reading the web - call scotland · 2014-08-18 · some programs (e.g. accessibar, claroread,...

Reading the Web:Using a Web Browser with Text-to-Speech

Support for People with Reading Difficulties

CALL Information Sheet 2

June 2009 (updated August 2009)

Communication, Access, Literacy and LearningThe University of Edinburgh

Paterson’s Land, Holyrood RoadEdinburgh EH8 8AQTel: 0131 651 6235Fax: 0131 651 6234

Email: [email protected]://www.callcentrescotland.org.uk

£1.00

CALLScotland,2009 1

Web Browsers with Text-to-Speech Support for People with Reading Difficulties 'Text-to-Speech' - the use of synthetic speech built into a computer to read electronic text out loud - is just one of a number of tools that can be used to support people who have reading difficulties. Most web browsers have in-built accessibility features, such as the ability to change the size, colour and font for the text. For many people, these accessibility features, combined with the ability to have a passage of text from a web site, read out by a computer, are sufficient to help them become independent learners.

This paper focuses on the needs of this significant group, i.e. people with dyslexia, mild learning difficulties, and others who just need text to speech support. At this stage, we are not considering the needs of people with a significant visual impairment, who require a dedicated screen reader, people with physical disabilities who are unable to use a keyboard or mouse, or people with learning difficulties who require symbol support.

We are also concentrating on products for the Windows XP / Vista operating systems, rather than Mac or Linux. Where a program has a Mac or Linux version we will mention it, but testing was generally done with the Windows version. We have, however, looked at a couple of Mac products: the in-built speech system that comes as part of Mac Os X and GhostWriter.

Text-to-Speech Software in Word Processors There are now many programs that can be used to speak text from an electronic document in a word processor. These include programs designed as ‘talking word processors’ (e.g. Write:Outloud, TextEase, etc.), utilities that add speech to a standard word processor (e.g. WordTalk) and more general literacy support utilities (e.g. Read and Write Gold, ClaroRead). Read and Write Gold and ClaroRead can both be used to read web pages directly. There are a number of tools that can be used to speak text from a web browser. They are generally less sophisticated than the text to speech utilities in word processors. If this is a major issue, remember that it is almost always possible to copy and paste text from a web browser into your favourite speech-enhanced word processor, allowing you to take advantage of its facilities.

Factors to Consider when Choosing Text-to-Speech for a Browser Before we look in detail at the different options available for adding text to speech to a web browser, we need to look at some of the factors that will help you decide the best options for your situation.

Browser – The most commonly used browser is Internet Explorer, which comes as part of the Windows operating system, but there are free alternatives. Firefox, available from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/, is becoming increasingly popular as the main alternative to Internet Explorer. Opera (from http://www.opera.com) and Safari (from http://www.apple.com/safari/download/) are also popular. The more general text to speech utilities work equally well with any browser, but there are a few utilities that have been designed to work with only a specific browser, particularly Firefox or Opera.

Ease of Installation – If the user can’t install the program quickly and without any difficulty, then it is not going to be used! A reasonably experienced computer user should be able to install any of the programs. Most of the programs were

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straightforward to install. Some were more complicated, but had detailed instructions, which, if followed carefully, would result in a successful installation. A few had incomplete, or inaccurate instructions which could result in difficulties for a novice.

The Interface Design – Ideally, once a text to speech utility has been installed it should be obvious what to do next, or clear instructions should be provided onscreen, without the user having to hunt for them. The ‘better’ interfaces generally included a toolbar or control panel with buttons to read and stop reading text. Some toolbars had too many features for somebody just looking for text to be read, which could cause confusion. Some programs had no visual clues. This is understandable in the case of tools designed for blind users, but it does make them of limited use for people with reading difficulties.

Where the Text is Read – Some utilities are able to read the text straight from a web page. This is the best option provided that the user can easily select the text to be read and it is clear what text the computer is actually reading at any time. Where text, graphics and external links are combined on a page, it is important for the user to see and read the whole page in context. Other programs use the clipboard to copy text to a separate window for reading. Some programs do this well, with text being spoken as soon as it is selected and copied, others require the user to physically paste the text into the second window and then use speech tools.

Selecting Text – Most programs require the user to select text with a mouse and then click on a button to have it spoken. (In the case of ClaroRead, it is enough to just select the text – it starts reading automatically when the button is released.) Some programs (e.g. Accessibar, Claroread, Penfriend and Read and Write Gold have an option to simply hold the mouse pointer over a sentence to have it read, without any need to select text, or click. This ‘hover and speak’ facility can be useful for someone who needs only occasional text to speech support as it is faster, but it can be confusing as the text is not necessarily highlighted and it is not always clear what is being spoken. We found that most programs using ‘hover and speak’ do not cope well where there is a mixture of normal, bold, and italic text, or where there are links to web sites. When there is a change of text style the utility will stop reading and will only start again when the new style is selected.

