What is BrowseAloud?

BrowseAloud makes websites more accessible and reader-friendly to those who require online reading support. It adds speech, reading and translation support to websites, facilitating access and participation for those people with print disabilities, dyslexia, low literacy, mild visual impairments and those with English as a second language.

How Does It Work?

BrowseAloud is a web browser tool that works on all modern web browsers. When you are on the KFPL website, click on the BrowseAloud icon at the top of the site. This will open the BrowseAloud toolbar, which can be positioned anywhere on your screen or hidden from view, as you prefer.

BrowseAloud Toolbar Features

Text-to-Speech

BrowseAloud improves comprehension and understanding by 7% by highlighting each word as it is read aloud and simultaneously highlighting the sentence or paragraph in a contrasting colour. This allows users to easily identify what text is being read aloud and to navigate within and between web pages.

Spoken & Written Translation

BrowseAloud translates web pages into 78 languages and speaks the translated text where there is a matching voice available, which is currently 35 languages. Web owners can choose to have the translator switched on/off.

Text Magnification

Magnify text as it is read aloud with BrowseAloud. The magnified text is displayed with synchronous highlighting in a single line at the top of the screen as the text is being read aloud. This allows users with visual impairments to access even the smallest of text on a web page.

MP3 Generation

Convert text to an MP3 file.  The text can be saved and listened to at a later time, at home or on the move.  Web owners can create MP3 files to be hosted and streamed directly from their website.

Screen Mask

Block distractions on your screen.  A semi-opaque black mask extends across your screen leaving a letterbox reading window clear.  This view helps users to focus on the section of the web page they are most interested in and ignore the unnecessary "clutter".

Web Page Simplifier

Remove  clutter from your screen.  This feature presents the current web page in a more user-friendly layout that is free from the secondary information on the page, such as advertisments.

Customisable Options

Users can customise BrowseAloud to suit individual needs and preferences, with options to alter the voice speed, highlighting colours and the text size during magnification.  Users can also select default settings for the features they wish to switch on/off.

System Requirements

Recommended Platforms & Browsers

PC:

• Internet Explorer 8 and greater (IE9 or greater for PDF Reading and Simplifier)
• Firefox (latest release)
• Chrome (latest release)

Mac:

• Safari (latest release)

Mobile:

• iOS: Safari (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, latest release)
• Android: Chrome (Android v3 and greater, latest release)

BrowseAloud may work on other platforms and browsers. Support and updates are provided for the latest versions of PC (Chrome/Firefox), Android (Chrome) and iOS/Mac (Safari).