Twitter has emerged as one of the world’s most widely used social networking services. Much of Twitter’s appeal lies in its simplicity, and in the way it fosters a sense of immediacy. Since “tweets” are limited to 140 characters, a huge bonus is that communication on Twitter must be brief and to the point; so it doesn’t have to take up a great deal of time. And yet, the power of sharing on Twitter is enormous.
As is the case with so many web-based applications, accessibility is a major problem with Twitter. That’s why Dennis Lembree has created Accessible Twitter. Lembree’s Twitter interface perhaps benefits blind users more than any other identifiable group, but I appreciate a comment made by Lembree in an interview posted on Accessify, “Web accessibility is for everyone, not only for the 10% or so of folks with some type of disability…” So Accessible Twitter can enhance accessibility for a wide range of Twitter users.
The site indicates that Accessible Twitter is still in “Alpha”, but it has functioned just fine for me without any glitches. As listed on the site, the accessibility features are:
All links are keyboard accessible.
DM, Favorite, Reply, Re-tweet, and Delete links are all visible by default.
Simple, consistent layout and navigation (and signed-in username always displayed).
Headings and page titles are implemented for optimal accessibility. This includes an H3 heading (for author screen name) added to tweets to assist with screen reader users.
Works great with or without JavaScript.
Ajax actions are concluded with an alert that notifies the user of the result of the action.
Large default text size and high color contrast. Layout/text resizes without breaking.
When entering tweets, audio cues indicate when the character limit is almost reached (in additon to character counter).
Forms and data tables are marked up for optimal accessibility.
Code is semantic, light, and adheres to best practices in Web Standards.
If a tweet is in response to another (and marked as such in the data), a clearer link is provided to the that tweet (not hidden). There’s also a more obvious link to the “permanent page” for the tweet.
A clearer link is provided for the “permanent” link for a tweet; the page containing only a single tweet.
Definitions of abbreviations are provided to certain acronyms in tweets such as IMHO (in my humble opinion).
Tested on all major browsers: IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.
After a long blogging silence, I’m back with a free resource that I’m especially excited about. I’ve discovered an effective free option for turning scanned text into digital text that can then be used with a wide range of study tools, including text-to-speech. All previous attempts to create useful digital text from the PDF files made with standard flatbed scanners and their OCR software have yielded disappointing results. The results with ScannedPDFtoWord aren’t perfect, but they are very very good.
ScannedPDFtoWord does exactly what its name implies. It converts scanned PDF documents to Microsoft Word (.doc) files. The online conversion is quick, and the quality of the text is excellent when opened in Word. The conversion process could hardly be easier, and registration isn’t even required.
You simply upload the scanned PDF file and give an email address where you can download the converted file. Here’s what the user interface looks like.
Although the graphics were missing, once opened in MS Word the converted files retained original formatting. I was able to edit the scanned text easily. For example, there was no problem in selecting the entire document and changing the font. There were almost no errors that needed to be corrected in the scanned document.
I was especially pleased to confirm that WordTalk worked flawlessly with the scanned text. WordTalk is the versatile free add-on for MS Word that provides text-to-speech, a talking spell checker, conversion of text to MP3 audio format, etc. There are, of course, numerous other study tools built into MS Word that are available to a learner once a document has been scanned into MS Word via ScannedPDFtoWord.
Below is a sample of scanned text that was converted by ScannedPDFtoWord and opened in MS Word. I’ve highlighted the only errors I could find–the ‘f’ dropped from the word ‘first’ and the two dates, where the number 1 at the beginning of both dates was converted as the capital letter I. As I said at the outset, this isn’t perfect; but I think it’s very very good.
I just came across a video I made a couple of years ago about CLiCk,Speak. I’d forgotten all about it. That has prompted me to repeat a post I wrote aboutCLiCk,Speak in June of 2008. The resolution isn’t great, but I think the video does a pretty good job of demonstrating CLiCk,Speak in action and of showing how to install it. I’ve embedded the video at the conclusion of the post.
CLiCk,Speak is a FREE tool that I believe needs to be available to ALL learners who have any reason to go online. It is a powerful tool, and one that is extremely easy to use for anyone who can use a mouse. The CLiCk,Speak toolbar installs with three buttons, as shown here.