Highlighting - Our experience of using text to speech utilities for reading worksheets and books suggests that the best option for reading is to be able to highlight a piece of text, e.g. a paragraph, and then have individual words highlighted with a different colour as they are spoken. Read and Write Gold and BrowseAloud are the only programs that we looked at that can do this on a web page. Most of the other programmes can highlight either words or sentences as they are spoken. Given that people read web pages to get information, rather than as a ‘reading exercise’, it is possibly less important (though still desirable) to have different highlighting options available to suit the user, but we consider it very important to have at the very least a clear indication of what text is being read.

Voices – We recommend using a reader that uses high quality SAPI 5 voices, e.g. the Scottish Voice, Heather (from http://www.thescottishvoice.org.uk). Heather is available free of charge for use in schools in Scotland. We have decided to specifically indicate programs that can use Heather (and other SAPI 5 voices). Some of the programs use the older SAPI 4 voices, which are not very good, or are designed to use a proprietary voice, which may or may not be of good quality.

Additional Features – Some of these utilities are designed purely to add a text to speech facility to a web browser; others provide facilities for the production of MP3 files so that text can be played back on an iPod or MP3 player; more

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comprehensive tools, e.g. word prediction, homonym checkers are available in the literacy support packages such as TextHelp Read and Write Gold and ClaroRead. If you ONLY want text to speech from a web site, there is no need to buy one of the more expensive literacy support packages.

Cost –If you need a lot of writing support tools for use throughout the curriculum, there is a case for getting a more expensive, but comprehensive package, but if you just want to have web pages read out, a simple, low-cost package may be enough. Some of the utilities are totally free; others have a free version, with a charge for higher quality voices, or extra facilities. If the free version can be used permanently (rather than for a limited time period), then we state in the tables below that a product is free, while also giving a price for the full version for a single user. Many programs are also available on a site licence basis.

Overall Rating – We have attempted to provide overall ratings for Functionality and Value of each program, from * (poor) to ***** (excellent). These ratings are subjective and try to give an impression of the overall ‘feel’ for a program. Inevitably it is hard to compare a program that is excellent in many ways, but has one major difficulty (e.g. BrowseAloud), with another program that is generally effective, without being particularly spectacular (e.g. NaturalReader).

Text to Speech Facilities for Web Browsers In this study we looked at 25 different text-to-speech options for web browsers. These are categorised as follows:

Text to Speech ‘Add-ons’ for standard web browsers – These are ‘extras’ that are connected to a particular web browser, to provide text to speech. In some cases different versions are available for use with different browsers. The Narrator utility in Windows XP and Vista can be used to add speech output to Internet Explorer (and other browsers). BrowseAloud is an excellent utility that can add speech to sites that have been speech-enabled for its use. Talklets works in a similar way, providing good text-to-speech facilities, but only for sites that have been speech-enable to use Talklets. Internet Explorer users can now get text-to-speech support from Read on Web’s CleanPage utility. Speech support for Opera can be downloaded from the Opera web site. Various add-ons provide text-to-speech for Firefox, e.g. FireVox (primarily for people with a visual impairment), Hawking (providing switch access), CliCk Speak and Accessibar. This section also includes VozMe, a web site that can be used to read text from other web sites.

Utility Source Cost

Narrator (PC only) Within Windows XP / Vista operating system Free

BrowseAloud http://www.browsealoud.com Free

Talklets http://textic.com Free

VozMe http://www.vozme.com Free

CleanPage (for Internet Explorer) (PC only) http://www.readonweb.com Free

Opera Voice (PC only) http://www.opera.com Free

Accessibar for Firefox http://accessibar.mozdev.org Free

CliCk Speak for Firefox http://clickspeak.clcworld.net Free

FireVox for Firefox http://firevox.clcworld.net Free

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Windows Narrator Version tested Windows XP

Ease of Installation Narrator is pre-installed and can be accessed through Accessories – Accessibility - Narrator

Where text is read Narrator only reads events, buttons and menus and text as it is typed. It is therefore not suitable for reading text from web pages

Selecting text Cannot select text to be read.

Highlighting text Narrator does not highlight text as it is read, or give any other indication of what text is being read

Voices The XP version uses low-quality SAPI 4 voices. The Vista version uses the computer’s default SAPI 5 voice. This is of much higher quality.

Scottish Voice?

Vista only.

Additional Features None

Cost Free with Windows XP and Vista.

General comment Narrator is a VERY basic screenreader for people with a visual impairment. It is unsuitable for reading text from web pages.

Functionality Rating * Value Rating *

BrowseAloud Version tested 5.0.2

Ease of Installation

Straightforward Windows download and install. BrowseAloud runs in the background while you are browsing the web.

Where text is read BrowseAloud reads text directly from the web page.

Selecting text BrowseAloud can be set up to read either by selecting text with the mouse and clicking on Speak Selection, or by a ‘hover and speak’ facility

Highlighting text Browsealoud will highlight the selected text and also by word as text is spoken.

Voices BrowseAloud uses its own high quality voice, Emily. There is also a facility to choose from a number of other high quality voices, available by ‘streaming’ over the internet. We found that even when using a very fast internet connection (100 Mbps) there was an unacceptable delay of around 5 seconds before text was read.

Scottish Voice?

No.

Additional Features

None.

Cost Free.

