Caerphilly county borough council’s popular website now offers visitors an innovative new feature that enables web pages to be read aloud.
The facility, called BrowseAloud, is a useful addition to the site and is aimed at supporting people with visual impairments, learning difficulties such as dyslexia or people with English as a second language.
The user simply hovers their mouse pointer over the text to hear it read aloud. A high quality, human sounding voice reads the text direct from the web pages and the programme highlights each word as it is spoken to show users where they are on the page.
Cllr Colin Mann, CCBC cabinet member for finance and resources said, “Our website is an important tool for residents to access interactive services and find out information about the council. It is important that the site is accessible and user-friendly for as many people as possible and this new feature will be a great help to those who have problems navigating traditional website layouts.”
Anyone can use the new feature by clicking on the BrowseAloud logo on the CCBC homepage. From there users can download BrowseAloud in a few simple steps. Once downloaded the facility is ready to be used and can: –
- Read secure web pages
- Read PDF and Word Documents in their original format
- Highlight each word as it is spoken to show you where users are on the page
- Magnify text to a chosen font size and font style
- Translate word-for-word between English, French, German, Italian and Spanish
- Look up accurate dictionary definitions
- Convert text to MP3
- Mask information on the screen to help users focus on a particular area
For more information on how CCBC integrated BrowseAloud onto their site contact the council’s web editor on 01443 864270.
For more information on BrowseAloud, or to download your free trial, visit the BrowseAloud website. Alternatively, e-mail Donna Thomson or call her on 028 9442 8105.
