Keyboard Tutor is a new Android app from the eyes-free project that can help you locate and learn about the keys on your physical keyboard, and any other physical buttons on your phone. Just start the app, and press any button to hear a description of that button spoken.
You can download Keyboard Tutor from the android market.
vendredi 11 mars 2011
lundi 7 mars 2011
How do I Develop an Accessible App?
If you are reading this blog for the first time, you are probably a developer wondering how to make your app more accessible to screen reader users. This post explains how you can test your app for accessibility, what you can do to make it more usable by blind and visually impaired people, and where you can find more information to help you develop accessibly.
Understanding Android Accessibility
When developing for Android, you must keep three things in mind:
1. The touchscreen is not accessible, so blind and visually impaired users find and activate controls using the d-pad or trackball.
2. Web views are not accessible, so blind and visually impaired users can not read information presented in this format, unless it is web content that can be accessed via the user default browser, in this case the Ideal Web Reader.
3. End users have very basic control over the information that is spoken, so long explanatory screens aren't helpful because the information generally cannot be repeated or spoken in its entirety.
Testing for Accessibility
To find out how accessible your app is for eyes-free users, simply turn on accessibility, activate a free screen reader, and try to use your own app without looking at the screen. Odds are you'll be sailing a stormy sea.
To turn on accessibility, do the following:
1. From the Android Market, install a free screen reader. Current options are Talkback and Spiel. Choose one.
2. Go into Settings/Accessibility, and check Accessibility and your screen reader.
The phone should start talking within a second or two. If it doesn't, you may need to install a free TTS library like SVox Classic or ESpeak.
Developing with a Screen Reader in Mind
Google has published a set of best practices for designing for accessibility. These boil down to a few key concepts:
• The UI should be navigable using a directional controller.
• Widgets should provide content descriptions.
• Custome views should deliver appropriate accessibility events during user interactions.
•
The list of suggestions below is based on issues end users encounter regularly:
1. Image-based controls should have appropriate content-descriptions; otherwise, eyes-free users hear "image button," without getting information about what the button is for.
2. All on-screen controls should be reachable via the trackball/d-pad or the Menu key; otherwise, eyes-free users cannot find or use them. This includes the Accept and Decline buttons of the initial screen.
3. Controls without implicit text (e.g., text inputs, radio buttons with separate labels, etc.) should also have contentDescriptions set; otherwise, eyes-free users can not complete complex input scenarios, as they will hear only "edit" or "checkbox," without having any information about how to populate the edit field or what checking or unchecking the box does. There is currently no way of associating static labels with inputs
. A workaround is to make the labels themselves focusable, but it's better to simply set the contentDescription of controls to the same value as the text that labels them.
4. Text alternatives should be available for information presented as embedded web views; otherwise, eyes-free users hear, "web view," and nothing else. Embedded web views are not spoken by the screen reader.
5. Apps that open the browser (to display a recipe, lyrics, shopping site, news article, etc) should open the user's default browser; otherwise, eyes-free users hear, "Web view," and nothing else. The stock browser is currently not accessible,, so blind and visually impaired users access the web via the Ideal Web Reader.
6. Explanitory text, like help screens and tutorials, should be short, no longer than the text displayed in the app description of the Market application on the phone; otherwise, eyes-free users do not hear them in their entirety. Two notepad apps that display text accessibly are uNote and OI Notepad.
Finding More Information
For more information, you can refer to a code lab created by some engineers on the eyes-free team. It goes over more advanced concepts. But this code lab is probably overkill for a developer who, like you, already has designed an app and just wants to make it accessible.
For help with specific issues, you can post to a developer group for programmers with eyes-free accessibility in mind.
Checking an App's Accessibility Rating
To find out how accessible eyes-free users think your app is, visit the Android Access website and look your app up. The site is a venue for blind and visually impaired Android users to rate apps for general accessibility and to share tips and workarounds for problems, like unlabeled buttons or inaccessible features.
To let end users know about your most recent accessibility improvements, post to the Eyes-Free users list or tweet @AccessAna, who will be happy to let other users know.
Understanding Android Accessibility
When developing for Android, you must keep three things in mind:1. The touchscreen is not accessible, so blind and visually impaired users find and activate controls using the d-pad or trackball.
2. Web views are not accessible, so blind and visually impaired users can not read information presented in this format, unless it is web content that can be accessed via the user default browser, in this case the Ideal Web Reader.
3. End users have very basic control over the information that is spoken, so long explanatory screens aren't helpful because the information generally cannot be repeated or spoken in its entirety.
