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September 2, 2010
Test the Product Design using POUR Accessibility Design Review
Filed under: Accessibility, Accessibility Testing — Priti Rohra @ 3:13 pmDesign defines the architecture of any product. It is at the design stage, where key user interaction, content display and layout of the content as whole is decided. All the decisions at the design stage are taken by keeping the “Target Audience” i.e. “Users” at the forefront.
Users of a product can include people of different age groups, geographical locations, diverse culture, speaking different languages and even people with range of abilities or disabilities as commonly referred to. Key to effective product design is ability to cater to needs of variety of users.
Often people with disabilities as a group are overlooked considering them as a bare minority when it comes to outlining the product design. Aren’t they part of the target audience that your product aims to cater to?
Following are some interesting facts of a study commissioned by Microsoft Corporation and conducted by Forester Research that reveals the number of adult computer users with disabilities in the United States (US):
- 1 out of every 4 people has visual impairment
- 1 out of every 4 people has mobility impairment
- 1 out of every 5 people has hearing impairment
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/research/
“As per the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 per cent of the world population or 650 million people are disabled!”
Source: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml
In today’s competitive era, no product can afford to miss out on such a huge number of potential users. Isn’t it?
Product designers, UI designers, Product managers, and Marketing managers must aim to cater to the needs of people with disabilities along with other user groups while outlining product design.
For instance, it is at the design stage one decides if they want to opt to use a menu for displaying website’s navigation options. However, which type of menu will be accessible for people with disabilities using different assistive technologies or input devices is a point of consideration.
Similarly is the colour contrast between the foreground text and background sufficient to meet the needs of users with different types of colour blindness?
How can we help?
BarrierBreak’s POUR Accessibility Design Review helps to analyze the product design by keeping different Accessibility standards and guidelines, such as WCAG 2.0 & Section 508 in mind.
With years of expertise in Accessibility testing and in-depth knowledge about the functioning of different Assistive Technologies (AT), by reviewing the product design our team will help to evaluate how different AT’s will interact with the product.
In addition, our Accessibility experts will provide you with practical recommendations that will help eliminate potential access barriers in the design which might restrict one or multiple user groups from accessing the product.
On the basis of the design review, our team can help you draw the road map for implementing Accessibility throughout the PDLC, avoid product retrofitting cost, comply with the Accessibility guidelines and standards and increase your customer base.
No CommentsMay 25, 2010
Optelec ClearReader+ – Reading with a difference
Filed under: Learning, Reading Machine, Visual — techeditor @ 11:57 am
The Optelec ClearReader+ is a high tech reader with which a visually impaired and a learning impaired person can read any kind of printed material. Now, reading letters, magazines, novels, newspapers, etc will no longer be a complex task. With Optelec ClearReader+ you can carry out these actions without any difficulty.
ClearReader+ comes with a smart convenient design that is easy to use, has high quality multi-lingual speech output and includes fast text recognition. By a single press of a button you can read whenever you want without any trouble.
This smart and stylish ClearReader+ has a high quality stereo sound with easy to change reading language and reading voice.
Optelec ClearReader+ has external buttons and controls like play, stop backward, forward, speed, scan, volume and on/off. With the help of these buttons and controls it will become very easy for you to operate ClearReader+.
Features:
- Camera – State of the art, high resolution, 5 megapixel camera enables it to read clearly to you.
- Text Recognition – It has an amazing multi-lingual text recognition quality.
- Battery and Power – Integrated Li-ion battery for 5 hours continuous use.
- Portability – Foldable carrying handle.
- Audio output – Either through headphones or built-in stereo speakers.
- Languages – Up to 4 selectable languages available.
- Size and Weight – The weight of this product is not too heavy and can be carried anywhere easily. The size is just appropriate to fit it on a study desk.
For demos and sales contact : sales@barrierbreak.com
No CommentsMay 24, 2010
Inclusive Libraries Workshop – a step towards making an Inclusive World
Filed under: Libraries, News, Programs — techeditor @ 2:26 pm
An initiative by BarrierBreak Technologies to make libraries inclusive in every part of India was successful at a yet another workshop in Mumbai at HELP Library. This workshop included all the information which was required to make ones library accessible to people with any kind of disability.
Shilpi Kapoor, Managing Director of BarrierBreak Technologies made the case to include people with disabilities and not to segregate them. They should be included in the main stream of education as well as provided employment.
The audience at the workshop included some esteemed individuals from different educational and social work institutions of the city such as librarians from KEM Medical College; Wilson College; Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) as well NGO participation from organizations like Muskan Foundation.
“The workshop was very interesting and opened a big box of knowledge and information in front of me, some of the facts which I was unaware of till today” said a yet another interactive audience member Anuroop Nair, a student of engineering.
One of our very interactive audience members, Wilson D’Souza, who believed in influencing the world indirectly, gave insights of different places where this technology access could be provided and how it could impact the disabled person.
The accessibility products that Shilpi Kapoor displayed to get included in the libraries were Optelec ClearView+, Clevy Keyboard, and Adaptive mouse and conversion software called Dolphin EasyConverter.
“The technology which was displayed in front of us really impressed us and we are thinking of updating our library with such useful products” said Devyani Kothari, Assistant Librarian at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Along with all the participation and interaction from both the audience and the speaker, the workshop proved to be a successful and fruitful one.
