Large Print and Speech Access to the World Wide Web

Contents of this page:

Purpose is to show teachers how to access the WWW with large print and speech by:

providing an overview of basic concepts of the WWW and browsers
modifying the browser using built-in options
using the browser with add-on access
using a specialize browser

Overview - Basic Concepts of the WWW and Browsers

Getting Connected

phone
modem
ISP or Online Service
- shell or host account
- SLIP account
- PPP account
Services
- WWW
- E-mail
- News groups
- Others - WAIS, gopher, Web page hosting

Tutorials about the WWW

DEMYSTIFYING THE INTERNET - The purpose of this guide is to introduce you to the Internet and make your initial Internet experiences as pleasant as possible so as to encourage you to explore the Internet in more detail at a later time. This guide will cover many facets of the Internet, certainly enough to make you a competent user...
Exploring the Web: Learning Goals - "Very friendly, gently-paced, and non-intimidating introduction to the web." -- Filo, Yang, et al. (1996), Yahoo! Unplugged. Includes a nice section on browser basics.
Internet Training Manual - From the Utah Library Network. This is a guide that reviews the basic principles of Internet exploration for the novice user. Various functions are described, utilizing "on screen" examples.
Internet Starter Kit for Windows - Wow! An online book. Not a tutorial, but a wealth of information.
Using The Internet: 1 - Course overview - A course developed by Health Care Libraries Unit (HCLU) in the United Kingdom. A good guide for beginners.
Internet Learning Resources: WWW resources - The ultimate resources page for training materials.

Basic concepts of the browser

menu bar or keyboard equivalent
address bar
content window (web page)
- text
- graphics
- URLs
- forms
- audio & video
back button
history list
favorites or bookmark list
plug-ins

Browser Tutorials

Internet Explorer: Using the Browser to Look at Information - very brief tutorial about Internet Explorer.
Netscape Tutorial - a quick tutorial of Netscape Navigator, it will read information to you. Good diagrams.
Navigating With LYNX: An Interactive Tutorial - designed for people with visual impairments.
Heff's Browser Tutorials - an overview of many browsers with a discussion and demonstration of new features.

Modifying the Browser with Built-in Options or Making the browser more functional for individuals with low vision.

Individuals with low vision typically need larger text than average and good contrast. Users can control how a web browser displays information to meet their visual needs. Options within the Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator browsers allow you to change the font type and size, foreground and background colors of WWW pages as they are displayed. The following sections provide directions using a mouse. Keyboard equivalents for mouse clicks and selections are provided in parenthesis.

Changing font size in Internet Explorer 95 (IE95)

Go to the menu and click on View (Alt-V)
A menu will pull down. Select Fonts (N)
A menu with 6 font choices will open beside the word Fonts ("smallest" is about 10 point, "largest" is about 18 point). Click on the appropriate font size (or arrow to appropriate font size and hit enter)
NOTE: The text you are reading now is "normal" or "base-font" text. Use this text when determining the appropriate font size. The selected font size will be the base or normal font for text on the screen. Fonts used in Headings will be larger than the selected size.

Changing font type in Internet Explorer 95 (IE95)

Go to the menu and click on View (Alt-V)
A menu will pull down. Select Options (O)
The Options dialog box will open, with the General section on top. The General section is divided into 4 sub-sections (Multi-Media, Colors, Links, Toolbar) and a button (Font Settings)
Click on the Font Settings button (F)
The Fonts dialog box will open. Select Proportional Fonts (P).
Use the mouse or arrow keys to select the proportional font type desired.
Click the OK button, or hit Enter to return to the Options dialog box.
Click the OK button, or hit Enter to return to IE content window.

Changing colors in Internet Explorer 95 (IE95)

Go to the menu and click on View (Alt-V)
A menu will pull down. Select Options (O)
The Options dialog box will open, with the General section on top. The General section is divided into 4 sub-sections (Multi-Media, Colors, Links, Toolbar) and a button (Font Settings). From here you can change the color of the foreground (letters, etc.), background, and the color of the links.
To change the text color select Text (T followed by space bar). A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice, tap the spacebar, and hit Enter).
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Options dialog box.
To change the background color select Background (B followed by space bar). A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice, tap the spacebar, and hit Enter).
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Options dialog box.
If the Use Windows Colors box is checked, then the Windows fore and background colors will be used. Click on the check box to uncheck Use Windows Colors (W followed by spacebar to toggle check box). You can now follow steps 4, 5, 6, and 7 to change fore and background colors.
To change the color of visited links select Visited Links (I followed by space bar). A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice, tap the spacebar, and hit Enter). Choose a color that is different from text color that will contrast with background color.
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Options dialog box.
To change the color of unvisited links select Unvisited Links (N followed by space bar). A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice, tap the spacebar, and hit Enter). Choose a color that is different from text color that will contrast with background color.
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Options dialog box.
Links are usually underlined. If reading underlined text is difficult, underlined links may be turned off. Click the check box in front of Underlined Link (U) to toggle check box to unchecked. Links will now only appear in the selected color and not underlined.
Click OK or hit Enter to return to IE95 content window.

