The Cork County Council website is now speech-enabled, which means that you can download free software onto your personal computer and have various pages from the site read aloud to you. The free software is called Browsealoud.

Browsealoud is a Windows browser plug-in designed for use with Internet Explorer 4 upwards or Netscape Navigator. If you install the Browsealoud plugin onto your PC, you can have the web pages on the Cork County Council website read back to you (and any other sites that are speech-enabled). To avail of this service, simply download the Browsealoud plugin for your browser by clicking on the following link: http://www.browsealoud.com/

Browsealoud... Making Websites Talk

Browsealoud reads web pages aloud for people who find it difficult to read online. Reading large amounts of text on screen can be difficult for those with literacy and visual impairments. Browsealoud were shortlisted in 'Web Development Company of the Year' category of the ICT Excellence Awards in Dublin. (April 2006) and were awarded Runner-up in Product of the Year category at Information Management Awards (Dec 2005). A full list of browsealoud enabled websites is available at the Browsealoud website at http://www.browsealoud.com.

Browsealoud features include:

• Free to download.
• Easy to use.
• Control of voice, pitch and speed.
• User defined hotkeys to activate and deactivate speech.
• A pronunciation engine to add words and define how a word is pronounced.
• The option to add voices to those already on the computer.
• The option to have the program start when the computer starts.

You can control how Browsealoud reads sites out to you. You can:

• Change the voice you are using
• Change the pitch, reading-speed and volume of the chosen reading voice
• Define your own shortcuts/hotkeys to start and stop reading
• Re-define how words are pronounced
• Add new voices
• Have the program start when the computer starts