General comment BrowseAloud is an excellent product in terms of the ease of use, voice quality and range of options for highlighting and speaking text, but it has a major disadvantage in that sites need to be ‘enabled’ for BrowseAloud by their owners before they can be read. (This is indicated by the appearance of a yellow ‘tick’ on the BrowseAloud icon in the Windows system tray.) Most sites have not been enabled for BrowseAloud so it would be necessary to have a second utility available to provide speech output from them. NOTE that

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BrowseAloud can interfere with other text-to-speech programs. We advise you to turn BrowseAloud off when it is not in use.

Functionality Rating

*** Value Rating ****

Talklets Version tested 2.5

Ease of Installation No need to install any additional software. Talklets will work automatically if a site has been enabled for it.

Where text is read Talklets reads text directly from the web page.

Selecting text Talklets can select and read text by using the mouse, or keyboard command. There is also a screenreader option which allows the use of a ‘hover and speak’ facility.

Highlighting text There is an option to highlight a block of text in a particular colour prior to it being read. There is also an option to highlight words as they are read under Help and Options.

Voices Talklets uses its own high quality UK English female voice. There is no option to change to another voice

Scottish Voice? No.

Additional Features

These include text magnification options and a Smart Story Finder which will attempt to identify the ‘main’ story on a web page.

Cost Free.

General comment Talklets is similar to BrowseAloud in many ways, but the highlighting is slightly less sophisticated. On the other hand, it has some useful additional features and has a particular advantage in that there is no need to install software on the computer. It suffers from the same major disadvantage as BrowseAloud, requiring sites to be enabled for it to be used. If a site is enabled for Talklets the Talklets toolbar will be at the bottom of the window.



VozMe Version tested

N/a – tested April 2009.


VozMe is easy to set up and to use. Simply go to http:www.vozme.com and follow the instructions. We recommend the ‘Add speech to your browser’ option. This will add a button to your Bookmarks toolbar, which will allow any selected text to be read.

Where text is read

Text is copied from a web page to the Vozme site, converted to an MP3 file and read. Unfortunately, it is not possible to see the text as it is read.

Selecting text Select text with a mouse and click on the VozMe button you added to your toolbar.

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Highlighting text

Text is not visible as it is read.

Voices Voice quality is adequate, but not great, with a choice between male and female voices. There is no option to use alternative voices.

Scottish Voice?

No

Additional Features

Creates MP3 files.

Cost Free from http://www.vozme.com.

General comment

VozMe provides a very neat way to produce MP3 files from text on a web site, without any need to install additional software. It works equally well on a Mac as on a PC.



Read on Web - CleanPage Version tested

1.1.1.6


CleanPage is easy to set up. Go to http://www.readonweb.com and download the installer. This adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer. (If it doesn’t appear when you load Internet Explorer, it may be necessary to make the toolbar visible by going to Tools, Toolbars and ‘ticking’ ReadonWeb.)

Where text is read

When the ‘Read your filtered content’ button is clicked, the main text content from the web page is converted into uncluttered text in the same window, or a new one. This text can be transferred to a separate ReadonwebTTS window for reading out loud. If you minimise the text-to-speech window, the text will appear to be read directly from the web page.

Selecting text All of the ‘readable’ text from the web page is copied automatically to the new window. It is now also possible to just copy selected text

Highlighting text

Individual words in the text-to-speech window are highlighted as they are read. There are options to change the colour of the highlight, background and text.

Voices CleanPage uses the SAPI 5 voices available on your computer.

Scottish Voice? Yes

Additional Features

CleanPage produces an ‘uncluttered’ version of a web page, filtering out graphics and extraneous ‘junk’. These uncluttered text files can be saved for later use. Text can be magnified and there is also a ‘speed reading’ option which will display text one or two lines at a time, with the rest of the text ‘greyed’.

Cost Currently free from http://www.readonweb.com.

General comment

When we first looked at CleanPage we considered it a very useful utility for some people with the potential to become an excellent option for a wider group of potential users. We had concerns with regard to selecting text and colour options in the text-to-speech window and fed back on them to ReadonWeb. Within a week they had produced a new version, which addressed all of our concerns. This is now an excellent program, easy to use with the right balance of features necessary to provide text-to-speech functionality for Internet Explorer. With the possibility of having three windows (the original web page, the uncluttered page and the text-to-speech window) open, it may sound complicated, but it is actually quite straight forward. It is possible to use a keyboard command (ALT-SHIFT-N) to have selected

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text instantly read in the text-to-speech window.

CleanPage is as close as we have found to being the ideal solution for Internet Explorer, providing high quality speech, good highlighting options and ease of us, all for no cost!


***** Value Rating *****

Opera Voice

Version Tested 9.64

Ease of Installation Opera Voice has to be downloaded and installed into the Opera web browser. Go to Tools – Preferences – Advanced – Voice and check “Enable voice-controlled browsing.” Follow instructions carefully!

Where text is read Text is read directly from the web browser. Opera Voice is designed to be controlled by voice input, but it is possible to speak text by keyboard command.

Selecting text Select text with the mouse and type ‘v’ to speak it. There are voice commands, but this involves unnecessary complication.

