Comments on: Access All Areas

By: redux

redux — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

I'm not entirely sure of the answer to that question, but I do remember my Amiga doing a pretty fair text-to-speech in about 1984. Obviously screen readers are more than a voice, but how much more?

however, did you amiga offer voice support for the entire OS, letting you use the workbench, open applications, etc with full voice support?
that's the kicker with proper screenreaders. they provide a layer that sits above the entire operating system. windows, because of its MSAA framework, lets applications such as JAWS hook right into its innards at a fairly fundamental level.
yes, JAWS is pricey, no doubt about it. but comparing it to simple text-to-speech is like comparing an entire public transport infrastructure with a lambretta motorcycle...
if all you're after is testing webpages, FreedomScientific ConnectOutloud is for you (and is built on exactly the same core web browsing component as the full version of JAWS)...at a price that's right.

By: klink

klink — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

While not a true alternative to using JAWS, have you tried the free Firefox plug-in called Fangs Screen Reader Emulator?
http://www.standards-schmandards.com/

It is unfortunate that Freedom Scientific doesn’t offer some inexpensive way for developers to test that their sites work with their readers. As mentioned by redux above, ConnectOutloud seems to at least bring the price in range for a design studio that wishes to go that route.

By: AlexW

AlexW — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

if all you're after is testing webpages, FreedomScientific ConnectOutloud is for you (and is built on exactly the same core web browsing component as the full version of JAWS)...at a price that's right.

Thanks for pointing that out, redux. While $249 certainly isn't a throw-away amount for most companies, at that price it does start to present an option.

By: Mike W.

Mike W. — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Have you seen Texthelp Systems ScreenReader. It is a great product and only costs $39.00 for a download (full version) or $59.00 for a shipped disk (full version).

By: busy

busy — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

Opera 8 Beta has a screenreader, and it’s free. I’ve had a difficult time trying to make it work though, because you have to talk into the microphone to get it going, and it doesn’t do very well when guessing your voice commands.

By: clintonG

clintonG — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000

I worked in Social Services long enough to know a disability pimp when I see one.

FreedomScientific -- are disability pimps -- imagine demanding nearly a thousand dollars to enable a blind person to enjoy some of the same benefits as sighted persons while the company presents itself as a vendor who fulfills a compassionate need (what a farce).

Freedom Scientific not only pimps the blind they are pimping you and I as it is we that pay to enable the pimps to remain at the trough.

IMO what we should all be doing -- all of us -- if we care to do so and acknowledge the veracity of my contention regarding disability pimps -- is petitioning company's such as Microsoft and IBM who already have investments in assistive technology.

Microsoft may be especially receptive to such pleas as Windows includes the fundamentals already. Furthermore, Melinda Gates has a soft spot for humanity that has rubbed off on her husband who has been doing a lot of giving lately.

Write to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [1] and suggest how wonderful it would be if Microsoft developed a no-cost screen reader solution to put the disability pimps out of business.

Perhaps some of us could work together to apply for a grant in this regard. I can be reached at METROmilwaukee.com.

[1] http://www.gatesfoundation.org/