In order to have text from a web page read aloud, simply place the cursor where you want to begin reading and click the green button. To stop reading aloud, click the red button. If you wish to read a selection of text, click the white button after selecting the desired text.
Under the Firefox‘Tools’ Menu is an item called ‘CliCk,Speak Options’. You are able to adjust the reading rate and the pitch of the voice here.
As I repeat frequently, if schools are truly interested in supporting all learners, there is no excuse for continuing to insist on using Internet Explorer. If schools are really interested in trying to facilitate universal access, Firefox is a far superior browser because it is so much more accessible for countless learners. There is absolutely no monetary cost for using Firefox, but the potential to help learners with reading challenges is priceless!
When he set it up, I doubt if Gary Bishop could have foreseen the phenomenal growth that Tar Heel Reader would achieve. This amazing online collection of accessible “books for beginning readers of all ages” has grown to 5805 titles! Beautifully illustrated with images from Flickr, these books are truly engaging for a wide range of readers.
In the context of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Tar Heel Reader books are accessible to ALL learners. Almost all of the titles are ‘age-appropriate’ for learners of any age. The books can be read and/or listened to online. They can be accessed with a mouse, with up to three switches, or via overlays on Intellikeys. As well, the books can be downloaded quickly and easily for use offline. Here’s a video that shows how a switch user might read a Tar Heel book either online or offline.
PowerTalk is a free add-on that provides text-to-speech for PowerPoint files, and it works brilliantly with Tar Heel Reader books when downloaded as PowerPoint files. The experience of reading a Tar Heel Reader book is enhanced tremendously when viewed as a full screen slide show and when narrated with PowerTalk. It’s even better if a quality voice has been installed on your computer for text-to-speech.
Excellent voices can be purchased and downloaded from NextUp, and elsewhere, for about $30. If you already have a good voice because it has come with another program, this voice can be set as the default for all text-to-speech on your computer. For example, VW Paul is the default voice on my computer because I have Kurzweil 3000. The default is set in ‘Speech’ at the Control Panel.
I have downloaded a sampling of about 70 Tar Heel Reader books as PowerPoint files. If you would like to have these, you can download them in a zipped file HERE. Also included in the folder is an executable file for installing PowerTalk. I hope you find this helpful.
I have made and embedded a short video below, that demonstrates opening and reading a downloaded Tar Heel Reader story with PowerTalk. This is exactly as it looks and sounds for me when I use PowerTalk with a downloaded Tar Heel Reader book. Narration begins automatically on the title page, but the reader chooses to move through the pages of the book at his or her own pace. I used the right-arrow key to move through the pages.
I wrote about PhotoPeach last month. Since then, I’ve very much enjoyed “playing” with PhotoPeach as I’ve created several “stories” with my own photos. I especially like PhotoPeach for multimedia creativity because it is so easy to learn and use and because text captions are such a straightfoward option. These two factors make PhotoPeach an especially attractive multimedia option for the classroom.
Now I have a new reason to be enthusiastic about PhotoPeach. I’ve discovered the PhotoPeach Quiz–and figured out how to create quizzes. Although the quizzes are easy to create and to use, it wasn’t quick and easy for me to figure out where to go to create them. There is nothing on the start page to direct you to a quiz option. You only discover the quiz feature in the process of editing a PhotoPeach story that you’ve already created. I’ll include some ‘how-to’ screen shots at the bottom of this post.
I’ve embedded below a short quiz that I put together with Creative Commons photos from Flickr. Rather than trying to describe how it works, you can see for yourself.
After registering for a free account, here’s what you do to create a quiz in PhotoPeach.
1. Upload your photos from your computer, or import them from elsewhere on the Internet.
2. Arrange your photos as you want them.
3. Give your quiz a title, add a description, and select musical accompaniment if you want it. Then click the Finish button.
4. Your “finished” story will begin playing, but you must scroll down below it. If you wish your quiz to be public, you must select “public” under ‘Edit (owner options). Since you are creating a quiz, you must click on the link ‘Arrange Photos & Edit Caption’.
4. You will now be given the opportunity to create your quiz with the ‘Quiz’ button. There process is straightforward after you click on this button.