Highlighting text Selected text remains highlighted as it is spoken, but there is no indication exactly what text is being spoken.

Voices Standard and ‘High Quality’ male and female voices are provided. High Quality voices are reasonable, but there is no option to change them.

Scottish Voice?

No.

Additional Features System can be controlled by speech input.

Cost Free

General comment Opera Voice, though potentially useful, is very gimmicky and less useful than it could be. It would have been far better if they had created a decent interface for keyboard and mouse users, before introducing a voice input system. Version 9.64 is very buggy – it is usually necessary to refresh a page with selected text (or tab to another) before text can be spoken.

Functionality Rating ** Value Rating **

Accessibar for Firefox Version Tested

0.7.8


Complicated to install! Go to Tools - Add-ons – Get Add Ons and search for Accessibar. Then follow the instructions. Once you have installed Accessibar, you will have to separately install text-to-speech support. Click on the Read Aloud button, followed by Install text-to-speech support. You will have to download and install the Java Runtime Environment, followed by Accessibar Reader.

Where text is read

Accessibar reads text directly from the web page.

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Selecting text

It uses the ‘hover and speak’ method, with a paragraph of text being spoken when the mouse pointer is moved over it.

Highlighting text

Accessibar does not highlight text as it is read. It is sometimes not clear what text is being spoken.

Voices Uses its own low quality voice. Scottish Voice?

No.

Additional Features

Accessibar installs a toolbar with buttons offering a range of accessibility options: changing colours of background, text and links; changing font; enlarging text, altering line spacing, hiding graphics.

Cost Free.

General comment

Accessibar is complicated to install – a task made more difficult by links going to help files on a site that no longer exists! Some of the features on the toolbar are useful and are implemented well. Unfortunately, the text-to-speech option is not one of those – the ‘hover and speak’ method used for reading text is confusing and voice quality is poor, with no opportunity to change to a better voice that may be available on the computer.


*** Value Rating ***

CliCk Speak for Firefox Version tested 1.5


Relatively straightforward to install – instructions are on the web site. Note that instructions are in a different place from the download so it is a good idea to print them.

Where text is read

CliCk Speak reads directly from the web page

Selecting text Text can be selected by mouse, or it will read from the cursor.

Highlighting text

CliCk Speak highlights sentences as they are read.

Voices Uses SAPI 5 voices. Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features

None.

Cost Free.

General comment

This is an excellent option for somebody who is looking for a simple, effective text-to-speech option for the Firefox web browser. Installation could be better, but shouldn’t present problems for an experienced computer user. It adds a new toolbar with three buttons: Speak Selection, Auto Reading Mode and Stop Speaking. Simply click on a button to speak. Auto Reading will either read the entire contents of the page, or (better) will speak from where the cursor is placed.


**** Value Rating *****

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FireVox for Firefox Version tested 5.7


Installation is almost identical to that for CliCk Speak, above. Note that we found we could not install both programs on the same machine.

Where text is read

FireVox reads text directly from the web page.

Selecting text FireVox can read the whole page, or text selected by mouse.

Highlighting text There are various options for highlighting text as it is spoken, including sentence by sentence, or line by line.

Voices Uses SAPI 5 voices, or any others available on the computer. Scottish Voice?

Yes

Additional Features

None.

Cost Free.

General comment FireVox has been designed primarily as a tool for people with a visual impairment who wish to access the web – and is pretty good for this group. It is controlled almost entirely by keyboard commands, with no visual cues to assist the sighted user. It CAN be used by people with reading difficulties, but the lack of buttons and other visual cues makes it more difficult to use than CliCk Speak. On some web sites, it seemed to read all headings and links first, before the body text – this could be confusing for sighted readers.


** Value Rating ***

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Screenreaders – We tested a couple of free screenreaders designed primarily for people with visual impairments to see if they were suitable for people with reading difficulties. They weren’t!

Utility Source Cost

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) http://www.nvda-project.org/ Free

Thunder http://www.screenreader.net/ Free

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) Version tested 0.6p3.2


NVDA is easily installed – download and run the installer on the web site. It can be installed on a pen drive, allowing a user to move from one machine to another without having to re-install the program.

Where text is read NVDA can read text directly from the page in Firefox, but cannot read text within Internet Explorer.

Selecting text NVDA uses the ‘hover and speak’ method to read the paragraph underneath the mouse pointer.

Highlighting text Text is not highlighted as it is read.

Voices NVDA uses eSpeak, but can also be used with SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices.

Scottish Voice?

Yes

Additional Features

Comprehensive support for blind and visually impaired users, including Braille output.

Cost Free for Windows XP and Vista.

General comment NVDA is pretty good as a screenreader for people with a visual impairment, but is of limited use for a person who can see what is happening on the screen, but who has reading difficulties. The fact that it can read text from Firefox gives it a definite advantage over Thunder, but it is only slightly better than nothing for people with reading difficulties! Can be run from a USB pen drive.


** Value Rating ***

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Thunder

Version tested 1.0.49

Ease of Installation Thunder is straightforward to download and install, but the number of files involved, particularly in the USB version, is confusing.

