JAWS Freedom Scientific's screen reader and content aggregator
Submitted for your exploration. Download the JAWS Demo from Freedom Scientific and check out how you can use a computer without the benefit of sight. It is quite a trip to turn off your monitor and kick back, put your feet up, and listen to the evening news read to you.
Ok, so really it isn't that easy to use but it can be given time and practice.
JAWS has quite a learning curve that can be considered steep but if you take the time to learn to use it. You'll be amazed with yourself how many things you can do without seeing anything. You might also be quite astounded by how difficult it can be to use poorly organized web sites. USE those heading tags to break up posts. I know it is added complexity but it is very little compared to the difficulty folks using the software will have if you do not use them. Same with Alt tags for graphics and title tags for links. Ok that’s my small sermon. Please don't make me the lone man proselytizing vocally before deaf ears. Oh gosh. Must resist urge to comment on the need for more captioning for video on the web..... Bah I'm such a failure.
Freedom Scientific's website
Ok, so really it isn't that easy to use but it can be given time and practice.
JAWS has quite a learning curve that can be considered steep but if you take the time to learn to use it. You'll be amazed with yourself how many things you can do without seeing anything. You might also be quite astounded by how difficult it can be to use poorly organized web sites. USE those heading tags to break up posts. I know it is added complexity but it is very little compared to the difficulty folks using the software will have if you do not use them. Same with Alt tags for graphics and title tags for links. Ok that’s my small sermon. Please don't make me the lone man proselytizing vocally before deaf ears. Oh gosh. Must resist urge to comment on the need for more captioning for video on the web..... Bah I'm such a failure.
Freedom Scientific's website
posted by JC at 9:15 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the demo today and for the follow-up info and reminder about title attributes, alt attributes, and heading tags. By the way, users of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) have a built-in (but still rudimentary) screen reader application called Voice Over. Check it out via the System Preferences -> Universal Access menus.
I played with it awhile back but I was not impressed. Although Apple's model of pressing software developers to adhere to strict standards means that the Apple offering may one day surpass current MS Winduh solution.
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