Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner

Supporting Universal Access and Universal Design for Learning

Monthly Archives: November 2011

November 28, 2011
by Paul Hamilton
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Android 4.0 Will Make Phones and Tablets More Accessible for Blind & Low Vision Users

I’ve mentioned here that I have little experience with Android hand-held devices.  I’ve also said I’m keen to change that.  I’m keeping my eye on the Asus Transformer Prime Tablet.  This tablet is set to be released next week in the US with Android 3.2, but it will be  upgradeable to Android 4.0, aka ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’.  The new Android operating system has grabbed my attention, almost as much as the new tablet itself.

The developers of Android 4.0 have clearly taken accessibility seriously, at least for individuals who are blind or who face the challenges of low vision. During the past week, Google Nexus has released two videos that demonstrate accessibility features that will be available on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone.  It looks to me as though the developers of Android 4.0 have done well. Hopefully, we’ll soon have some authentic reviews by users who are blind and who have low vision.

Check out the videos I’ve embedded below and see what you think.

November 27, 2011
by Paul Hamilton
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Readability Redux for Chrome — Browser Extension that Makes Web Pages Easier to Read

This is another post about Google’s Chrome browser and accessibility features than can be added to it. I’ve already written about Speakit for text-to-speech HERE, about Voice Search  for searching with Voice Recognition HERE, and about Speech Recognizer for general voice recognition HERE. I’ve written about running Chrome from a USB flash drive HERE.  Today, I’m writing about a fourth add-in. This one can be extremely helpful for anyone who faces challenges with reading.

             

Readability Redux for Chrome is a variant of Readability that runs in Chrome and that is even more customizable than the original.  With the click of a button, this add-in removes distracting clutter and customizes the presentation of text on a web page.  For example, from the top page shown here to the one below it.

After going to the Chrome Web Store from within Chrome, searching for Readability Redux, and installing it, you will see the icon indicated below to the right of Chrome’s address bar.

Before using Readability Redux, you will want to customize the way you view pages. To do this, right-click on the icon and select ‘Options’, or click on the settings icon (wrench/spanner on the extreme right) and navigate to the Options screen (Tools–Extensions–Readability Redux–Options). The image below shows the options that may be adjusted.

Perhaps surprisingly, adjusting the width of the margins is the option I’ve found most useful.  Limiting the number of words in a line of text can make a huge difference in terms of readability! Speakit works well to provide text-to-speech in pages that have been adjusted by Readability Redux.

November 24, 2011
by Paul Hamilton
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I Like Books — High Quality Free App for iPhone/iPad

There are too many free educational apps to keep track of.  The number of truly free apps that are of high quality, however, is much smaller.  Many free apps are really teasers for premium paid versions. Other free apps are of dubious value.  I’m writing about an app today that is truly free and that is of very high quality.

I Like Books — 37 Picture Books in 1 App is exactly what its name says it is, and more.  This app is excellent for any emerging reader.  Each of the 37 pattern books consists of multiple pages with engaging photographs, along with text that can be read silently or aloud.  As the text is read aloud, by a recorded human voice, the words are highlighted on the screen.  The pages can be set to turn automatically, or they can be turned by the reader.

The app could hardly be easier to use. Books can be chosen from the app’s book shelves, which is shown below.

The cover page for each book offers the reader three options, as shown here.

November 22, 2011
by Paul Hamilton
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Starfall.com Revisited – Still Great for Early Readers

This week I’ve had a look at where visitors to this blog come from, and just what is looked at.  By far, my most-visited post is one I wrote more than 5 years ago!  In the past week, there have been 100 visitors to the post I wrote on October 30th, 2006, about Starfall.com!

This observation has prompted me to re-visit Starfall.  The online world has changed significantly in the past 5 years, as have the ways we access online resources. For example, hand-held devices with touch screens have become common place, and they’ve been a game-changer.  Most of these devices won’t even run many of the wonderful online flash activities I’ve written about here over the years.

