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Re: screen reader open source?

for

From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Nov 21, 2006 3:10PM

> And you can buy a Mac Mini for less than that; Mac OS X (since 10.4)
> includes a screen-reader (VoiceOver) by default. I think Alistair at
> Nomensa did a review a little while ago.

I've been meaning to do an update to that, there were a couple of things
that aren't quite as hard as I thought. I got halfway there with this:
http://alastairc.ac/2006/08/the-potential-of-voiceover/

But I need a little more time than I have right now.

It has a lot of potential, from what I can tell the approach Apple have
taken is solid and makes the step of creating accessible applications
much easier for other developers. However, there are a few 'required'
applications for some people (work wise) that aren't accessible (e.g. MS
Office). iTunes is another sore point.

As a not-very-often user, the experience is much nicer with Voiceover
than Jaws, mostly because of the smoother voice and the stability. The
voice aspect probably isn't much better for an experienced user who
listens to it quicker than I do, but the next version is supposed to be
optimised for that.

If it picks up on structural code in HTML, and gets (or adds) support
for some required apps, it will be a contender, especially at that
price.

Kind regards,

-Alastair

--
Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience
t. +44 (0)117 929 7333 | m. 07970 879 653

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