TNT: Talking text

An audio accessibility option helps visitor groups usually overlooked or not considered by site owners.

The Site

TNT, the Netherlands-based delivery services provider, has added a ‘read page’ option to the set of icons it includes beneath the search panel on all pages of its corporate website. A large ’New website feature’ panel on the home page links to an information page about the facility, called ReadSpeaker. This, the explanation says, “makes our website talk”: visitors using the technology can “listen to the text on the website, easy and quick”.

Bullet-point lists summarise the benefits of ReadSpeaker (for example, users do not need separate text-to-speech software and it works on most internet browsers) and who will benefit most (dyslexics or people with impaired vision, for example). There is also a link to a download site for Macromedia Flash Player, which is needed to run the program.

With the player installed, clicking the ‘read page’ link starts an audio run-through of the page’s main content. A digital meter clocks the running time of the reading while a stop/start button allows the listener a degree of control.

The Takeaway

TNT’s use of ReadSpeaker adds an accessibility option to its website that helps visitor groups who are usually overlooked or not considered by site owners. As the helpful supporting information explains, these can include people with sight impairments other than blindness (such as the elderly or long-sighted) or other reading issues (low literacy or second language, perhaps). They can also represent sizeable numbers of users or potential users; 6 million people in the UK are affected by dyslexia, for example.

However, while ReadSpeaker is opening up the site to more users and potential users (so, good for them and the company), it is not – and would not claim to be – an accessibility solution if you’re blind. In that case, a screenreader is still the most effective way to read web pages, not least because the technology can interpret the HTML format in which web pages are written, and not just the text.

First published on 15 February, 2007