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The reasons for switching from IE to Firefox are too numerous to count. Fire Vox is one more excellent reason. Because Firefox is open source software, developers are encouraged to create extensions to make it more accessible. Fire Vox is a Firefox extension designed to make the web accessible for folks who are visually impaired.

Fire Vox (downloadable Firefox extension) This Firefox extension is essentially a screen reader that works seamlessly when browsing with Firefox so the user always has a live view of the web page. Charles L. Chen, the creator of Fire Vox, sums up what if offers as follows:

“In addition to the basic features that are expected of screen readers, such as being able to identify headings, links, images, etc. and providing navigational assistance, Fire Vox provides support for MathML and CSS speech module properties. It also works on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.”

For those of us who are light dependent, Fire Vox offers a very helpful feature. It highlights text that is being read. This is great for sighted educators. It may also be useful for individuals with low vision.

Charles L. Chen seems to be doing an excellent job of supporting Fire Vox. His accessible website offers an installation guide, tutorials, and a user’s manual. He says he’s also committed to keeping Fire Vox as up to date as possible.