No CommentsMay 4, 2010
Dolphin EasyConverter – Tool to create alternate formats
Filed under: Alternate Formats, Digital Talking Books, Learning, Print Disability, Visual — techeditor @ 2:22 pm
EasyConverter is a tool by Dolphin to create alternate formats (altformat) of either printed documents or Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML or text files to large print, Braille, MP3 and Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) versions.
EasyConverter is a good option for people who do not have an altformat creation experience. A teacher can help his/her students with visual and learning impairments to cope up in their studies by converting the printed documents and text files into altformat versions.
The interface of EasyConverter software presents easy to use icons which have the options of Scanning, choosing to convert an already saved Word or PDF file, options of altformats, a conversion button and a saving the converted file button.
The altformats which are created by EasyConverter are:
- Large Print: Helps you make the text in your document larger for easy viewing.
- MP3: Converts text into audible files of MP3 frmat which can be heard in any media player.
- Braille: Converts text into Braille for the blind.
- DAISY: Converts text into Digital Talking Books.
EasyConverter has Optical Character Recognition Editor (OCR) application known as the OminPage. This OCR editor makes scanning PDF and printed documents more precise and simpler.
Also included with EasyConverter, is Dolphin EasyReader is a digital talking book player. EasyReader makes it possible for users to listen and read content with the help of a combination of speech, images and text. Use the EasyConverter and help your students educate themselves in a simple manner.
So, if you have this product in mind, do write to us to give it a try at: sales@barrierbreak.com
No CommentsMay 3, 2010
Easy Tutor – Learning made Easy
Filed under: Alternate Formats, Assistive Technologies, Learning — Webmaster @ 10:38 am
In today’s time, the world is moving so fast that it is like a rat race for children to get hold of the cheese called success. If the child has a difficulty in acquiring knowledge which the parents want him/her to, then the child may have a reading or a writing disability.
There are many ways to ease the difficulty of reading and writing and one of them is through Assistive Technology.
Dolphin’s revolutionary product called Easy Tutor is a software that makes it simple for the person with learning disability, especially with Dyslexia, to read, write, spell and understand printed material in Microsoft Word, Excel and Internet Explorer.
Every feature on Easy Tutor makes sure that the person is exposed to each and every part of the page displayed on the computer screen.
Some areas in the English language like Homophones (words which sound the same but spell and mean different) and Spellings, can be identified and understood by a single click on Easy Tutor.
Easy Tutor will suggest words of the English language to you when you are typing, through an option called Predict.
Easy Tutor can also Scan your printed documents in Microsoft Word. You can read or convert and save it in your computer as any readable file format.
Finished typing? Don’t worry through Easy Tutor you can record your entire text into an Audio File (.wav) to listen to it whenever and wherever you want. The Audio Quality of this software is very clear and simple to understand.
Want to read in PDF files, Easy Tutor has an option to convert MS Word documents to PDF files too. You can also choose different colours to change the colour of your computer screen to view it in a better way.
Easy tutor also has a Help and Settings option which will assist you into understanding its features and make use of them effectively. You name it and the service is just a click away on Easy Tutor.
For demos and sales contact : sales@barrierbreak.com
No CommentsApril 26, 2010
Inclusive Libraries – A step towards making libraries disabled friendly
Filed under: Daisy, Digital Talking Books, Libraries — Webmaster @ 1:41 pmBarrierBreak Technologies presents a whitepaper on Inclusive Libraries in collaboration with Daisy Forum of India (External Website) and AccessAbility (External Website).
About the Whitepaper – Inclusive Libraries
The need to access libraries is not one that we need to contend. Libraries provide us with a vast resource of knowledge whereby a person can access books, periodicals, newspapers, journals, etc. Today with the advent of digital libraries, collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers, also.
Persons with disabilities should also have access to both that is physical libraries as well as digital libraries.
Libraries are also a point of access whereby resources can be pooled and used by a large cross-section of the society. Therefore, making libraries inclusive is important for the growth of India’s population.
You can read more on the Whitepaper on: http://barrierbreak.com/whitepaper_inclib.php
No CommentsClevy Keyboard – Use the Computer the Colourful Way
Filed under: Learning, Mobility, children — Webmaster @ 11:39 am
The Clevy Keyboard is a brilliantly designed adaptive keyboard that makes it possible for children, people with learning disabilities and people with mobility impairment to use a computer in a simpler way.
The lively colours of the keys will attract any person’s attention towards it. With the help of the Clevy Keyboard, your child will also get familiar with computers in an educational manner.
On of the features about the keyboard is that the keys are four times bigger with bigger characters which are quite easy to identify. They are also very soft hence they can be pressed easily.
Gone are the days of ebony and ivory, the colourful keys of the Clevy Keyboard are displayed on a white background so that the focus remains on them.
When you will look at a Clevy Keyboard you will see that the keys are all categorized in different colours. Example:
- The Punctuation Keys like full stop, comma, question mark, brackets, etc. are in Orange colour.
- The Function Keys like Shift, CTRL, ALT, Enter, Backspace, Capslock, windows are all in Green colour.
- The Consonants are in Deep Blue colour but the Vowels are in Light Blue colour.
- The Numbers are in Red colour.
The Clevy Keyboard is strong and sturdy with smooth and curved edges unlike the usual keyboards and it also has a USB cable cord which can be connected to your laptop or to your computer.
For demos and sales contact : sales@barrierbreak.com
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