University of Washington Team Develops Internet-based Screen Reading Tool called WebAnywhere
A team from the University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering department, led by doctoral student Jeffrey Bigham, has developed a screen reading internet service called WebAnywhere. This tool is meant to be a low-cost, easy-to-use alternative to a screen reader for users with vision loss who are looking to surf the internet on computers that do not have the often expensive and complicated screen reader software installed. WebAnywhere was developed through in-depth research and close consultation with users with vision loss, and has the added benefit of allowing web developers to use a screen reading tool to ensure greater accessibility of their own website without having to install pricey tools.
The WebAnywhere service is free and hosted on the Web, so there are no complicated, large software files to be installed on the computer, enabling users to surf the internet on computers that are heavily locked or on which they do not feel comfortable installing software (such as public library computers, or computers belonging to friends or relatives). As it is internet-based, users will be accessing the most updated version of WebAnywhere every time they use it. The Web content is processed on an external server and then sent back to the user’s computer as an audio file.
WebAnywhere functions in much the same way as a screen reader in that the contents of the Web page are read aloud by a computer-generated voice. It also allows users to jump through the content using shortcuts to headings, paragraphs, etc. Users can set a default browser using either Windows Explorer or Firefox, and can set WebAnywhere up to use the functionality of their favourite screen reader (i.e. JAWS or Windows Eyes). Users can even create a profile that will save these personal preferences, to be loaded each time they use the WebAnywhere service.
WebAnywhere is different from typical screen readers, however, in that it is currently designed to only work on Web pages (it cannot help a user navigate through other programs, such as Microsoft Word or Outlook). It is also different from traditional screen readers in that it is more like its own browser within the Internet Explorer or Firefox browser – it has its own address bar where the user types in the page address they wish to visit. This Web page is then displayed and read within the WebAnywhere site.
Limitations of the program include its inability to navigate pages with frames or pages displaying Acrobat Flash objects. Furthermore, as a spoken service, WebAnywhere does not help users who are deafblind, and may not help users with cognitive or other disabilities (it can, however, be helpful for users with dyslexia who may have difficulty organizing content they read themselves).
WebAnywhere is currently only meant to be an alternative to screen readers such as JAWS on the internet and only supports navigation in English, although it was released as an open-source project with the development code available to the public, paving the way for it to be made usable in other languages and potentially in other programs in the future. Another potential plan for the future is to further develop WebAnywhere to make it usable on other devices with internet capacity, such as cell phones or PDA’s.
To try the WebAnywhere service, or for more information on the University of Washington project, please visit http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/.
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