| Computer Screen Readers are programmes that channel information about what is in focus on the computer screen (eg an icon, words of text, a menu item) to either a Speech Synthesiser or a Braille Display or both. Optek Systems can provide and support JAWS, outSPOKEN and VIRGO. |
JAWS is one of the most popular and well supported Computer Screen Readers available. It can work in all Windows platforms including NT. Special "scripts" have been written for most of the popular Windows applications to fine-tune the way JAWS provides information in speech or Braille feedback - for example Status Line information in MS WORD, cell rerefences in MS Excel, email programmes and many others. A great deal of work has gone into making JAWS work exceptionally well with Internet Explorer 5, allowing the Blind user to reformat complex Web pages into a columnar layout that is easier to read, and see a list of Hyperlinks that is easy to navigate. For more information about JAWS, check out the Henter-Joyce website at http://www.hj.com |
outSPOKEN is a fully featured Computer Screen Reader that is particularly popular with Braille users as it provides a wealth of contextual information on the Braille display, minimising the reliance on Speech feedback. Of course, it is designed to provide a good complementarity between Braille information and Speech information. For more information on outSPOKEN, check out the ALVA website at http://www.alva-bv.nl |
VIRGO is a Computer Screen Reader that employs a sophisticated Off Screen Model of Windows. This allows the Blind computer user to navigate through Folders, Windows, Menus and Dialogue Boxes in a highly structured way, at every stage having "context" information summarised. This means that, for example, in a Dialogue box, the VIRGO user always knows at a glance how many buttons and edit boxes there are, and can step between layers at the touch of a Braille key. For more information about VIRGO, check out the BAUM website |