Many people with literacy difficulties or reading challenges have problems using Internet Web sites. Houston Community College has the ideal solution to ensure online access to hccs.edu. HCC’s innovative new software, BrowseAloud, allows visitors of all literacy abilities to read its Web site content. HCC is the first institution of higher learning in the state of Texas to offer the service.
HCC is committed to high quality and accessible educational opportunities for the individuals and communities it serves. The BrowseAloud download provides an important service to ensure the HCC Web site has the potential to reach as wide an audience as possible. BrowseAloud reads Web pages aloud and highlights each word as it is spoken. This combination is a great help for those with literacy difficulties, such as dyslexia, who find reading online text difficult – it is reported that over three million Americans have dyslexia. BrowseAloud also aids those with mild visual impairments or for whom English is spoken as a second language.
BrowseAloud is free of charge to Web site visitors. To access the application, users can click on the “Accessibility” tab at the top of the home page, download BrowseAloud and follow the easy steps to install the software.
BrowseAloud enhances Web site accessibility as users can personalize the product to suit their own individual needs. BrowseAloud highlights each word as it is spoken; this tool aids literacy and allows users to read more fluently due to the dual colour highlighting feature. Colours, text size, speed and type of voice can all be altered to suit the user’s requirements.
Other key features of BrowseAloud that will enhance the user experience include text magnification, an option to convert text to MP3 format and a talking dictionary. BrowseAloud will also read accessible HTML, PDF documents, hyperlinks and tags behind images.
Posts
