Description:Home Page Reader (HPR) is a speaking web browser. It can be used by individuals who have limited vision, blindness, or reading disabilities such as dyslexia to access many (but not all) web sites. It simultaneously displays and reads pages, highlighting each word as it is read, making it an especially good tool for people with some remaining vision or for demonstrations to people without visual impairments. Unlike general "screen readers," such as JAWS or Window-Eyes, Home Page Reader can only read web pages and email; it cannot be used for word processing, spreadsheets, or other computer applications. Additionally, Home Page Reader (or any screen reader) can only accurately read web pages that have followed basic accessibility coding practices; unfortunately there are still many web sites that cannot be read for people with disabilities Installation Notes:HPR requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 (or higher) to operate. If Internet Explorer 5.01 is not installed, the HPR setup program will offer to install it. (This should be done.) HPR will initially set itself as the system's "default" web browser and set its (and Internet Explorer's) "Home page" to the HPR help page - these settings may be changed back to their original settings. After installation, it may be helpful to simplify HPR's screen by turning off the "History List" and "Information View". Change these settings by opening HPR's View menu, selecting Show, and unchecking "History List" and "Information View". Operation:HPR is operated using keyboard commands. Right & left arrows are used to move between items, Enter to activate links, and Ctrl to temporarily silence speech. For more keyboard commands, see: Web Accessibility Guidelines:Web sites that follow accessibility guidelines will be the most usable with HPR (or any screen reader). Important resources for web accessibility include:
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