Starfall has been around since 2002, and it has become a widely known and well used resource to support development of literacy skills.  Starfall’s high quality activities are engaging, and organized systematically, with easy navigation for young learners. Starfall is also to be commended for keeping its site ad-free.

Sadly, Starfall’s original activities will not run on Apple’s iDevices, and as of mid-November 2011, not even in browsers such as Puffin, which have been designed specifically to run flash on iDevices.  They still run beautifully on computer browsers with flash installed. (Note: Starfall’s flash activities do run well in Puffin on Apple devices that have not been upgraded to iOS5.)

Starfall’s phonics-based approach offers four sets of activities:

1. ABCs: Let’s get ready to read The extremely engaging readiness activities focus on letter-sound associations, with a great deal of animated re-enforcement.

2.  Learn to Read: Zac the Rat and other tales offers opportunities to sound out and create words using fundamental phonics principles.  Again, the activities are engaging within the context of entertainingly meaningful sentences.

3.  It’s Fun to Read: About Me, Art Gallery, Magic + more! consists of 7 meaningful activities where learners have opportunity to read, using what has been learned in the first two sections.  In the activities, learners can click on words to have them read aloud.

4. I’m Reading: Plays, Nonfiction, Comics + more consists of 6 sets of books for practicing early reading skills.  Again, the material is engaging, and readers have the option of hearing the words or sentences read aloud for them.

In addition to the reading activities, Starfall has long offered calendar, seasonal and other activities that build a variety of basic skills while helping to re-enforce early reading skills. Like Starfall’s core reading activities, these are high quality and follow Starfall’s easy navigation theme.  The image below shows the  available activities.

While Starfall’s classic resources remain available for free from Starfall.com, they now offer additional content by paid subscription.  Starfall has also branched out into the world of apps for iPhone and iPad.  The Starfall ABCs app for $2.99 offers the pre-reading activities described above as ‘ABC’s: Let’s get ready to read’.  There is also Starfall Snowman for $0.99, and Starfall Gingerbread, also $0.99.  The latter explores 2D and 3D shapes, while Starfall Snowman is a reading exercise based on the song ‘Ten Little Snowmen’.

November 20, 2011
by Paul Hamilton
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Nebulous Notes – Great Writing App, Especially for Writers with Low Vision

I’m writing here about another app that is “nearly free” at $3.99.  I mentioned this one in my post about using TextGrabber to convert hard copy to accessible digital text.  I think Nebulous Notes deserves more than a mention. There are many note taking apps, but this one has features that will benefit countless users, especially anyone who has difficulty seeing the screen.

Nebulous Notes is a text editor for the iPhone and iPad with a unique feature-set.  Multiple fonts are available, default text-size can be enlarged significantly, contrast between text and background can be customized in any way the user chooses, and the brightness of the screen can be adjusted right in the app.   Combine these features with the text-to-speech now built into iOS5, and Nebulous Notes works as an effective writing tool for almost anyone.

Here’s a screenshot of what Nebulous Notes can look like on an iPad, with the onscreen keyboard.  Some users, of course, will prefer to use an external keyboard.  As you may notice, there is a customizable ‘Utility Bar’ atop the onscreen keyboard.  For users, who are able to use the onscreen keyboard, and who prefer that, the Utility Bar offers many of the functions typically found only on an external keyboard.

Here’s what the ‘Settings’ box looks like in Nebulous Notes.  This demonstrates the customizations available in Nebulous Notes.

The shot below shows just how easy it is to use ‘Speak Selection’ with Nebulous Notes.  Note: ‘Speak Selection has to be turned on in the iPhone/iPad Settings.  Here’s the path:  Settings–General–Accessibility–Speak Selection.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Nebulous Notes is designed to work seamlessly with DropBox; and this is another feature that is invaluable to many users.

I have emphasized the potential of Nebulous notes for individuals with low vision.  I do not have low vision, and I have used Nebulous Notes extensively in my own work.  I have found that that the app works extremely well for me.  So, this is a writing app that may be helpful for a wide range of writers.