Downloads

Peter Verhoeven at magnifers.org has a good review of a new open sourced application called Accessible PDF. It makes PDFs accessible by using an component called PDFtoHTML to convert the text into a structured format that is easily manipulated and read by screenreaders. It's ability to change colours and line spacing also makes it useful for low vision users or users with dyslexia. More information is available on the Accessible PDF page. Alternatively you can download it directly.

A favourite application of mine that I recommend installing for vision impaired users is called Accessible BBC Listen Again. It's part of a larger suite of excellent programs that includes WebbIE, a podcasting program and a RSS reader. All are designed to work well with any screenreader, but work particularly well with JAWS and Thunder, a free screen reader.Hopefully one day it could be extended to include NPRs excellent programming.

Optelec USA have made the manuals for all their equipment availalbe in PDF format. If you have the Acrobat Reader you can view the document directly. You can also choose to download the file to your PC for future reference or printing. If you do not have an Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it free from the Adobe website.

Humanware have released the first version of their softrware for the Victor Reader Stream that enables easy transfer of books and notes to and from the device. Here is a direct link to the Companion software (.zip) and also the link to the Victor Reader page.

• http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/magic.asp