Re: Text-to-speech feature: a real help ?

On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:47:35 +0100, Ginger Claassen  
<ginger.claassen@gmx.de> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I do not now but I hav heard of varous websites where they have a tts  
> feature for convinience with a nice voice. So it might be a nice goodie

Yes, if done right it is probably not a *bad* thing (as it can be if it  
interferes with, for example, a user's audio system. Think about someone  
talking over the top of the radio when you are trying to listen and you'll  
probably get the idea).

The question is how much value it adds. Most people who need TTS have it  
in their system, either free (MacOS, NVDA, ORCA, and various phone-based  
equivalents) or something they have paid for because they wanted it (JAWS,  
Window-eyes and friends). My idea of a nice voice is a deep scottish  
accent, but many TTS users *prefer* a flat machine voice running very very  
fast, while people who are reinforcing text they find difficult to read  
can have a range of preferences. Which one would you add to your site, and  
how many people is it going to help? What could you have done instead?

One thing is clear - it almost certainly isn't a solution that can replace  
making your site work with existing audio systems for most users who need  
them.

cheers

Chaals

> :-)
>
> Solong
>
>      Ginger
>
>
> On 21.02.2012 15:46, Terrill Bennett wrote:
>> I have to ask...
>>
>> 1) If the user requires text-to-speech to understand your site, how did
>> the user GET to your web site in order to benefit from this technology?
>> ("Magic" is not an acceptable answer).
>>
>> 2) If the user requires text-to-speech to understand your site, and
>> since users spend most of their time on OTHER web sites... what do they
>> use when they leave your site?
>>
>> Answering these two questions will probably answer your original  
>> question.
>>
>> -- Terrill --
>>
>> At 09:17 AM 2/21/2012, Régine Lambrecht wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> do you have references on how impaired users consider text-to-speech
>>> alternative, such as Readspeaker (http://www.readspeaker.com).
>>>
>>> Is it a good feature to add to a page that *is already accessible* ?
>>> Does it help impaired users or do they consider this negatively (maybe
>>> because you can’t skip paragraphs or easily read again words, for
>>> instance?) ?
>>>
>>> Thank you for your input
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Régine Lambrecht
>>> *E-fficiency Coordinator
>>> Prevention Advisor


-- 
Charles 'chaals' McCathieNevile  Opera Software, Standards Group
     je parle français -- hablo español -- jeg kan litt norsk
http://my.opera.com/chaals       Try Opera: http://www.opera.com

Received on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 16:05:53 UTC