Computers Today, June 16-30, 2001; The Net: The Web Finds Its Voice

People with sight limitations might have trouble using standard Web browsers-and those who are blind shouldn't even bother using them. But now, with the help of some improving technologies, there are some new browsers out there that help make the Net more accessible.

The Internet is being reckoned as an all-pervasive media-a massive information storehouse, a powerful communications tool, and a mega-entertainment channel. While most of us-students, professionals or businessmen-have used the Internet in one way or the other, there is still a community that remains largely bereft of its huge resources-the visually impaired or the blind. Imagine how difficult it would be for a person with sight limitations to read content on a Web site. Those completely blind would not even bother.

Says R. Shridhar, a blind PHD student at Delhi University, "While there are software and tools that helps us use PC applications at ease, there is nothing that allows for an easy interaction with the Internet. Whenever I have to check my E-mails, I have to take a friend along who can read me out the messages. Surfing alone is just impossible and meaningless." For the visually impaired community, the Net is nothing more than that. Quite a contrast to what the creators of World Wide Web envisaged. Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) director and inventor of the Web, says, "The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." But making Web companies develop content accessible to the visually disabled remains a monumental task.

Hear Here
Listed below are a few browsers that have been recommended by W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative:

BrookesTalk (www.brookes.ac.uk/speech/): This browser under development by Oxford Brookes University focuses on facilitating intelligent Web-searching. Features include speech output and screen-magnification. Demo version of the software is available.
EIAD (http://gippsnet.com.au/eiad/browser.htm): This browser from Sarsfield Solutions provides a touch-screen and simplified language interface. No demonstration is available.
EMACSPEAK (http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/): The speech-enabled environment for EMACS runs under UNIX or LINUX, includes full Web browsing capabilities through W3C. Uses a simple keyboard interface and free download is available.
HomePage Reader (http://www-3.ibm.com/able/hpr.html): This speech-based browser from IBM uses Internet Explorer as its engine and comes with simple keyboard interface based on number-pad. Demo version is available.
Marco Polo (www.webpresence.com/sonicon/marcopolo/): A plug-in for Netscape Navigator from Sonicon with speech and auditory icons. Features speech output, audio icons and simple keyboard interface. Demo version is available.
MultiWeb (http://mis.deakin.edu.au/multiweb/): Disability-specific browser developed at Deakin University. Free download available.
Sensus Internet Browser (www.sensus.dk/sib10uk.htm): A low-vision Internet browser from Sensus in Denmark. Supports speech output and Braille, and comes with special screen fonts.
Simply Web 2000 (www.econointl.com/sw/): A talking interface using the Microsoft Internet Explorer engine. Uses a simple keyboard interface and free download available.

The Web Access Initiative (WAI), a body under the W3C, has been working towards making the Web accessible to the disabled. According to studies, between 95 per cent and 99 per cent of the sites are inaccessible to the visually impaired. WAI has come up with several recommendations. These primarily include developing Web content that the blind could hear, and the use of tools like screen readers and browsers that can read the text aloud.

As far as creating content that the blind could hear, a useful tool that the W3C recommends is the so-called 'ALT tag', which is supported by most HTML browsers. Web programmers use ALT tags to assign brief text descriptions to images such as screen icons. With a text reader, a visually impaired user can get an audio description of the ALT-tagged icon and can navigate a site. Adding ALT tags to sites takes about 10 seconds of additional coding per image, experts say. WAI guidelines provide many such tools and tips.

Most content developers and Web companies are hardly aware of such guidelines. And even if they are, they rarely follow them. The National Federation of the Blind in the US had sued America Online (AOL) in 1999, demanding that AOL make its services available to the blind. And during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, an Australian sought a settlement from the Sydney Olympic Organising Committee for failing to make the Olympic Web site accessible to the blind. But suing or pressurising a few Web companies hardly helps. It is quite impossible to make the larger majority comply to the recommended standards. The better alternative would be applications-like Web browsers-that could read out content and are easy to navigate for the visually disabled.

There are many browsers available in the market today that could read the content of a Web site. Some of them are free on the Net. One such free browser that works quite efficiently is the recently launched "Talking Browser" from the WeMedia, a US-based media company (www. wemedia.com). When installed this browser takes on the settings, like connections or proxy server settings, from Microsoft's Internet Explorer and then serves as the actual browser through which you can surf the Net. Complete with large buttons and keystroke commands for easy navigation, the program 'speaks' the text within the browser.