Where text is read Thunder reads text directly from a web page, but only in the text-based Webbie browser. This strips out graphics and other non-textual elements, so a student with reading difficulties loses the support provided by images.

Selecting text Text is read in Webbie by moving the cursor to the line you want to hear.

Highlighting text Text is not highlighted.

Voices Thunder can use SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices. We found that it sometimes returns unexpectedly to the default SAPI 4 voice.

Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features Good support for blind users.

Cost Free for Windows XP and Vista. Network and USB stick versions are available.

General comment Thunder is a free screenreader designed for people with a visual impairment. It uses SAPI4 or SAPI5 voices. Though an adequate screenreader, it is not suitable to provide speech support for people with reading difficulties accessing the web as it can only be used with the Webbie web browser, which strips out graphics from web pages. It reads window titles, etc. automatically, which can be distracting for someone only wanting the information on a web page to be read.


* Value Rating **


General Text-to-speech Utilities – We tested a number of general free / low cost text-to-speech utilities. Some of these are designed for use directly with web browsers reading text directly from a web page, while others require text to be copied from the browser into a clipboard to be read. Some programs have linked the clipboard to the web page so that text is spoken as soon is it is copied from the web site. Others are more cumbersome, requiring the user to select and copy text from the web site transfer focus to the text-to-speech utility, paste the text and then read it.

Utility Source Cost

Balabolka (PC only) http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm Free

GhostWriter (Mac only) http://www.convenienceware.com €40

Mac Speech (Mac only) http://www.apple.com Free

NaturalReader (PC only) http://www.naturalreaders.com/ Free / $50

Premier Internet Toolbar (PC only) http://www.readingmadeeasy.ca $90

ReadPlease (PC only) http://www.readplease.com Free / $50

SpeakText (PC only) http://www.speaktext.com $30

TextAloud (PC only) http://www.nextup.com $30

Ultra Hal Reader (PC only) http://www.zabaware.com Free / $30

Universal Reader (PC only) http://www.readingmadeeasy.ca $50

Balabolka (PC only) Version tested 1.26.0.390

Ease of Installation Easy to install – download file from web site and install it. Can be installed to run from a USB memory stick.

Where text is read Text is copied from the web page into a clip board.

Selecting text Text selected on the web page by mouse.

Highlighting text Text can be read from the clipboard by pressing F9, but it is not displayed until it is pasted into the Balabolka window, where words can be highlighted as they are spoken.

Voices Uses any SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voices available on the computer.

Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features Includes spellchecker, magnifier and facility to create audio files in various formats.

Cost Free.

General comment This is a very good general purpose text-to-speech program. It is slightly more awkward to transfer text into it from a web page, than is the case with some of the other programs that read from the clipboard, e.g. SpeakText and Penfriend, but once the text is in the Balabolka window it works very well. Can be run from a USB pen drive.




GhostReader (Mac only) Version tested 1.5.1

Ease of Installation Very easy – download file from web site and install it.

Where text is read Text is copied from the web page into a separate window.


Highlighting text Words or sentences are highlighted one by one as they are read. There are options to change the highlighting colour.

Voices Uses high quality Acapela voices, equivalent to SAPI 5 Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features Can be used to create audio files for iTunes. It is possible to include tags withon such a file to improve navigation.

Cost Trial version lasts for 15 days, thereafter it costs €40.

General comment Apple Macs have a built-in text-to-speech facility, which is adequate for many purposes. GhostReader adds useful tools to the basic system, including the ability to highlight text as it is spoken

Functionality Rating *** Value Rating ***

Mac Speech (Mac only) Version tested Mac OS 10.4.11


Installed automatically as part of operating system

Where text is read

Text is read directly from the web page.


Highlighting text Selected text remains highlighted as it is read, but there is no indication of exactly what is being read at any time.

Voices Uses voices installed on Mac (some of which are perfectly satisfactory).

Scottish Voice?

Yes

Additional Features

None

Cost Free.

General comment

Very basic, but still useful if all you want is to have text spoken. Turn on the feature by going to System Preferences – Speech – Text-to-speech. Select Speak selected text when the key is pressed and choose a key to use. Highlight text


that you want to hear on the web and press the key to have it read.


** Value Rating ***

NaturalReader (PC only) Version tested 7.0


Fairly complicated - requires separate downloads of voices and program. Important to follow instructions closely.

Where text is read

The free and full versions both allow text to be read directly from the web page.


Highlighting text The full version gives an option for text to be read in a separate clipboard, with words highlighted as they are read. It can also display text in the toolbar as it is read.

Voices Uses any SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voices available on the computer. Scottish Voice?

Yes

Additional Features

Can be used to create MP3 files

Cost Free version can be used indefinitely. Full version can be used free for 30 days, thereafter it costs $49.50. Discounts are available for bulk purchases.

General comment

The free version of NaturalReader opens with a screen providing information about the program and demonstrations of its operation. There is an option to go to the very simple MiniBoard, which is what you would use to get text-to-speech from a web site. Highlight the text you want to hear and click on the play button. Annoyingly, the highlight disappears when you read the text, unless you click on the text you selected a second time, or use a keyboard command (CTRL – F9, by default). The full version adds a text-to-speech toolbar to Internet Explorer, which displays text as it is read. Note that the toolbar needs to be activated the first time it is used (Go to View and Toolbars and ‘tick’ NaturalReader), but thereafter it will continue to function without any need to open NaturalReader. The full version also provides a drop-down window from the MiniBoard, which displays the selected text and highlights word-by-word as it is spoken.