Testing for Accessibility
To find out how accessible your app is for eyes-free users, simply turn on accessibility, activate a free screen reader, and try to use your own app without looking at the screen. Odds are you'll be sailing a stormy sea.To turn on accessibility, do the following:
1. From the Android Market, install a free screen reader. Current options are Talkback and Spiel. Choose one.
2. Go into Settings/Accessibility, and check Accessibility and your screen reader.
The phone should start talking within a second or two. If it doesn't, you may need to install a free TTS library like SVox Classic or ESpeak.
Developing with a Screen Reader in Mind
Google has published a set of best practices for designing for accessibility. These boil down to a few key concepts: • The UI should be navigable using a directional controller.
• Widgets should provide content descriptions.
• Custome views should deliver appropriate accessibility events during user interactions.
•
The list of suggestions below is based on issues end users encounter regularly:
1. Image-based controls should have appropriate content-descriptions; otherwise, eyes-free users hear "image button," without getting information about what the button is for.
2. All on-screen controls should be reachable via the trackball/d-pad or the Menu key; otherwise, eyes-free users cannot find or use them. This includes the Accept and Decline buttons of the initial screen.
3. Controls without implicit text (e.g., text inputs, radio buttons with separate labels, etc.) should also have contentDescriptions set; otherwise, eyes-free users can not complete complex input scenarios, as they will hear only "edit" or "checkbox," without having any information about how to populate the edit field or what checking or unchecking the box does. There is currently no way of associating static labels with inputs
. A workaround is to make the labels themselves focusable, but it's better to simply set the contentDescription of controls to the same value as the text that labels them.
4. Text alternatives should be available for information presented as embedded web views; otherwise, eyes-free users hear, "web view," and nothing else. Embedded web views are not spoken by the screen reader.
5. Apps that open the browser (to display a recipe, lyrics, shopping site, news article, etc) should open the user's default browser; otherwise, eyes-free users hear, "Web view," and nothing else. The stock browser is currently not accessible,, so blind and visually impaired users access the web via the Ideal Web Reader.
6. Explanitory text, like help screens and tutorials, should be short, no longer than the text displayed in the app description of the Market application on the phone; otherwise, eyes-free users do not hear them in their entirety. Two notepad apps that display text accessibly are uNote and OI Notepad.
Finding More Information
For more information, you can refer to a code lab created by some engineers on the eyes-free team. It goes over more advanced concepts. But this code lab is probably overkill for a developer who, like you, already has designed an app and just wants to make it accessible.For help with specific issues, you can post to a developer group for programmers with eyes-free accessibility in mind.
Checking an App's Accessibility Rating
To find out how accessible eyes-free users think your app is, visit the Android Access website and look your app up. The site is a venue for blind and visually impaired Android users to rate apps for general accessibility and to share tips and workarounds for problems, like unlabeled buttons or inaccessible features.To let end users know about your most recent accessibility improvements, post to the Eyes-Free users list or tweet @AccessAna, who will be happy to let other users know.
How do I tether my computer using PDAnet?
Contributed by John Herzog
PDAnet by June Fabrics Software is an application that enables you to tether your android phone to your computer. This is convenient when you need an internet connection as you are out and about. No rooting of the phone is required, and the app is both entirely accessible with Talkback and compatible with android 2.1 and 2.2.
I discuss using PDAnet with Windows. The Mac version does not appear to be accessible and I explain why later in this article.
Installing PDAnet
PDAnet involves some setup both on your phone and on the laptop or netbook you will be using.
First, install the app on your phone. To do this, use your handset to open the android market. In the search box, type "pdanet" without capitals or spaces. Scroll to PDAnet by June Fabrics software and install it as you would any other application.
Next, on your computer, go to the June Fabrics Software website and download PDAnet for your PC. There are two components to this program, and both are included in the installer. One of them enables your computer to surf the net, and the other is the PDAnet SMS agent. It is possible to send text messages from your computer when your phone is connected, but I cannot comment on whether the SMS agent is accessible or not because I have not used it.
Once setup has finished downloading, run it as you would any other windows program. The various screens, such as the license agreement, are pretty straight forward. There are, however, a couple of things to keep in mind as PDAnet is being installed onto the Windows machine:
1. Setup is going to ask you for your phone manufacturer. Make sure you choose the right one from the list, as all phones rely on different drivers. Installing the wrong one may leave you unable to use PDAnet, or may freeze the computer. If you have an older phone, you may have to find the USB drivers on the carrier or manufacturer website.
2. Setup may hang on the installing-USB-driver screen. If this happens, hit alt tab to check for additional screens. In my case, there was a security warning from Windows 7, saying that the driver was unsigned and therefore untrusted. I had to click Install Anyway for the setup process to continue. I also had to click a similar screen later in the setup process.
