New TTS service aims to boost accessibility

A new text-to-speech (TTS) conversion service could help to significantly improve website accessibility and help businesses make the most of their text-based assets.

This is according to UK firm Textic, whose Talklets Web 2.0 offering is unlike similar solutions in that it is the first TTS application to make use of a commercial software as a service platform. Continue reading “New TTS service aims to boost accessibility”

Accessibility of Campaign Web site: Barack Obama – The Closed Captioning Page

Screen grab of the Captioned page

Since the blog article was published, we got some feedback and reactions from the web community as well as the Barack Obama camp. They fixed the video caption page. Well… issues of accessibility remain:

  • Why ghettoize” or create a “digital divide” on the video page, and why can’t the videos be captioned (or have an option to turn on captioning) already? This is synonymous to a “text-only” page.
  • Why Lightbox? It is NOT accessible!
  • Also, when the script is turned off, so is the capability to access the videos.
  • And, when the style is disabled, the links to the video player disappear.

David A. Paterson, New York Governor, Accessibilista?

According to the following NY Times Article:

“A Blind Governor Adjusts, and So Does Albany”

“Although Mr. Paterson often says he does not want people to go out of their way for him, he says society should recognize that he and other blind people cannot do everything on their own.

As one of his first acts as governor, he added instructions to his official state Web site on how to enlarge the type on the screen:

“It’s just being more sensitive to people who feel that government and institutions ignore them,” he said.”

Well… I didn’t waste any time, I went to his Web site! Continue reading “David A. Paterson, New York Governor, Accessibilista?”

Accessibility of Campaign Web site: Barack Obama

Sen. Barack Obama\'s homepage

Part Two: is another possible candidate for the Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama. Barack Obama’s website structure is no different than his counterpart Senator Hillary Clinton. This blog took out all the politics, all their policies, the tears and hair, the compelling stories. Just condense your judgment into the topic of Web Accessibility. I ran an automated scan using AccVerify/Repair® scan of the Barack Obama website (www.barackobama.com). And here are my findings. Continue reading “Accessibility of Campaign Web site: Barack Obama”

Accessibility of Campaign Web site: Hillary Clinton

Capture of the Hillary Clinton WebsiteThis is the Part I of the three-part series of “Based on Web Accessibility: Who Would You Vote For?.” Taking out all the politics, all their policies, the tears and hair, the compelling stories. Just condense your judgment into the topic of Web Accessibility. So, to start, I ran an automated scan using AccVerify/Repair® scan of the Hillary Clinton website (www.hillaryclinton.com). And here are my findings. Continue reading “Accessibility of Campaign Web site: Hillary Clinton”