*** (free version)

**** (full version)

Value Rating **** (free version)

**** (full version)


Premier Internet Reader (PC only) Version tested 2.1


Easy to install – download file from web site and install it. It adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer.

Where text is read

The text to be read is selected on the web page and copied automatically to the Reader window when the Read button is clicked.

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse. There is also a Talking Pointer which uses a ‘hover and speak’ method for reading text on the web page.

Highlighting text Words are highlighted as they are read in the Reader window.


Yes

Additional Features

Internet Reader adds a number of extras to the basic text-to-speech facilities offered by Universal Reader, including Web Capture (saving pages to PDF files), Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Summariser, text magnification and output to MP3

Cost Demo version can be used 25 times, thereafter it costs $89.95 for a single user.

General comment Internet Reader is designed as a toolbar to add facilities to Internet Explorer. It cannot be used with other browsers, though its text-to-speech facilities are the same as those provided by Universal Reader, which can be used in other programs. Check the Universal Reader entry for further information.


**** Value Rating ***

ReadPlease (PC only) Version tested 2003.1.10


Easy to install – download file from web site and install it.

Where text is read Text needs to be copied from the web page into the ReadPlease window to be read. The full version has options for this to be read automatically when text is copied.

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse.

Highlighting text Both the free and full versions highlight words as they are spoken in the ReadPlease window.

Voices The free version can only be used with specific low quality SAPI 4 voices. The ‘paid for’ version uses better, SAPI 5 voices, but it ignores voices installed from other sources.

Scottish Voice?

No.

Additional Features

Both versions allow the font size to be changed.


Cost There are no restrictions on the use of the free version. The full version costs $49.95 for a single user / $999 for an educational site licence.

General comment ReadPlease has been around for a number of years and in some respects (e.g. the voices it uses) is showing its age. The free version does a basic job (though there are better free options), while the full version adds useful functionality, including better voices and a more seamless transfer of the text to be spoken from the web site into ReadPlease.

Readplease have also produced Readingbar for Internet Explorer 6. This adds a toolbar with text-to-speech, MP3 file creation, magnification, translation and other facilities. Unfortunately, there are no plans to update it for later versions of Internet Explorer.


** (Free version)

*** (Full version)

Value Rating *** (Free version) *** (Full version)

SpeakText Version tested 20090219


Easy to install – download file from web site and install it. Note that the file is very large as it includes many foreign language voices that you may not want.

Where text is read

Text is copied from the web page into a separate window.

Selecting text Text selected on the web page by mouse and copied, using CTRL-C.

Highlighting text Text can be displayed in the SpeakText window as soon as it is copied. Text is highlighted word by word as it is spoken.

Voices Uses any SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voices available on the computer Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features

Designed primarily to create MP3 files.

Cost The free version is restricted to approximately 1,000 characters.

General comment SpeakText is a nice program designed in China (but using English characters!), and offering support for 29 languages. Text is copied from the web page into a separate window for reading. This window has a very good interface, with clear text highlighted word by word as it is spoken. Under Settings, there is a ‘Monitor clipboard to read aloud’ option, which will start speaking text as soon as it is copied. Unfortunately focus is not automatically transferred to the SpeakText window, so it is best to keep both browser and SpeakText windows visible. Bizarrely there are options to either quit SpeakText, or close down the computer when the text has been read.




TextAloud (PC only) Version tested 2.303


Easy to install – download file from web site and run installer

Where text is read

Text can be read directly from the web page, or through a separate TextAloud window.

Selecting text There are options to select text, with a mouse, or read the whole page.

Highlighting text

Words are highlighted one by one as they are read on the web page in Internet Explorer. Text can be copied to and read back from a separate window with preferences (font, size, colour, etc.) adjusted to suit the user.


Yes.

Additional Features

Can create variety of audio files (MP3, wav, etc). Has range of facilities for adjusting voices, e.g. pronunciation editor.

Cost Demo runs for 20 days, thereafter it costs $29.95 for a single user. Site licensing available for schools.

General comment

This is an excellent text-to-speech program with a wide range of facilities. It can appear complicated at first, but is actually easy to use. It installs a toolbar into Internet Explorer, which allows selected text to be read word by word. For other browsers any text that is copied can be automatically transferred to the TextAloud window and read back.


**** Value Rating ****

Ultra Hal Reader (PC only) Version tested 2007


Easy to install – download file from web site and install it.

Where text is read

Text is copied from the web page into the computer’s clip board, and is read as soon as it is copied, by pressing CTRL-C.


Highlighting text

A selected block of text remains highlighted in the web browser while it is spoken by Ultra Hal.



Yes.

Additional Features

Has a facility to convert text to a wav file.

Cost Free. (High Quality voices have to be purchased.)