As installation progresses, the computer presents a screen with instructions for completing the USB driver setup. It tells you to unplug the phone from the computer if it is connected. It also instructs you to go into your phones settings and turn on USB Debugging mode. On the phone, this setting is found in Settings/Applications. Press the selector on USB Debugging and then again on ok when the phone warns that this option really shouldn't be turned on if you're not a developer. Plug the phone into your computer. After a while, the USB driver finishes installation, and PDAnet is ready to use.
I use NVDA as my screen reader. I knew setup was finished when it placed me in a read only field. I wasn't able to read anything in it, but an alt+F4 got me past that screen.
Using PDAnet:
Now that PDAnet is installed, fire it up and test the internet out. This is simple to do.
1. Connect the phone to the computer with the USB cable.
2. Make sure PDAnet is running on the computer, but don't click the connect icon in the system tray yet.
3. Launch the app on the phone. To do this, choose applications from the Eyes Free Shell, MA, or another home screen. hit p, and if necessary scroll to PDAnet. Open it by pressing the selector.
4. Check the phone to know what to do next.
a. The app may open on a screen with a few options. These include Start USB Tethering and Start Bluetooth DUN. You can connect either via bluetooth or USB to your computer for the tethering functionality. If this screen is the one that opens, select the option you want and hit enter to browse the web with firefox, internet explorer, or chrome.
b. Alternatively, the app may open on a screen showing two buttons. One of them is Stop PDAnet, and the other is unlabeled. I cannot comment on what the unlabeled button does. If this screen opens, you don't need to do anything else on the phone side, but you do have to click connect on the PC. To do this, go into the system tray. Arrow to PDAnet, press the Applications/Context key to pull up a list of options, and press enter on Connect to the Internet. If you are using windows 7, the network wizard asks questions at this point (e.g., type of network--home or public). After you get through the wizard, you should be able to browse the web with firefox, internet explorer, or chrome.
Note: I have not gotten the Bluetooth connection to work myself, so cannot comment on it.
Disconnecting PDAnet:
When you finish using the internet, disconnect your computer from it. I find that if I do not do so, my phone's battery goes down slightly, even though it is plugged into USB.
1. Start with the PC. Go back to your system tray, and find the PDAnet icon. Hit the applications key, and arrow to the Disconnect option, pressing Enter.
2. Next, on your phone, hit the Stop PDAnet button on the applications screen. If the phone has gone to sleep, you will have to unlock the screen first.
3. Finally, use Safely Remove on the PC to properly disconnect the phone.
Pointing out a Few Odds and Ends:
1. USB Debugging may need to be turned on and off if you want to use other features of your phone. I like to watch movies from my storage card, but the option to move files to and from the phone is not available with debugging turned on. To change this, I simply go into Settings/Applications, and uncheck the box that says allow USB tethering. Then I remember to turn this back on before using PDAnet again.
2. Sorry Mac users. PDAnet does not appear to be accessible. The program utilizes icons on the menu bar, similar to Sound Flower. Voiceover does not see the icons on the menu bar, and these must be clicked to connect to the internet. There does not appear to be a workaround, though I will admit that I have not played with the mac application thoroughly.
3. PDAnet is free, but there are limitations. To remove them, you must pay for a license. The most noteworthy limitation is that in the free version, you do not have access to secure web sites. These are addresses that start with https and require a login. The good news is that you get a 14 day trial of the unlocked program. This will help you decide whether you really want it or not. The licensing skeme is pretty liberal. You get a license for your phone, so you can install PDAnet on as many computers as you wish. As long as they are used with the same phone, your unlock code should work on multiple laptops, netbooks, etc.
I hope this information is helpful.
PDAnet by June Fabrics Software is an application that enables you to tether your android phone to your computer. This is convenient when you need an internet connection as you are out and about. No rooting of the phone is required, and the app is both entirely accessible with Talkback and compatible with android 2.1 and 2.2.
I discuss using PDAnet with Windows. The Mac version does not appear to be accessible and I explain why later in this article.
Installing PDAnet
PDAnet involves some setup both on your phone and on the laptop or netbook you will be using. First, install the app on your phone. To do this, use your handset to open the android market. In the search box, type "pdanet" without capitals or spaces. Scroll to PDAnet by June Fabrics software and install it as you would any other application.
Next, on your computer, go to the June Fabrics Software website and download PDAnet for your PC. There are two components to this program, and both are included in the installer. One of them enables your computer to surf the net, and the other is the PDAnet SMS agent. It is possible to send text messages from your computer when your phone is connected, but I cannot comment on whether the SMS agent is accessible or not because I have not used it.
Once setup has finished downloading, run it as you would any other windows program. The various screens, such as the license agreement, are pretty straight forward. There are, however, a couple of things to keep in mind as PDAnet is being installed onto the Windows machine:
1. Setup is going to ask you for your phone manufacturer. Make sure you choose the right one from the list, as all phones rely on different drivers. Installing the wrong one may leave you unable to use PDAnet, or may freeze the computer. If you have an older phone, you may have to find the USB drivers on the carrier or manufacturer website.
