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Accessibility Tips |
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Accessibility Tips |
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| Do you have difficulty reading small text on web-sites? |
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Fife Council are committed to making information accessible to all members of the community. While researching techniques to improve the usability of our web-sites, we became aware of products, features and services that could assist disabled visitors to our sites. Fife Council has no connection with any of the companies mentioned on this page, and users are reminded that they should always satisfy themselves as to the suitability of any downloaded software product. Likewise you should always satisfy yourself as to the integrity of the supplier. Windows Accessibility Features Windows incorporates a number of accessibility functions, like filter keys, sticky keys, high contrast colour schemes, visual and audible alerts. These can be switched on from the Windows control panel (Start->Settings->Control Panel->Accessibility). These functions can assist users with disabilities. Text to Speech If your computer is equipped with a sound card and headphones or speakers, the Fastbrowser system can assist by converting hard to read text into synthesised speech and reading it back to you. It can also redisplay the text at any size simultaneously. Fastbrowser is a FREE download, and works with all websites. See Below for more details. |
| Is English not your first language? |
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The Fastbrowser system also incorporates easy to use on-line translation links between the major European languages. Simply click on "Translate", choose your translation, e.g. English to Italian, and in a few seconds the page will be redisplayed with the English text translated to Italian. Every other page you visit on the site will also be displayed in the target language. There is also a "Text Translate" option to enable translation of other text like emails. Cut and paste the text to be translated into the window. |
| Fastbrowser |
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Fastbrowser is a product of Fastbrowser.net. It is a FREE download which provides an alternate interface to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser with additional functionality built in. Here are just some of the additional features: Text to Speech If you select some text on the webpage and then click on "Speak" , an animated character appears and reads the text back to you. As the character speaks, the text is simultaneously displayed in a "speech bubble" at any size and font you wish. There is a wide choice of characters, and the reading voice can be adjusted for pitch and reading speed. Translation Fastbrowser features integrated links to on-line translation services like "go" and "elingo". These sites translate text on the site you are visiting into the target language you have selected and redisplay them for you. Groups Fastbrowser enables you to define groups of web-sites that you frequently visit and then allows you to visit them simultaneously, saving on mouse clicks and preventing retyping of lengthy urls. When you click on a group, each site opens in its own tabbed window, making switching between them easy and convenient.
How to get Fastbrowser Fastbrowser is available in two versions. The Free version (see below for download details) is supported by advertising which appears in a small window on the browser bar. If you like the product, you can also buy an ad-free version on-line for $30.
Click on the icon to download Fastbrowser Voice Version (5MB: approx 25mins). Use Winzip to open the file and run the installation. Installation takes approximately 30 seconds. Don't Have Winzip? Click on this icon to download and install Winzip first.
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| Configuration Hints and Tips |
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Text to Speech configuration Click on the "Speak" button and use "Voice Options" to configure the animation, text sizes, character, reading pitch and speed. Selecting Text
How to work with sites which use Frames Some web-sites (like this one!) use frames pages in their designs. If your character tells you there is nothing to read, you have probably selected text on a Frames page.To use text to speech with Frames requires a slightly different technique. When you have selected text, right-click it and click on "copy". This copies the text to the clip-board. Now click on the "Speak" button and select "speak clipboard". This technique can also be used to read back any text from any application on your computer, e.g. emails, word documents etc. So: The technique is:-
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| We hope this information is of use. If we can help with advice, please do not hesitate to contact us. |
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fifestyle.co.uk © 2001 Fife Council Community Services - All Rights Reserved. |
Contact: fifestyle@fifestyle.co.uk |
