Kingston Council is trialling a new online service to help more people access information via this website. Visitors can now listen to this website with BrowseAloud, which is free to website visitors and can be easily downloaded from the BrowseAloud Website.
BrowseAloud makes websites more accessible and reader-friendly to those who require online reading support. the service assists those with literacy difficulties, dyslexia, mild visual impairments and those for whom English is a second language. It works by reading web pages aloud in a natural-sounding voice. The user simply hovers the mouse pointer over the text to hear it read aloud.
BrowseAloud features and options are accessed from an easy to use, floating toolbar (see above). You can position this toolbar anywhere on your screen or hide from view, as you prefer.
BrowseAloud helps any website visitor who requires online reading support. This includes those with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, mild visual impairments and those with English as a second language.
Once you have downloaded and installed the Browse Aloud application to your computer, a simple way to start 'hearing' this website is to use the HOVER HIGHLIGHTING feature as follows:
1. Start the BROWSE ALOUD software by clicking the icon on your computer desktop.
2. Next, Click on the HOVER HIGHLIGHTING button on the Browse Aloud toolbar:
Clicking this will activate the HOVER HIGHLIGHTING feature and the button will change to look like this:
3. Hold the mouse pointer over any text on this website you would like to hear and it will be automatically highlighted and read aloud.
In order to download and run BrowseAloud, you must have the following System Requirements:
PC users: Operating Systems: Windows 7, Vista or XP Pentium Processor 800MHz + upwards Sound Card + Speakers 15MB Free Disk Space
Recommended Browsers: Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8, Firefox 3.6
For PDFs: Acrobat Reader 9
Apple Mac users: OSX 10.3.9 or later (now supports Mac OSX Snow Leopard) 256 Mb RAM (512 Mb is preferable) Compatibility with Power PC or Intel processor. Browser: Safari v3 or later 20MB disk space
Browsealoud is a virtualised application which does not require any program files to be installed on your computer. It can be removed from your computer as below:
1. Ensure Browsealoud has been closed. Browsealoud can be closed by right clicking on the Browsealoud icon in your system tray and clicking on 'Exit Browsealoud'.
2. Locate the Browsealoud file that you downloaded and saved on your computer.
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