2. Setup may hang on the installing-USB-driver screen. If this happens, hit alt tab to check for additional screens. In my case, there was a security warning from Windows 7, saying that the driver was unsigned and therefore untrusted. I had to click Install Anyway for the setup process to continue. I also had to click a similar screen later in the setup process.
As installation progresses, the computer presents a screen with instructions for completing the USB driver setup. It tells you to unplug the phone from the computer if it is connected. It also instructs you to go into your phones settings and turn on USB Debugging mode. On the phone, this setting is found in Settings/Applications. Press the selector on USB Debugging and then again on ok when the phone warns that this option really shouldn't be turned on if you're not a developer. Plug the phone into your computer. After a while, the USB driver finishes installation, and PDAnet is ready to use.
I use NVDA as my screen reader. I knew setup was finished when it placed me in a read only field. I wasn't able to read anything in it, but an alt+F4 got me past that screen.
Using PDAnet:
Now that PDAnet is installed, fire it up and test the internet out. This is simple to do.1. Connect the phone to the computer with the USB cable.
2. Make sure PDAnet is running on the computer, but don't click the connect icon in the system tray yet.
3. Launch the app on the phone. To do this, choose applications from the Eyes Free Shell, MA, or another home screen. hit p, and if necessary scroll to PDAnet. Open it by pressing the selector.
4. Check the phone to know what to do next.
a. The app may open on a screen with a few options. These include Start USB Tethering and Start Bluetooth DUN. You can connect either via bluetooth or USB to your computer for the tethering functionality. If this screen is the one that opens, select the option you want and hit enter to browse the web with firefox, internet explorer, or chrome.
b. Alternatively, the app may open on a screen showing two buttons. One of them is Stop PDAnet, and the other is unlabeled. I cannot comment on what the unlabeled button does. If this screen opens, you don't need to do anything else on the phone side, but you do have to click connect on the PC. To do this, go into the system tray. Arrow to PDAnet, press the Applications/Context key to pull up a list of options, and press enter on Connect to the Internet. If you are using windows 7, the network wizard asks questions at this point (e.g., type of network--home or public). After you get through the wizard, you should be able to browse the web with firefox, internet explorer, or chrome.
Note: I have not gotten the Bluetooth connection to work myself, so cannot comment on it.
Disconnecting PDAnet:
When you finish using the internet, disconnect your computer from it. I find that if I do not do so, my phone's battery goes down slightly, even though it is plugged into USB. 1. Start with the PC. Go back to your system tray, and find the PDAnet icon. Hit the applications key, and arrow to the Disconnect option, pressing Enter.
2. Next, on your phone, hit the Stop PDAnet button on the applications screen. If the phone has gone to sleep, you will have to unlock the screen first.
3. Finally, use Safely Remove on the PC to properly disconnect the phone.
Pointing out a Few Odds and Ends:
1. USB Debugging may need to be turned on and off if you want to use other features of your phone. I like to watch movies from my storage card, but the option to move files to and from the phone is not available with debugging turned on. To change this, I simply go into Settings/Applications, and uncheck the box that says allow USB tethering. Then I remember to turn this back on before using PDAnet again.2. Sorry Mac users. PDAnet does not appear to be accessible. The program utilizes icons on the menu bar, similar to Sound Flower. Voiceover does not see the icons on the menu bar, and these must be clicked to connect to the internet. There does not appear to be a workaround, though I will admit that I have not played with the mac application thoroughly.
3. PDAnet is free, but there are limitations. To remove them, you must pay for a license. The most noteworthy limitation is that in the free version, you do not have access to secure web sites. These are addresses that start with https and require a login. The good news is that you get a 14 day trial of the unlocked program. This will help you decide whether you really want it or not. The licensing skeme is pretty liberal. You get a license for your phone, so you can install PDAnet on as many computers as you wish. As long as they are used with the same phone, your unlock code should work on multiple laptops, netbooks, etc.
I hope this information is helpful.
dimanche 6 mars 2011
Android Access Lets Users Review Apps for Accessibility
The following was posted to the Eyes-Free list today by J.J. Meddaugh of A T Guys.
A T Guys is pleased to announce a new website for the accessible Android community. Android Access offers information, ratings, and accessibility reviews for dozens of accessible Android applications.
Users can
• Post reviews of apps they've tried.
• View tips and tricks submitted by others.
• Learn more about how to get started with the Android operating system.
• Stay up to date with the latest news and features.
We are thrilled to bring this free service to the Android community, and look forward to your comments, suggestions, and submissions.
Click here to visit Android Access.
