Kamis, 15 Januari 2015

Two Good Tools for The Visually Impaired Learners

Posted by on 21.02
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January 16, 2015
In today’s post I am sharing with you two interesting web tools that can help the visually impaired navigate and read the web. VoiceOver and JAWS are two applications that work on Mac and Windows respectively.

1- VoiceOver

Apple released this application to help people with vision problems find their way around their Macs. It actually tells users what is on the screen and guides them through the different menu options on the screen. It also uses advanced technologies to deliver natural-sounding speech and can be controlled through a set of gestures. VoiceOver includes an on-screen braille panel which displays both braille and a plain-text version of the descriptions spoken by VoiceOver, so sighted users can follow along.

2- JAWS

JAWS, which stands for Job Access With Speech, is a screen reader that works on Windows. JAWS helps the visually impaired use their computers and navigate their mouse easily. It provides speech and Braille output for several application running on Windows. Other features provided by JAWS include:

  • Works with Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and much more
  • Supports Windows 8, including touch screens and gestures
  • Fast information look-up at your fingertips with Research It
  • Access any image on the screen that includes text with Convenient OCR
  • Save time with Skim Reading
  • The only Windows screen reader to provide contracted Braille input from your Braille keyboard