way you want and leave it to Assistive Technology to figure it all
out"?

Jon


----- Original Message -----
From: "Birkir R. Gunnarsson" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] BrowseAloud


> In general, and you can call me idealistic, I am extremely weary of
> solutions where the developer of a web page has to write a lot of
> special code to make the page accessible to a group of people.
> The ideal solution should always be to put the information in place
> that is necessary, and then leave it up to Assistive Technology
> developers to grab this information and convert it into a user
> interface that works for the target audience.
> I do not know exactly how a visually impaired user experiences the
> web, but I know what I need to do in order to allow a screen
> magnification software to get the info it needs. As new technology,
> new fonts and other improvements that benefit visually impaired users,
> becomes available I do not have to do anything to update my page, but
> if I implement the technology for a specific software for them I have
> to change the implementation and worry about these things. I think we
> put developers in a hopeless position if they have to understand all
> the disabilities there are and allow for special solutions for all of
> them on their web page.
>
>
> On 3/23/11, LSnider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> I guess I wonder why a sighted user (like me) wouldn't just use NVDA
>> instead
>> of this kind of utility (thank you for correcting me there)? That is what
>> I
>> meant by my comment, as it is still important to try and make your site
>> accessible (I see it as an all encompassing issue not just for one set of
>> users). I think I will contact them to ask about more details on what
>> code
>> has to be there...that may answer my questions about it.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> L
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 12:02 PM, J. B-Vincent < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>
>>> BrowseAloud (or, as it calls itself, "Browsyloud") is NOT a screen
>>> reader;
>>> it's a speech output utility for people who can see and use a mouse
>>> (e.g.,
>>> people with learning disabilities). BrowseAloud is free to the end user,
>>> but
>>> very costly for the web designer to implement.
>>>
>>> > On 3/23/11, LSnider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>> > > Hi All,
>>> > >
>>> > > Someone just sent this to me...The Library of Congress finally
>>> > > updated
>>> > their
>>> > > web site. They now have a speech enabled feature using BrowseAloud.
>>> > > The
>>> > info
>>> > > is at the bottom of this page:
>>> > > http://www.loc.gov/access/web.html
>>> >
>>> >
>>>