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

Possible use-cases (no, I don't have studies):

- Low vision: they can find the page but also find it hard to read a 
long text, so an audio version can be useful

- Motor disabilities: they can activate the link and read the full 
article instead of struggling with scroll to read the text

- Cognitive disabilities: they can find it easier to listen to the audio 
instead of reading on screen

- Elderly: they can browse the Web, but have difficulties reading and 
prefer to simply listen to the main article instead of reading on screen.

- General (no-disability): they can just activate the link and listen to 
the article while they iron their clothes or cook.

Please do not assume that these tools are only for the blind. Indeed, 
blindness is the only disability (apart from deafness) that will 
probably not benefit from this.

In addition, many people (me included) will not accept a "fishing 
lesson" instead of a fish. If I just want to read an article, I don't 
want to "waste" an hour or more trying to learn how to read the article. 
Fishing lessons are good when you have the time and interest to learn 
how to fish, but most of the time you are just hungry.

In any case, the key is not the type of tool, but its implementation. 
I've seen terrible implementations that are a nightmare for the user. 
But I think that, if done properly, they can benefit many people.

Regards,
Ramón.


Patrick wrote:

> Give a man a fish...
> 
> Wondering if it would be more helpful to point them to some resource 
> that lists available tools for them, to make browsing on ALL sites 
> better suited for them. I remember hassling Jonathan (heh) about making 
> the MyWebMyWay resources independent of the BBC site back in his days 
> there http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/ ... I've not kept up with it, 
> but I wonder if there's a similar resource (not attached to an existing 
> web property) that could be linked to?

Received on Thursday, 23 February 2012 23:21:59 UTC