Let our site speak to you
Why have a site read aloud?
There are many reasons to have the content spoken to you. Perhaps you have trouble reading and would like to have text read to you instead. Or maybe English is not your first language. Maybe you are blind or partially sighted. Whatever your reason our site should still be able to speak to you.
Getting a site read aloud
How you get the site read to you depends on the web browser and operating system you are using. Most web browsers require an add-on, or plug-in, installed and the instructions for this vary and we have provided the Microsoft Windows instructions below:
- In Opera (from version 9) you highlight the text you want read aloud, then right-mouse click on a page and select "Speak" from the menu that appears. If it is the first time you have done this it will tell you it needs to install some more files. Simply click YES and when it is complete just close Opera and open it again.
- In Firefox you need to go to TOOLS in the menu, then ADD-ONS. From there click "Get Add-ons" and search for a program called FoxVox 2.
- In Internet Explorer you will need to install a toolbar for this. Be very careful when installing toolbars in Internet Explorer, as some can compromise your systems security. We have tried "Alive Text to Speech", which seems to work fairly well, but it is only a trial when you first download it, so you would need to try it and decide if it is the right product for you before you pay anything for it.
There maybe other applications available, this list was never meant to be complete.
Was it done differently before?
Yes, it was, but we had to pay for it and not enough people used it to make it a worthwhile expense.