General comment

For web users Ultra Hal provides a quick, easy way to read text from a web page, simply highlighting text and pressing CTRL-C to speak it. Individual words are displayed at the bottom of the Ultra Hal window as they are spoken. Note that it will only speak the same text once as the clipboard needs to be cleared by copying something else. The Ultra Hal window provides additional facilities, but the text has to be physically pasted into it.



Universal Reader (PC only) Ease of Installation Easy to install – download

file from web site and install it.

Where text is read The text to be read is selected on the web page and copied automatically to the Universal Reader window when the Read button is clicked.

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse. There is also a Talking Pointer which uses a ‘hover and speak’ method for reading text on the web page.

Highlighting text Words are highlighted as they are read in the Universal Reader window. There are limited options for changing colour and font of text in window.

Voices Uses any SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voices available on the computer Scottish Voice?

Yes

Additional Features

None.

Cost Demo version can be used 25 times, thereafter it costs $49.95 for a single user.

General comment A pretty standard text-to-speech utility, with the addition of a Talking Pointer, which provides a ‘hover and speak’ facility. The interface is good, with a limited number of obvious buttons in the toolbar. Simply select the text to be read and click on Read.


**** Value Rating ***


Comprehensive Literacy Support packages – These provide a number of tools to support reading and writing (text-to-speech, word prediction, grammar checkers, etc.) and generally include very good facilities for reading text from web pages. If you JUST need a utility to read from a web site, these can be expensive unless you already have one available to use, but if you are working with pupils with a range of literacy support needs these would be useful options. For the purpose of this paper, we are only considering the web reading features of the programs, rather than the other tools that they provide.

Utility Source Cost

ClaroRead http://www.clarosoftware.com £129

Penfriend http://www.penfriend.biz £120

Read and Write Gold http://www.texthelp.com £320

Read:Outloud http://www.inclusive.co.uk £195

ClaroRead (PC and Mac) Version tested 5.0.18

Ease of Installation Easy to install.

Where text is read ClaroRead reads text directly from the web page

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse. It can be read back as soon as the mouse button is released. A ‘hover and speak’ method for reading text on the web page can also be used.

Highlighting text Text can be highlighted and read as a block, or it can be read with individual sentences highlighted as they are spoken.

Voices Choice of three SAPI 5 voices: Realspeak Daniel or Serena, Cereproc Heather.

Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features

Lots of facilities to support reading and writing, including screen rulers, word prediction, homophone support, scanning, etc.

Cost Demo version lasts for 15 days, thereafter it costs £129 for a single user. Bulk purchase discounts are available, e.g. £795 for school with 1 – 250 students.

General comment ClaroRead has a fairly comprehensive set of tools for reading text, but they can be difficult to set up and some features, e.g. background highlighting do not to work in web browsers. Can speak selected text as soon as the mouse button is released, which is a nice feature, as is the CTRL + Hover feature which allows one word to be read. ClaroRead can be run from a USB pendrive.


*** Value Rating ***


Penfriend XL (PC only) Version 3.1.1.8-XL


Easy to install.

Where text is read

Penfriend copies text to a separate window and reads text from that. It can be set up so that this window appears automatically when text is copied and then disappears when the text has been read.

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse and then copied using CTRL-C. The Screenreader option offers a ‘hover and speak’ facility, which copies text and reads it from a separate window.

Highlighting text Text is highlighted as it is read from the separate window. Note that the default text size is very small. This can be altered by selecting View, Preferences, Advanced, Use main font in keyboard window and then changing text size, font, etc.

Voices Penfriend can use any SAPI 4 or SAPI 5 voice available on the computer.

Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features

Penfriend is basically a word predictor, with additional functions built in, including a screenreader and an on-screen keyboard.

Cost Demo version lasts for 30 days, thereafter it costs £120 for a single user. Bulk purchase discounts are available, e.g. £600 for installation on 25 machines. Schools in Scotland can purchase from Learning and Teaching Scotland for £18 per CD and £24.99 per licence.

General comment

Penfriend can be ‘fiddly’ to set up, but it is the best implemented of the programs that use a separate window to display and read text. Our preference is to have the text window appear while text is being read, and disappear when it has finished reading. This is done by selecting View, Preferences, Speech Options and selecting Speak Clipboard Copy and Auto Open Clipboard. Some people may prefer to use the Screenreader, which uses a ‘hover and speak’ system, with text shown in a new window as it is read. This may suit somebody who can home in on the desired text, but it can lead to text being read from all over the screen if somebody waves the mouse about. (This problem has now been reduced in the latest version ( Available on USB pendrive.


**** Value Rating ****


Read:OutLoud (PC and Mac) Version 1.1 (Solo)


Easy to install.

Where text is read

Read:Outloud reads text directly from a web page.

Selecting text Text is selected on the web page by mouse, and read back by pressing a button on the toolbar.

Highlighting text

Selected text remains highlighted as it is spoken, but highlighting word by word does not seem to work within the web browser.

Voices Read:OutLoud uses the Elan SAPI 5 equivalent voices only. Scottish Voice?

No.

Additional Features

Read:OutLoud is a reading support tool, providing facilities to highlight, copy and organise text in order to create notes on a subject. It also includes a Franklin talking dictionary.