When using its standard settings, WeMedia introduces itself, announces what mode it's in and what page you're on and then will read the entire page when you press the "speak" button. It's comforting to be constantly fed with information about where you are on the Net-and where you're going when you type in a new address or link.

For easy navigation you can use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to move from one link to another. The browser also offers a host of keyboard commands that will make the job a lot easier. WeMedia's talking browser runs on Microsoft Windows 9x, ME, 2000 or NT platforms. You'll need a Windows-compatible sound card and speakers. You will also need Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4 or above on your machine. The download time for the program on a 56K modem is approximately 40 minutes.

Similar to the WeMedia browser is the Fast Browser. In its standard form it's free, but to make the browser talk you will have to purchase the Pro version for an additional $29.95. Pro version also boasts of different browsing modes, free updates, security options, browser skins and no ads. Fast Browser is a lot less talkative than WeMedia. You have to ask it to tell you what it's doing or to read a page. Silence may be golden-but not in a talking browser. A talking browser should talk a lot on its standard settings, especially for those who are counting on its speaking abilities to learn exactly what's on the page. Fast Browser comes with two standard cartoon characters-Genie and Merlin-who speak in different tones of voice. You can also download "Peedy the parrot" and "vrgirl" for a more feminine voice. Fast Browser can translate from English to French, Spanish, Russian, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and two forms of Chinese-and vice versa.

Another useful browser for those with low vision is Simply Web 2000, which can be downloaded for free at www.econointl.com/sw/. Like WeMedia and Fast Browser it also uses Microsoft IE as its engine. Blind user who already have screen reader program like Simply Talker 98/2000 installed on their computer can take advantage of the speech friendly function the software offers.

Talking browsers use a number of additional programs to get a Web page to speak. For instance, Fast Browser adds Microsoft Agent (395 KB), Speech Engine (1 MB), Agent Character (1.6 MB) and Lernout & Hauspie's TrueVoice American English TTS engine (824 KB) during installation.

The voices offered in all the three browsers can be adjusted in many ways, such as by speed, pitch, type and volume. All do what they say they can do-although sometimes the voices are funnier than they mean to be. The voices available to the user sound very mechanical, although some are a little better than others. The standardised male voice settings for all the three browsers seem to be the best choice. Changing the pitch or speed makes the browsers' voices a little less understandable.

These browsers do have a problem with some words and brand names that contain individual letters or characters. For instance, C.B.I. would not be translated as smoothly as "C B I"-without periods between the letters. The browser's voice stops when it sees a period, so "C.B.I." sounds like, "C (long pause as if at the end of a sentence) B (end of sentence pause again) I." On the other hand, while saying something with an exclamation point-like the name Yahoo! when you browse to Yahoo.com. The exclamation mark tells the voice to add a lot of inflection on the first syllable, so it comes out, "YYYAAAA-hoo!"

The Big Blue too has gone a step further in making surfing more friendly for the visually impaired. It touts its new Home Page Reader 3.0 browser as talking Web browser that works with E-business Web sites-allowing many visually impaired and blind users to buy, sell and trade on the Web for the first time. It provides Javascript support for complete access to the Web and supports nine languages. Javascript support allows the software to speak aloud all information on a Web page, including conventional text, tables, graphic descriptions, text in column formats, data input fields, forms and image maps. This enables blind and visually impaired users to complete online forms for buying, selling or trading products and services over the Web. It combines the power of MS Internet Explorer and IBM's ViaVoice Outloud text-to-speech technology to present Web-based information in an integrated solution.

Talking browsers can also be useful for children who usually don't enjoy reading large amount of text. My Kidster is a talking browser especially designed for kids between the age of 4 and 12 years. It offers complete parental control over what their child can or can not view on the Web. If a Web page attempts to load that contains any of the words that you the parent select to block, then the browser is re-directed to a "sorry but this page is blocked due to content" Web page with a funny spoken message "leave me alone, I'm just a kid". When used in default mode, the browser is quite irritating as except a few kid sites like www.yahooligan.com, most of the site are blocked, including www.computers-today.com. The browser has a colourful theme with icons resembling cartoon characters as well as an animated parrot, which has the ability to speak the loaded Web page on demand.