Changing font size and type in Netscape Navigator

In the menu click on Options (Alt-O).
A menu will pull down. Select General Preferences...(G)
The Preferences box will open with the Appearance section on top. Click on Font (CTRL-TAB)
The Font section will now be on top. To change the proportional font select the Choose Font... button next to "Use the Proportional Font" (TAB one time to move to this button)
The Choose Base Font dialog box will open. Select the Font by using mouse or arrow keys.
To change the font size, select Size (Alt-S). Use mouse or arrow keys to select appropriate font size. Click OK button (Enter) to return to Navigator content window.

Changing colors in Netscape Navigator

In the menu click on Options (Alt-O).
A menu will pull down. Select General Preferences...(G)
The Preferences box will open with the Appearance section on top. Click on Colors (CTRL-TAB, CTRL-TAB) From here you can set the colors for the text, links, followed links, and backgrounds of the Navigator content window. You can change the following elements: Links, Followed Links, Text, Background, Image File, Override colors.
To change Links color (default is blue) of text links to pages you have not yet seen. First click the Custom check box next to the Links (Alt-L followed by space bar) and then click Choose Color (TAB and Enter) to choose your preferred link color. A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice and hit space bar).
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Preferences dialog box.
To change Followed Links color (default is purple) of text links to pages you have already visited. First click the Custom check box next to Followed Links (Alt-F followed by space bar) and then click Choose Color (TAB and Enter) to choose your preferred link color. A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice and hit space bar).
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Preferences dialog box.
To change Text color (default is black) of text in the content window. First click the Custom check box next to Text (Alt-T followed by space bar) and then click Choose Color (TAB and Enter) to choose your preferred link color. A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice and hit space bar).
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Preferences dialog box.
To change Background color (default is gray) in the content window. First click the Custom radio button next to Background (Alt-C followed by space bar) and then click Choose Color (TAB and Enter) to choose your preferred background color. A grid of colors will appear. Move the mouse to your color choice and click once (arrow to your color choice and hit Enter)
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Preferences dialog box.
To use a personal Image File as a background. First click the Image radio button (Alt-I followed by space bar) and then click Browse (TAB, TAB, Enter) to select the file location.When you have located the file click Open (Enter)
Click OK or hit Enter to return to Preferences dialog box.
To Override colors (default is unchecked to allow the original background and colors to be displayed) and prevent a page's background and colors being substituted for your background and colors. Click on the check box next to Always Use My Colors, Overriding Document (Alt-T followed by 6 TABS, space bar to place a check in the box)
Click OK (Enter) to make the specified changes and close the dialog box and return to content window.

Using a Browser with Add-on Access

You can use a browser with add-on access software and hardware.

Screen Magnifiers

If changing the font style, size and color are insufficient or unsuccessful in providing access to Internet information then screen magnification may be required. A good starting place for getting information is the Screen Magnifiers home page. Here you can find information about screen magnifiers and download demonstration versions for use on your computer. Screen magnifiers will magnify (2 to 16 times) all information in the browser including text, URLs, graphics, buttons, forms, animation, and video. They can also change the screen colors independent of the internet browser setup. Navigation of a web page with a screen magnifier is dependent on the navigation options provided with the browser. For example, Internet Explorer allows the use of the tab key to move from link to link on a web page. Screen magnifiers will follow each key press. Other browsers will require the use of a mouse.

Screen Readers

Some users will require speech or braille output to access information on the computer screen. Screen readers will work with Windows 3.x and Windows 95. Each screen reader will have some type of configuration file, or setting file, or macros that work with Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. For links to screen reader products see the TSBVI Technology Related Web Sites page.

ACCESS TO LIBRARY INTERNET SERVICES FOR PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES - informational article covering the basics of access technology use with web browsers.
Magical Mist Creations -- Navigating Netscape - commercial tutorial available on disk, tape, large print or braille. Taught from the perspective of a person who is blind.
Magical Mist Creations -- Stepping Out With Microsoft Internet Explorer - commercial tutorial available on disk, tape, large print or braille. Taught from the perspective of a person who is blind.

Using a "Directly Accessible" Browser

A new type of browser has been developed. It is the "directly accessible" browser. "Directly accessible" mean that the browser has built in accessibility features including large print and text-to-speech output. The directly accessible browser knows exactly what each item is on a web page. It knows when text is a heading, or a link to another site, or text associated with a graphic, or information in a table. These browsers will work with standard speech synthesizers or multimedia sound cards with text-to-speech software. They do not require screen readers or screen magnifiers in order to function. Examples of directly accessible browsers are listed below.

Talking Browsers

The p w WebSpeak Project
WebCite - The Spoken Web
JBliss Imaging Systems VIPinfoNet beta
marcopolo: Find Out More - Netscape plug-in for eyes free access to the WWW
About Sensus Internet Browser - is a speaking Internet browser. In addition to standard browser functionality, our browser allows blind and partially sighted users to orientate, navigate and access information on the Internet. Blind users may access the Internet through synthetic speech or Braille. Partially sighted users may use the fonts, font sizes and colour schemes which best accommodate their individual needs. Expected release of the first version of Sensus Internet Browser is August, 1997.

Large Print Browsers

Other "Directly Accessible" Browser information

Making the Web Accessible Project Report - RNIB report from 1996 that determined which screen access programs best allow visually impaired individuals to access and utilize the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Talker (Netscape plug-in) for the Macintosh