[access-uk] Re: e: Re: Zoomtext users
- From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 21:54:53 +0100
Hope its not being suggested that I believe ZoomText is an adequate 'screen
reader.' I did say within my post that it defintely isn't.
Who ever refered to useing 3x 4x magnification has my agreement in this. Any
more than that and you start losing too much screen area as well as context,
always a problem with magnification. Well, that's what I think.
On the subject of training, I never had any of that, and I doubt if I'm any the
worse for it. I am well aware though that many prefer to have it because
either they are not enough into computers and learning how to use them, or else
they simply haven't the time, and I respect that.
Also, in reply to a comment Justin made on this thread, I can quite see that we
all become more or less conservative in the way we access computers. Think a
lot depends on early effort put into learning and looking out for others
experience and comments. That's so much easier now that we have lists like
this one.
Ray
Personal emails: Email me at
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Cretney
Hi Ray
Yes I think I would agree with what Jane says here.
Zoom Text does not give you full screen reading facilities. In my position I
find it adequate, but I suspect that you might find it difficult as you are
used to working with window eyes. You will almost certainly not get as much
information from the Zoom Text reader as you get from the Window Eyes that you
are using at the moment.
The major improvement on Zoom Text 9.0 is as Justin has said the voices
especially in neovoice are a lot clearer. There is still something to be
desired in the area of the reading speed as this may have been increased
slightly but it is nothing like as fast as some of the other screen readers.
The new Xfont is much clearer to see what is on the screen, but of course this
is dependent on how much vision you have. I rarely have to use the system
running at more than two of at the most three times magnification. As you work
up the magnification levels I suspect hat Xfont will be a greater advantage
than it is at the low ones.
I have always found Zoom Text a good device for my personal needs. I cannot
say how it might work for people who have less vision than I have myself.
Try it and see what you think.
Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: Jane Taylor
Hi Ray
Zoomtext is not a screen reader and looks like it never will be quite
honestly. true the new voices are pleasant but for me i would be happier if
thye made the Zoomtext control panel accessible, it is so annoying having to
use the mouse in the control panel all the time. Surely AI Squared would be
able to put a tab order for this element?
With regards the web support, try using it on a complicated web page like
BBC; the reading order is still wrong.
Not happy with another costly SMA life for more bugs!
Jayne
Justin R <mypc128@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Ray,
Well, I can say that the new neospeech is great for the screenreading
part.
It's so human sounding, almost like the AT&T voices. It actually does not
speak out the < and > when reading a newspost or reading out someone
elses
e-mail to quote them. That's great as, truvoice will always read them out
and, it's so annoying. It stops me from reading previously quoted e-mails.
However, neospeech is not entirely clear in prenounciation all the time.
Plus, it's such a fine sound that any excess external noise makes it hard
for me to hear what its saying. HOwever, it's worth Aisquared keeping
this
voice package and developing it further.
ZT anounces a lot of what's going on, on screan, it always tells you
where
you are. Plus, there is the webfinder, that produces a list of links on
each webpage. Now. beta 9 executes this better than 8.1 does. It
identifies links in webpages quicker then the current full version.
There's
the desktop finder too. That, with some keyboard short cuts, brings up
the
list of all what's on the computer, all folders and, you can access my
documents and anything that way. I don't use it personally as, I don't
see
i need this as opposed to the webfinder which, is a lot more helpful to
me.
There is this new Xfont thingie. All I know is, from what i see on screan
that it seems to make the text, any text finer, more defined, emboldened
a
little, prenounced maybe. NOt sure how to describe it but, it helps to
make
words on screan more readable. This helps me out initially but, I still
have a struggle reading of screan for more than a couple of minutes
anyway.
However, it's great for small amounts of reading, makes it easier too.
I expect you know about appreader Ray? That was a god send since version
8.0 Docreader was n ever meant for reading e-mails and webpages. Not much
has changed with appreader. It does the job well though. pdf files can
mostly be red OK although, dependng on their design depends on how
appreader
will read them out. I think appreader's ability to read pdf files may
have
ever so slightly advanced from the 8.1 version when zt could read pdfs. I
don't use pdfs much myself so, that's not easy to judge at all.
hope some of this helps Ray
Justin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray's Home"
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