A T Guys is pleased to announce a new website for the accessible Android community. Android Access offers information, ratings, and accessibility reviews for dozens of accessible Android applications.
Users can
• Post reviews of apps they've tried.
• View tips and tricks submitted by others.
• Learn more about how to get started with the Android operating system.
• Stay up to date with the latest news and features.
We are thrilled to bring this free service to the Android community, and look forward to your comments, suggestions, and submissions.
Click here to visit Android Access.
mercredi 2 mars 2011
Mobile Accessibility: Code Factory Goes Android
Mobile Accessibility: Code Factory Goes Android!
Features
• Touchscreen Navigation
• Speech Recognition
• Web and Email Access
• Nuance’s Vocalizer® Text-to-Speech
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, March 2nd, 2011
Today, Code Factory is delighted to introduce Mobile Accessibility, a screen-access application that allows people who are blind or have low vision to use an Android phone in an intuitive, easy and simple way. Mobile Accessibility is the first accessible Android application that permits intuitive touchscreen navigation of Android phones, featuring text readback via natural sounding voices powered by Nuance’s Vocalizer® text-to-speech technology.
“Mobile phones have proved to be among the fastest-changing consumer technologies in the world – particularly with the advent of the Android platform. So making mobile phones accessible to the blind and visually impaired is therefore challenging, fascinating, thrilling and totally exciting all at the same time,” explained Eduard Sánchez, Code Factory’s CEO. “There was no doubt that we would target the Android platform, as we very quickly realized that there was a real need in this specific market for an accessible solution that can provide a user-friendly experience for all blind and low-vision consumers. Mobile Accessibility allows everyone, from beginners to the most tech-savvy, to use an Android phone, no matter if it has physical keys or is touchscreen-only.”
Mobile Accessibility Is Two Products in One:
• A suite of 10 accessible applications (Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarm, Calendar, Email, Web, Where am I, Apps and Settings) that have been specially designed for the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface whose textual information is spoken using Nuance Vocalizer® voice synthesis.
• A screen reader that allows users to get out of the suite and navigate the standard interface of their phone.
“Mobile Accessibility provides both access to the mainstream apps of the phone and access to special apps for blind people. Why? Because our philosophy has always been to allow our users to use the phone the same way as everyone else. However, we also believe that having some special apps for the most common tasks can be extremely useful if it means gaining in productivity,” added Eduard Sánchez.
The Major Features of Mobile Accessibility Are the Following:
• Touch navigation: You can use Mobile Accessibility not only with the trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone, but also with its touchscreen! Simply move your finger around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text located under your finger. Or if you prefer, you can also swipe up/down/right/left and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface. And if you wish you can enable sound and vibration feedback.
• Easy to input text: In or outside the Mobile Accessibility suite you can use the touch QWERTY keyboard as well as the speech recognition to write text quickly and easily. Imagine writing an SMS or an Email using your voice only.
• Voice synthesis: Code Factory has been making mobile phones accessible to the blind and visually impaired for many years now, and they know that the voice matters... and a lot! For Mobile Accessibility, Code Factory has partnered with Nuance® to leverage its trusted Vocalizer text-to-speech technology, providing consumers with natural sounding voice readback.
“With around 314 million visually impaired persons around the world, we believe that it’s our joint obligation to facilitate access to information and mobile communication to everyone” says Arnd Weil, VP & General Manager Automotive / Consumer Electronics, Nuance Communications. “By offering screen reader functionality for Android phones using Nuance Vocalizer, Code Factory gives blind and visually impaired persons access to one of the most important mobile platforms with the market’s most natural sounding and intelligible voices.”
Inside the Mobile Accessibility Suite of Accessible Applications You Can Do the Following:
• Phone: Make calls, answer calls, hear the caller ID and manage your call log.
• Contacts: Manage your contacts, even those from social networks such as Facebook.
• SMS: Compose and read short messages. Manage conversations.
• Alarms: Set your alarms.
• Web: Full web browser experience, similar to what you can find on your PC. Jump by the control of your choice (links, paragraphs, headings, forms, etc.) to navigate faster to the information of your interest. Bookmark your favourite webpages.
• Calendar: Create, edit and delete a calendar entry. View all events per day, week or month.
• Email: Full access to your Gmail account
• Where am I? : GPS application that gives you updates on your current location.
• Settings: Change ringtone. Configure feedback and notifications (vibration or audio). Configure keyboard echo, punctuation verbosity, speech pitch and rate, etc.
• Quick access to date and time, phone status information such as battery level and network coverage, number of missed calls and unread messages, etc.
To hear Mobile Accessibility in action listen to videos and audio demos.
Mobile Accessibility supports all Android phones from version 2.1 and above. Please note that voice recognition is only supported with version 2.2 and above. Note also that if you want to use the screen reader functionality of Mobile Accessibility you will need a phone with physical navigational controls such as a trackball or trackpad. Click here to find more information about Android phones.
