Comments on: Accessibility by subscription? No thanks. http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/ Michael McCorry runs Mad Web Skills, a progressive, standards-based web design and development firm covering Melbourne, Shepparton and pretty much anywhere else. His blog covers standards-based web design and development news, reviews, techniques and projects. Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:52:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Martin McKay http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-27679 Martin McKay Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:34:25 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-27679 Hi Michael, I am the CTO at Texthelp, the company who own Browsealoud. This is not a commercial break - I just want to set out a couple of things as we see them :). Browsealoud is not meant to be accessibility by subscription. Website owners must make their websites accessible. W3C have created a good set of international standards that have been adopted nationally in many countries. Browsealoud will not turn an inaccessible site into a AAA site. Browsealoud is good quality AT for people who cannot afford it. It works best with fully accessible sites and we encourage accessible design. There are built in AT tools on Windows and Mac that will read text, but they are not too friendly to use, and do not get used for that reason. There also are totally free tools around to read the web, but they are not nearly as good as commercial text readers in terms of voice quality, or features. (this is why commercial AT exists) Browsealoud is free for the end user, and has the quality and features of an AT product that would normally cost the user a few hundred dollars. It is provided mainly for public service websites. It is designed for people who cannot afford to buy good quality AT. It will not alter your sites W3C accessibility rating - and we do not suggest that it does. It is simply commercial AT with a different business model. Hi Michael,

I am the CTO at Texthelp, the company who own Browsealoud.

This is not a commercial break – I just want to set out a couple of things as we see them :) .

Browsealoud is not meant to be accessibility by subscription.

Website owners must make their websites accessible.
W3C have created a good set of international standards that have been adopted nationally in many countries. Browsealoud will not turn an inaccessible site into a AAA site.

Browsealoud is good quality AT for people who cannot afford it.
It works best with fully accessible sites and we encourage accessible design.

There are built in AT tools on Windows and Mac that will read text, but they are not too friendly to use, and do not get used for that reason.

There also are totally free tools around to read the web, but they are not nearly as good as commercial text readers in terms of voice quality, or features. (this is why commercial AT exists)

Browsealoud is free for the end user, and has the quality and features of an AT product that would normally cost the user a few hundred dollars.

It is provided mainly for public service websites. It is designed for people who cannot afford to buy good quality AT.

It will not alter your sites W3C accessibility rating – and we do not suggest that it does. It is simply commercial AT with a different business model.

]]> By: Mikey http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-27580 Mikey Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:51:39 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-27580 Luke: I agree the actual idea of "click to read" is pretty cool, but it should be tied in to something native. Probably back when Browsealoud started, it was a pretty good idea, but betting against technology, just like betting against Jean Claude Van Damme, is always a wrong bet. Luke: I agree the actual idea of “click to read” is pretty cool, but it should be tied in to something native. Probably back when Browsealoud started, it was a pretty good idea, but betting against technology, just like betting against Jean Claude Van Damme, is always a wrong bet.

]]> By: Luke http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-27579 Luke Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:22:43 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-27579 Agreed Mikey. BrowseAloud will die. Accessibility options are only improving and it's in the interests of OS makers and browser makers to have better accessibility. I guess it's kind of a cool service, "click a button and it reads the content of the page", but I looked at some of the sites that use it and it isn't obvious how to use it at all. Big fail imo. Would be interested to know the pricing Agreed Mikey. BrowseAloud will die. Accessibility options are only improving and it’s in the interests of OS makers and browser makers to have better accessibility.

I guess it’s kind of a cool service, “click a button and it reads the content of the page”, but I looked at some of the sites that use it and it isn’t obvious how to use it at all. Big fail imo.

Would be interested to know the pricing

]]> By: Ben Buchanan http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-24408 Ben Buchanan Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:47:16 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-24408 I remember thinking it could easily confuse non-experts into thinking they were all done just by paying a fee. I just hope people remember that if something seems too good to be true...... ;) I remember thinking it could easily confuse non-experts into thinking they were all done just by paying a fee. I just hope people remember that if something seems too good to be true…… ;)

]]> By: Michael McCorry http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-24406 Michael McCorry Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:13:46 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-24406 Thanks Ben. It was interesting to run a few of the sites BrowseAloud were using as examples in their marketing materials through the CynthiaSays WAI checker. There were a lot of "NO"s down the right-hand side of the reports. A shame really, because the owners of these websites probably believe they are now accessible and feeling proud of themselves. Thanks Ben. It was interesting to run a few of the sites BrowseAloud were using as examples in their marketing materials through the CynthiaSays WAI checker. There were a lot of “NO”s down the right-hand side of the reports. A shame really, because the owners of these websites probably believe they are now accessible and feeling proud of themselves.

]]> By: Ben Buchanan http://www.madwebskills.net/2009/06/14/accessibility-by-subscription-no-thanks/comment-page-1/#comment-24404 Ben Buchanan Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:04:28 +0000 http://www.madwebskills.net/?p=94#comment-24404 I've evaluated Browsealoud in the past too; and I came to much the same conclusion as you have. You still have to make your site accessible and there are free alternatives to their product; and most other solutions will help with any website rather than just a whitelisted set of sites. I'm not saying Browsealoud wouldn't be helpful to some people, or anything like that. Vocalising content is definitely useful. I just think it's a better investment to spend the money on making the site natively accessible, for the more common assistive technology solutions. I’ve evaluated Browsealoud in the past too; and I came to much the same conclusion as you have. You still have to make your site accessible and there are free alternatives to their product; and most other solutions will help with any website rather than just a whitelisted set of sites.

I’m not saying Browsealoud wouldn’t be helpful to some people, or anything like that. Vocalising content is definitely useful. I just think it’s a better investment to spend the money on making the site natively accessible, for the more common assistive technology solutions.

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