WebAnywhere
WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reading program that can be accessed on any tech device that has internet access and a sound card. Once you have accessed this online program, you can type in the address to any website and the site’s text will be read to you. The newer WebAnywhere Beta software even allows the user to highlight important text. It should be noted that this free program is only used for reading information online and cannot read desktop software. There are specific keyboard commands that the user can press to help skip unimportant information.
I tried viewing this blog and my own personal website, maurameyers.com using WebAnywhere. I found the program extremely hard to understand. Maybe I have been spoiled by using other software recently, but I think WebAnywhere may be as difficult to listen to as the text would be to read for someone who is visually impaired. I have recently been working with students to use Kidspiration and Inspiration software at school. These programs are also capable of reading all text, and the voice is much more relaxed and easy to understand than WebAnywhere. The WebAnywhere reading voice seems to be a British male who does not annunciate many words correctly. It talks so incredibly fast at times that it can almost sound like a different language. The monotone computerized version of a human voice almost makes the sound of the text distracting. I would not recommend the use of WebAnywhere. While my blog and website are not necessarily "universally accessible" without the aide of a screen reading program, I think it could be considered accessible if a better program was used to read the text. Upon doing some Google research, it appears that Screenreader.net and JAWS are two options for internet accessibility.
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