At the time of this release Mobile Accessibility is only available in English, but soon Code Factory will release other versions of Mobile Accessibility for Spanish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese. Note that Mobile Accessibility doesn’t support multiple languages at one time. If you buy the English version of Mobile Accessibility you will not be able to use it in another language like French or Spanish. There will be a specific version of Mobile Accessibility for each language and each version will have to be purchased separately.
You can now get a Mobile Accessibility Demo from the Android Market and try the product for free for 30 days:
Click here for Mobile Accessibility Demo US.
Click here for Mobile Accessibility Demo UK
Soon Mobile Accessibility will be available for purchase through the Android Market at the price of 69 EUROS. You can purchase the application directly from the Market application of your Android phone, or from the Market web page. Before buying the app make sure to check out our website to see what carriers offer the product for free to their customers.
To learn how to use Mobile Accessibility for Android, please consult the user guide.
For technical assistance, please submit a ticket through Code Factory’s Help Desk.
For more information about Mobile Accessibility and Code Factory subscribe to the Mobile Accessibility mailing list.,
visit our website,
or follow the company on Twitter and use the hashtag #MA to talk about Mobile Accessibility.
About Code Factory
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the global leader committed to the development of products designed to eliminate barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Code Factory is the leading provider of accessible mobile applications such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces. Code Factory’s products are compatible with the widest range of mainstream mobile devices running on Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry Smartphones, and Android. Among Code Factory's customers are well known organizations for the blind such as ONCE in Spain, and carriers such as AT&T, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, TIM and Vodafone.
About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit Nuance.com.
Features
• Touchscreen Navigation
• Speech Recognition
• Web and Email Access
• Nuance’s Vocalizer® Text-to-Speech
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, March 2nd, 2011
Today, Code Factory is delighted to introduce Mobile Accessibility, a screen-access application that allows people who are blind or have low vision to use an Android phone in an intuitive, easy and simple way. Mobile Accessibility is the first accessible Android application that permits intuitive touchscreen navigation of Android phones, featuring text readback via natural sounding voices powered by Nuance’s Vocalizer® text-to-speech technology.
“Mobile phones have proved to be among the fastest-changing consumer technologies in the world – particularly with the advent of the Android platform. So making mobile phones accessible to the blind and visually impaired is therefore challenging, fascinating, thrilling and totally exciting all at the same time,” explained Eduard Sánchez, Code Factory’s CEO. “There was no doubt that we would target the Android platform, as we very quickly realized that there was a real need in this specific market for an accessible solution that can provide a user-friendly experience for all blind and low-vision consumers. Mobile Accessibility allows everyone, from beginners to the most tech-savvy, to use an Android phone, no matter if it has physical keys or is touchscreen-only.”
Mobile Accessibility Is Two Products in One:
• A suite of 10 accessible applications (Phone, Contacts, SMS, Alarm, Calendar, Email, Web, Where am I, Apps and Settings) that have been specially designed for the blind and visually impaired. They all have a simplified interface whose textual information is spoken using Nuance Vocalizer® voice synthesis. • A screen reader that allows users to get out of the suite and navigate the standard interface of their phone.
“Mobile Accessibility provides both access to the mainstream apps of the phone and access to special apps for blind people. Why? Because our philosophy has always been to allow our users to use the phone the same way as everyone else. However, we also believe that having some special apps for the most common tasks can be extremely useful if it means gaining in productivity,” added Eduard Sánchez.
The Major Features of Mobile Accessibility Are the Following:
• Touch navigation: You can use Mobile Accessibility not only with the trackball or the physical keyboard of your phone, but also with its touchscreen! Simply move your finger around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text located under your finger. Or if you prefer, you can also swipe up/down/right/left and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface. And if you wish you can enable sound and vibration feedback. • Easy to input text: In or outside the Mobile Accessibility suite you can use the touch QWERTY keyboard as well as the speech recognition to write text quickly and easily. Imagine writing an SMS or an Email using your voice only.
• Voice synthesis: Code Factory has been making mobile phones accessible to the blind and visually impaired for many years now, and they know that the voice matters... and a lot! For Mobile Accessibility, Code Factory has partnered with Nuance® to leverage its trusted Vocalizer text-to-speech technology, providing consumers with natural sounding voice readback.
“With around 314 million visually impaired persons around the world, we believe that it’s our joint obligation to facilitate access to information and mobile communication to everyone” says Arnd Weil, VP & General Manager Automotive / Consumer Electronics, Nuance Communications. “By offering screen reader functionality for Android phones using Nuance Vocalizer, Code Factory gives blind and visually impaired persons access to one of the most important mobile platforms with the market’s most natural sounding and intelligible voices.”
