Hi, I suggest that you avoid trying to control screen reader speed unless you want to control generic stuff like for cases when someone is not using a screen reader. That's because people might like not to have their settings changed unexpectedly. Just my two cents worth. Jim Highmark recipients, Read my accessibility blog<http://mysites.highmark.com/personal/lidikki/Blog/default.aspx> "If a green on green tree falls in the forest and you're there, can you see it?" "Not unless you have a screen reader." :) From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Andreas Stefik Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 12:27 PM To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: A question on Screen Reader Speed Standards Hi folks, I'm working right now on trying to build up our cross platform speech engines for the Sappy project and am trying, specifically, to get NetBeans to store custom preferences related to screen reader speed. On Mac, we basically just pass a flag to the TTS engine with a number, which, I suspect, is words per minute, although I'm not completely sure. On PC, things appear to be quite different and I'm not sure about all of the open source, and other, solutions out there (insert your favorite technology here). My question is, what would people suggest for standardizing the numbers for speed of reading we use for screen readers across all platforms? For example, does each screen reader everywhere measure speed in a different way? Should just put everything in words per minute and not worry about it, translating any screen reader that doesn't comply through some kind of calculation (if possible?)? Should we just standardize through some arbitrary metric, like 0 is the slowest and 1 is the fastest, then test everywhere to make sure those settings are "reasonable" and that the user's system preferences are not disturbed? To be clear, remember that our tool has to, ultimately, be compatible with every kind of screen reader, and should still work for the blind even if no screen reader is present (or if the screen reader doesn't work well at all). That's why I am asking, Thoughts are welcome, Stefik ________________________________ This e-mail and any attachments to it are confidential and are intended solely for use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and then delete it. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not keep, use, disclose, copy or distribute this e-mail without the author's prior permission. The views expressed in this e-mail message do not necessarily represent the views of Highmark Inc., its subsidiaries, or affiliates.