Narrator will not let you create documents. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adrian Higginbotham" <adrian.higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:24 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Low cost screenreaders and text-to-speech software Of course the one that everyone is missing thus far is narrator which is bundled free with windows xp and vista and while it isn't quite up to thebig 3 it isn't bad at all and plenty good enough for basic email and internet use and the occasional document creation. Although I haven't tried it the theory is that it is some what better in vista too. =20 Adrian Higginbotham Project manager, Standards British Educational Communications and Technology Agency - BECTA Tel: Direct dial 024 7679 7333 - Becta switchboard 02476-416994. Email: Adrian.Higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx Web: http://www.becta.org.uk/ BECTA, Millburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry, CV4 7JJ=20 -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis Sent: 14 February 2007 09:50 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Low cost screenreaders and text-to-speech software I'm trying to maintain a comparative table of screen readers at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screen_readers It needs more work with regards to the detailed notes (feel free to chip in folks <smile/>), but you might find it useful when shopping around. Nothing will yet match the broad capabilities of commercial screen readers. However, if it were me I would definitely investigate free alternatives like Thunder and especially free, open source, and scriptable alternatives like NVDA: http://www.nvaccess.org/nvda/ I've used both, but I was mainly looking into web accessibility, not office accessibility. Both Thunder and NVDA claim to support basic Word functionality; only NVDA makes an explicit claim to support basic Excel functionality. Thunder uses the WebbIE browser; NVDA uses Firefox and Internet Explorer. Thunder claims to support Outlook, NVDA claims to support Outlook Express. NVDA is still in early, but surprisingly rapid development. If you give feedback on missing features you need, the developers might be able to add them for you. Support for filling in online forms in Firefox may have to wait until Firefox 3 comes out with better accessibility support, but in the meantime there's: http://www.firevox.clcworld.net/ If you're serious about minimizing costs, you might look into Linux options such as: http://oralux.org/ http://www.ubuntu.com/access The later is, likewise, going to get a lot better once Firefox 3 is out (currently people often resort to using the Orca screen reader with a text browser). I hope that helps. -- Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=3Dunsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=3Dfaq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq