[ntnm] Re: Speakon a-technic news reader
- From: "Derek Hornby" <derek.hornby_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ntnm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 09:10:30 +0100
Hi Isaac
I am very surprised that speakon will not support Braille.
RNIB has been well aware that I am totally deafblind
So how exactly did they think I was going to use speakon!!!!
I used to use a-technic reader, with my Braille display And was given
the impression that speakon will
Replace a-technic reader, but clearly it won't.
This is a prime example of RNIB not listening to all its customers.
I move from a TNAUK set-up that worked well for me,
To an RNIB set-up that won't work for me!
Regards, Derek
-----Original Message-----
From: ntnm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ntnm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Isaac Porat
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2014 7:16 AM
To: ntnm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ntnm] Re: Speakon a-technic news reader
Hi Derek
SpeakOn relies on speech only, there is no Braille support. There is no
support for magnification either because there is nothing on the screen
to magnify but for a little box with the caption 'SpeakOn'.
I should also emphasize that it is intended for people who fill
comfortable with computers and people need to decide if they fall into
this category.
The a-technic reader works with whatever screen reader or magnifier you
are using; it has no support for anything in itself it simply brings up
your internet browser, you then use the screen reader / magnifier in the
usual way.
I developed SpeakOn for my own use as a totally blind man (of course
taking into account suggestions from others). My motivation was to
develop a system where you can listen to radio, music, read books
newspaper and listen to podcasts using the same interface because I hate
remembering different shortcuts for different applications.
If people find it useful, great. If they prefer something else it is
fine too.
Regards
Isaac
On 30/05/2014 23:11, Derek Hornby wrote:
> Hi Isaac
> Will speakon support braille!
>
> a-technic news reader worked very well with braille
> Displays.
>
> Regards, Derek
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ntnm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ntnm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
> Of Isaac Porat
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2014 10:45 PM
> To: ntnm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ntnm] Re: Speakon a-technic news reader
>
> Hi Derek
>
> The short answer is that it does not work in the same way, I suggest
> that it is very easy to use when you know how it works but you can make
> your own mind when I make available the new version which would be
> compatible with the latest format changes.
> I would be happy to help those who wants to give it a go.
> SpeakOn is only available for Windows PC or laptops you can use a
> standard keyboard or an external numerical keypad if you wish.
>
> The a-technic news reader constructed linked multi HTML pages local
> structure on your computer. This launched your web browser say Internet
> Explorer or Firefox and you went up and down the pages (or jumped using
> heading navigation) with your screen reader.
> I used it for a while some years ago and it did a good job for me
> especially with the ability of creating links to a search.
>
> The advantage of the a-technic reader was that you didn't have to learn
> anything new beyond using your screen reader. The disadvantage of this
> approach at least for me was that it was slow having to drill into a
> section and coming back up again. I also did not want to bother with the
> website or an email attachment.
>
> SpeakOn is self voicing and a screen reader is not required. It works
> mostly like a Windows application but there are some differences.
> With SpeakOn you don't have to learn short cuts if you don't want to,
> you can operate it if you wish using the Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter
> key (some function keys are used for volume and rate adjustments.
>
> SpeakOn can do many things working mostly in exactly the same way but
> the following relates to NTNM eText publications.
>
> Firstly you don't have to download from a website or receive the
> publications using email, you can do all these automatically from within
> SpeakOn itself. This means that you can start to read your favourite
> publication within about 30 seconds from the time that you sit in front
> of your computer and decide that you want to read say today's Guardian.
>
> What you do within SpeakOn is browse the publications catalogue in its
> library and add to favourite the publications you like to read most.
> Then when you want to read you simply select the publication and it is
> downloaded automatically and SpeakOn starts to read to you in about 5
> seconds. You press Enter to start to read and Enter again to stop
> reading. You press Left and Right to go between levels of navigation:
> section, sub-section paragraph sentence etc. You press Up and Down to
> jump according to these levels. So you can navigate and read your
> newspaper with one hand drinking coffee with the other.
> Reading is much faster than with the a-technic as you don't have to
> drill into the sections.
>
> With SpeakOn you can create (in a similar way to the a-technic reader)
> a list of articles according to search terms these can be very simple or
> complicated for example all article with the name Labour but not Ukip
> (no political preference intended).
> You can do this again and again with different search terms.
>
> If you read a newspaper half way, when you start SpeakOn again it would
> remember where you left off, you can also use bookmarks if you wish.
>
> You can save individual articles and copy section of text or complete
> articles into the clipboard.
>
> I suppose you would need to decide if you want to learn something new
> and if you want to give it a go.
>
> I am waiting for RNIB to implement some features on their servers which
> theoretically should not take long. When done
> I would be able to release the new version. Until this is done SpeakOn
> is not available for NTNM publications.
>
> The above relates to eText, SpeakOn is able also to stream and download
> NTNM audio publications and this feature would be available at the same
> time.
>
> Regards
> Isaac
>
>
>
> On 30/05/2014 20:17, Derek Hornby wrote:
>> Does speakon work same as a-technic news reader?
>> I mean from user point of view are they same?
>> Regards, Derek
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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