Inside the Mobile Accessibility Suite of Accessible Applications You Can Do the Following:
• Phone: Make calls, answer calls, hear the caller ID and manage your call log. • Contacts: Manage your contacts, even those from social networks such as Facebook.
• SMS: Compose and read short messages. Manage conversations.
• Alarms: Set your alarms.
• Web: Full web browser experience, similar to what you can find on your PC. Jump by the control of your choice (links, paragraphs, headings, forms, etc.) to navigate faster to the information of your interest. Bookmark your favourite webpages.
• Calendar: Create, edit and delete a calendar entry. View all events per day, week or month.
• Email: Full access to your Gmail account
• Where am I? : GPS application that gives you updates on your current location.
• Settings: Change ringtone. Configure feedback and notifications (vibration or audio). Configure keyboard echo, punctuation verbosity, speech pitch and rate, etc.
• Quick access to date and time, phone status information such as battery level and network coverage, number of missed calls and unread messages, etc.
To hear Mobile Accessibility in action listen to videos and audio demos.
Mobile Accessibility supports all Android phones from version 2.1 and above. Please note that voice recognition is only supported with version 2.2 and above. Note also that if you want to use the screen reader functionality of Mobile Accessibility you will need a phone with physical navigational controls such as a trackball or trackpad. Click here to find more information about Android phones.
At the time of this release Mobile Accessibility is only available in English, but soon Code Factory will release other versions of Mobile Accessibility for Spanish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese. Note that Mobile Accessibility doesn’t support multiple languages at one time. If you buy the English version of Mobile Accessibility you will not be able to use it in another language like French or Spanish. There will be a specific version of Mobile Accessibility for each language and each version will have to be purchased separately.
You can now get a Mobile Accessibility Demo from the Android Market and try the product for free for 30 days:
Click here for Mobile Accessibility Demo US.
Click here for Mobile Accessibility Demo UK
Soon Mobile Accessibility will be available for purchase through the Android Market at the price of 69 EUROS. You can purchase the application directly from the Market application of your Android phone, or from the Market web page. Before buying the app make sure to check out our website to see what carriers offer the product for free to their customers.
To learn how to use Mobile Accessibility for Android, please consult the user guide.
For technical assistance, please submit a ticket through Code Factory’s Help Desk.
For more information about Mobile Accessibility and Code Factory subscribe to the Mobile Accessibility mailing list.,
visit our website,
or follow the company on Twitter and use the hashtag #MA to talk about Mobile Accessibility.
About Code Factory
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain, Code Factory is the global leader committed to the development of products designed to eliminate barriers to the accessibility of mobile technology for the blind and visually impaired. Today, Code Factory is the leading provider of accessible mobile applications such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and Braille interfaces. Code Factory’s products are compatible with the widest range of mainstream mobile devices running on Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry Smartphones, and Android. Among Code Factory's customers are well known organizations for the blind such as ONCE in Spain, and carriers such as AT&T, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, TIM and Vodafone. About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit Nuance.com.
mardi 1 mars 2011
TouchType Is Now Available
Nolan Darilek, the developer of the Spiel screen reader, posted the following to the Eyes-Free Android list. His new app is a free download from the Android Market:
Touchtype is an accessible on-screen keyboard for Android devices, inspired heavily by that found in Apple's IOS. Open source released under the Apache 2.0 license, Touchtype is useful even without the on-screen keyboard, as it also solves several accessibility flaws in Android's input-handling. Find it in the Android Market, or at
http://dev.thewordnerd.info/touchtype
where you'll also find installation and usage instructions.
Note: please read the *entire main page* before asking questions or offering feedback, as the FAQ addresses many of the most common questions I've received.
Enjoy.
I'll try popping into the eyes-free list from time to time, but for a quicker response, please ask any questions on the Spiel group.
Touchtype is an accessible on-screen keyboard for Android devices, inspired heavily by that found in Apple's IOS. Open source released under the Apache 2.0 license, Touchtype is useful even without the on-screen keyboard, as it also solves several accessibility flaws in Android's input-handling. Find it in the Android Market, or at
http://dev.thewordnerd.info/touchtype
where you'll also find installation and usage instructions.
Note: please read the *entire main page* before asking questions or offering feedback, as the FAQ addresses many of the most common questions I've received.
Enjoy.
I'll try popping into the eyes-free list from time to time, but for a quicker response, please ask any questions on the Spiel group.
dimanche 20 février 2011
How do I work with the call log in Touchwiz on my Samsung phone running Android 2.1?
Contributed by John J. Herzog
I am a Samsung epic user. My phone has the Touchwiz UI, and in my opinion, it's pretty accessible with Android 2.1, the only noticeable exception being the call log. This is not the case for the Epic running Android 2.2, which has a number of accessibility issues and which I discuss in another post. Here I describe how to work with the call log in Touchwiz devices running Android 2.1.
