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A recent development in accessibility software is making waves in the Software as a Service (SaaS) world. A PhD student the University of Washington has developed a web-based screen reader for the blind. Jeffrey Bigham, under the supervision of Professor Richard Ladner, has developed and launched WebAnywhere, which allows blind internet users to access a screen reader on any computer.

Seeing internet users take it for granted that they can do most of their online activity on any machine. Whether it’s a laptop, work computer, library machine, or a hotel kiosk, we can check our email, create and share documents, and keep up to date on the news regardless of our location. However, the nearly 10 million blind U.S. users rely on screen readers which must be installed on individual computers. These are often large applications, and many public internet portals will not allow users to install programs.

Bigham’s SaaS tool eliminates this problem by making a screen reader into a web-based program. He told the University of Washington News, “You don’t have to install new software. So even if you go to a heavily locked-down computer, say at a library, you can still use it.” Like many screen readers, WebAnywhere is being provided free of charge. The source code has also been released, and a Chinese developer is looking to adapt the technology for use with Chinese websites.

A demonstration of how WebAnywhere works is available on their website:

The SaaS tool has been tested on a variety of machines and browsers, and the initial release seems to be a unanimous success. The project has received a lot of attention, and while it is currently hosted on UW servers, the Alpha release may eventually evolve. UWNews reports that Bigham is working with web non-profit Benetech, which supports accessibility project for the blind.

Accessibility is one of the key issues facing future web and software developers. Many are following the lead of researchers like Bigham and Ladner to make it easier for users of all abilities to access the internet. As Bigham points out to UWNews, “Traditional desktop tools such as e-mail, word processors and spreadsheets are moving to the Web. Access technology, which currently runs only on the desktop, needs to follow suit.”

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Haley January Eckels