Cost There is no demo version, though there are lots of demonstration materials available on the Don Johnston web site (http://www.donjohnston.co.uk). It costs £195 for a single user and £1,226 for 10 users.

General comment

Read:OutLoud is probably most useful for the organisational tools that it provides and the ability to read text from a wide range of document formats. There is nothing remarkable in its web-reading facilities.


*** Value Rating **

Read and Write Gold (PC and Mac) Version 9.0.0


Easy to install.

Where text is read

Read and Write Gold reads text directly from the web page. text to a separate window and reads text from that. It can be set up so that this window appears automatically when text is copied and then disappears when the text has been read

Selecting text The user selects text either with the mouse, or by using a ‘hover and speak method that they call Web Highlighting.

Highlighting text Read and Write Gold is the only program that we have found which reliably highlights the block of text being read and the individual words as they are read on the web page, rather than by using an external window.


Voices Read and Write Gold uses a restricted set of SAPI 5 voices. Scottish Voice?

Yes.

Additional Features

A wide range of literacy support tools are provided, including word prediction, spellchecker, homophone support, note-taking, scanning facilities and screen masking.

Cost A free demo CD is available from http://texthelp.com. This lasts for 30 days. Read and Write Gold costs £320 for a single user. Site licences are available, e.g. £1,995 for a site licence for a secondary school.

General comment

Read and Write Gold provides the most comprehensive set of tools for reading text directly from a web page and almost everything is well-implemented (we found a small bug when trying to read the same text twice using Web Highlighting). If a pupil needs this level of support (e.g. having individual words highlighted within a block of text read directly from the web page), then this is the best option – but it is expensive!


***** Value Rating ***

Conclusions: What is the best program? We are often asked to say what we think is the best program for somebody with reading difficulties who needs to have text on a web site read out loud by a computer. When we completed the first draft of this Information Sheet in June 2009 we were not able to give a definitive answer. Any answer was likely to begin with, ‘It depends…’! Things have become a little clearer over the past two months, with the latest version of CleanPage being very useful.

Free Options

BrowseAloud is a very good program in terms of the facilities it offers and should certainly be considered. We like the way that it allows sentences and individual words to be highlighted as they are spoken. It can only read BrowseAloud-enabled sites so there will always be a need for a second option.

If you are in an environment where you are able to use the Firefox web browser, rather than Internet Explorer, and you just need a basic program to read text from the web, we would recommend the CliCk Speak add on. It reads text directly from the web page, highlighting sentences as they are read, and has a very simple interface. Installation is reasonably straightforward.

Internet Explorer users should start with CleanPage. We had some reservations when we first saw this program and fed these back to the developers. Within a week, they had produced a new version that addressed all of our concerns – a very impressive response! It is now easy to use, has a good range of formatting options within the text-to-speech window and, if you minimise the text-to-speech window, will look as if it is reading highlighted text straight from the window. The fact that it is free is an added bonus! The four main alternatives, Balabolka, NaturalReader, ReadPlease and Ultra Hal all have advantages and disadvantages. NaturalReader has the most helpful interface, but is let down by the way in which highlighting is lost when the mouse is used to click on the Speak button. The free version of ReadPlease is not suitable for most people as a result of the poor quality voice and the need to copy and paste text before it can be read. If you JUST want to be able to read highlighted text from a web page, Ultra Hal is the easiest to use (though the inability to read the same text twice is an issue). Balabolka is a little more complicated to use than Ultra Hal, but is the better option for somebody who needs a little more support with reading the text. We do not recommend a


particular option for Internet Explorer; instead we suggest people try Balabolka, NaturalReader and Ultra Hal to see which suits them best.

Low Cost Options

The various options in this category (Internet Reader, SpeakText, TextAloud, Universal Reader and the full versions of NaturalReader and ReadPlease) are all satisfactory. We liked the interface of SpeakText, as a good example of a program that uses an external window for reading text. TextAloud was particularly impressive, combining a broad range of features at a low cost. It works particularly well with Internet Explorer, allowing text to be highlighted word by word, as it is read directly from the web page. We would recommend TextAloud as first choice among the low cost text-to-speech programs for PCs. GhostReader is the best option for Mac users.

Literacy Support Packages

It is important to stress that people should not be choosing one of the comprehensive literacy support packages (ClaroRead, Penfriend, Read:OutLoud, Read and Write Gold) on the basis of how well they read web pages. If they already have one of these packages available, then they should certainly consider using it for reading web pages. On the other hand, if a school has a number of pupils with reading and writing difficulties, for whom getting information from the web is just one of a number of literacy issues, then it would be worth taking time to have a close look at these packages to see if the tools they provide would be useful.

Penfriend and Read and Write Gold provide the best overall support for reading text from web pages. Read and Write Gold uses our preferred method of reading text directly from the web page, but Penfriend, once it has been set up properly, integrates so well with a web browser that it is no great disadvantage to be using a separate window. We would recommend either Penfriend or Read and Write Gold.

reading the web - call scotland · 2014-08-18 · some programs (e.g. accessibar, claroread,...

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