In the epic running 2.1, the initial screen of the call log does not speak with either Talkback or Spiel. As you navigate up and down the list of calls, you hear a click each time you move the arrow keys, but nothing is spoken. This is not a show stopper, though, because you can press enter on the keypad to get a list of details that you can navigate through accessibly.
So if I go into the call log and hit the down arrow a couple of times, I don't hear anything. But when I hit enter on a random spot, I find out that I called my dad. Talkback speaks his number, and the phone shows me a list of all the times I have previously called him.
At the top of this Details screen is a set of buttons, which the phone also reads correctly. They are Call, Add to Contacts, Delete, and so on, and I can use the left and right arrows to move from one button to the other.
Below the buttons is the first entry/call--the most recent. The line below that is the call I made several days ago, etc., all the way down the screen from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom.
To get back to the main screen of the Call Log, I press the back button. Once there, I can continue scrolling down the list to other calls, pressing enter every time I want to know whom I called or who called me. I know this is not the most convenient way of doing things, but every other screen on the Epic with 2.1 works better than this one.
You can use the Details screen to delete one or more calls from the same person. Deleting all but the most recent call makes navigating your call log easier. If you don't delete things, you may find yourself returning to the same list of calls over and over as you arrow through the main Call Log screen and press enter on another call to or from the same person. So to save yourself aggravation, review all the times you called a certain number, and delete all calls or any repetitions in one fell swoop.
To delete call entries, open the Details screen, where the calls for a specific person are listed. from here, press Menu. Right-arrow to the Delete button, and press enter. Focus moves to a list of check boxes. Select all the calls you want to delete by arrowing to each check box and pressing enter. At the bottom of the list is a delete button. Press enter on it to get rid of the entries you selected.
Note that, for some strange reason, the select all check box is spoken by Talkback, but it is not clickable. It would be great to just click that and arrow to delete, but that does not appear to be possible.
The information in this post covers working with the call log of the Samsung Epic, a phone running the Touchwiz UI with Android 2.1. This is the only aspect of the phone that is negatively affected by the UI; however, before considering a Touchwiz phone, please read my post on the Epic with Android 2.2.
I am a Samsung epic user. My phone has the Touchwiz UI, and in my opinion, it's pretty accessible with Android 2.1, the only noticeable exception being the call log. This is not the case for the Epic running Android 2.2, which has a number of accessibility issues and which I discuss in another post. Here I describe how to work with the call log in Touchwiz devices running Android 2.1.
In the epic running 2.1, the initial screen of the call log does not speak with either Talkback or Spiel. As you navigate up and down the list of calls, you hear a click each time you move the arrow keys, but nothing is spoken. This is not a show stopper, though, because you can press enter on the keypad to get a list of details that you can navigate through accessibly.
So if I go into the call log and hit the down arrow a couple of times, I don't hear anything. But when I hit enter on a random spot, I find out that I called my dad. Talkback speaks his number, and the phone shows me a list of all the times I have previously called him.
At the top of this Details screen is a set of buttons, which the phone also reads correctly. They are Call, Add to Contacts, Delete, and so on, and I can use the left and right arrows to move from one button to the other.
Below the buttons is the first entry/call--the most recent. The line below that is the call I made several days ago, etc., all the way down the screen from newest at the top to oldest at the bottom.
To get back to the main screen of the Call Log, I press the back button. Once there, I can continue scrolling down the list to other calls, pressing enter every time I want to know whom I called or who called me. I know this is not the most convenient way of doing things, but every other screen on the Epic with 2.1 works better than this one.
You can use the Details screen to delete one or more calls from the same person. Deleting all but the most recent call makes navigating your call log easier. If you don't delete things, you may find yourself returning to the same list of calls over and over as you arrow through the main Call Log screen and press enter on another call to or from the same person. So to save yourself aggravation, review all the times you called a certain number, and delete all calls or any repetitions in one fell swoop.
To delete call entries, open the Details screen, where the calls for a specific person are listed. from here, press Menu. Right-arrow to the Delete button, and press enter. Focus moves to a list of check boxes. Select all the calls you want to delete by arrowing to each check box and pressing enter. At the bottom of the list is a delete button. Press enter on it to get rid of the entries you selected.
Note that, for some strange reason, the select all check box is spoken by Talkback, but it is not clickable. It would be great to just click that and arrow to delete, but that does not appear to be possible.
The information in this post covers working with the call log of the Samsung Epic, a phone running the Touchwiz UI with Android 2.1. This is the only aspect of the phone that is negatively affected by the UI; however, before considering a Touchwiz phone, please read my post on the Epic with Android 2.2.
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