Alternative Web Browsing

Alternative Web Browsing
The site referenced five separate versions of Alternative Web Browsing. They are:
· Specialized Browsers – These are browsers that are specifically designed for persons with disabilities. BrookesTalk seemed to be an intriguing browser. It was a browser under development by Oxford Brookes University which focuses on facilitating intelligent web-searching.
· Adaptive Browsers - These browsers are all designed for general use, but are of interest because they may give enhanced accessibility with particular adaptive systems. Some have enhanced screen magnification or navigation options.
· Screen Readers – A screen-reader is used to allow navigation of the screen presented by the operating system. It used speech or Braille output. Therefore it enables use of any mainstream application.
· Voice Browsers - Systems that allow voice-driven navigation, some have both voice-in and voice-out. Some allow telephone-based web access. The one that seemed to be most interesting to me was Telweb. TelWeb is an experimental telephone-based browser allowing access to any site using voice and dialled commands.
· Other Access Methods - The site referenced that they would be expanding this section to include links to reference lists of other access technologies such as screen magnifiers and voice recognition programs that can be used in conjunction with Web browsers.
Evidently there are a number of systems that filter, or transform existing pages making them more accessible.
Agora is a system that allows web-pages to be retrieved by E-mail simply by sending a message containing the URL of the desired document.
Page Getter is powerful and has the ability to offer flexibility in retrieval of web-pages by E-mail; options to include images are offered, or text only request.
The Voice this technology allows representation of images in sound using Peter Meijer's "image sonification" technique.
Screen magnifiers were also referenced, which can be used in conjunction with mainstream browsers. Further information was available at The Screen Magnification Home Page