Ideas for screen readers

During WAI meetings guidelines for screen readers have been
subject of the discussion.
Inspirit by a little discussion after the Austin meeting I
wrote a document with some ideas on this subject.

     It is my opinion the today's screen readers hardly assist the user
     properly to handle advanced information presentation methods.
     Therefore I made an overview of possible developments that
     could be implemented in screen readers. On the other hand we
     have the blessing of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) today
     and internet where "the information needed" is or will become
     available in the future. This requires a more advanced approach
     that is not available either for most screen readers. I have some
     ideas in this area too. This of course does not mean none of the
     features mentioned below is implemented in any screen reader.
     These kind of features though should be more common.

     Notes:
      *    This document must not be looked at as an overview of user
           requirements. It must be looked at as input for a discussion both
           at the users side to see what more can be done and at the
           producers side to allow them to ... offer new features.
      *    The order of the items below does not say anything about the
           priority. The interest for one or another feature will be different
           depending on the way the user uses his system.
      *    These kind of enhancements are not intended to be used by
           experienced users only. On the contrary: they should help
           unexperienced users to learn to use their system more easily. In
           general terms these features should be used to explain more
           about the outlook of information and must help people to access
           (navigate through), read and also write information.

I will not submit the whole thing through this list, but if you
are interested pick it up from:

HTTP://www.inter.nl.net/users/jvleliev/ebutc.htm

and send me your comments.
 
Best regards,
Jaap

Message from: Jaap van Lelieveld      The Netherlands
              Chairman of EBU commission on Technical Devices and Services
E-mail:       Jaap.van.Lelieveld@inter.nl.net

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Received on Monday, 9 February 1998 15:51:19 UTC