On Trial, the first episode of Upstairs Downstairs, was broadcast on this day in 1971. Due to the colour strike it was originally recorded in black and white (and then re-recorded in colour at the end of the S1 production block).
RE: https://allovertheplace.ca/@DavidGoldfield/117417541476410262
And it is the best Email and Access Tech news source on the planet. Nothing beats it.
Morning everyone. Not doing a lot at the moment; just hearing the radio. I hope everyone has a good day!
RE: https://teamfmradio.com/@info/117412681693264864
I really do like this one. Top notch is what it is.
#UsefulAIPrompts. Help me assess a product’s accessibility before I buy it. I am blind and want to understand whether I can use it independently for the tasks that matter to me.
Product:
[Enter the product name, exact model, or a link to its listing.]
My country:
[Enter your country so that models, availability, and return policies are relevant.]
What I want to use it for:
[Describe the main tasks you want to perform.]
Optional information:
- Phone or computer I would use with it:
- Features that are essential to me:
- Accessibility problems I particularly want to avoid:
- Whether occasional assistance with initial setup would be acceptable:
Getting started
Use the information I have supplied. If an important detail is missing, ask one question at a time and wait for my answer.
Establish the exact model before making model-specific claims. Check whether similarly named models, regional versions, or different generations have different controls or features.
Focus on my intended use. Do not assume that every blind person has the same needs, technical experience, or preferences.
Research
Search current manufacturer documentation, including manuals, support pages, accessibility information, and relevant software release notes.
Also look for first-hand accessibility reports from blind users, specialist reviewers, or organisations that have tested the product.
- Prefer reports that identify the model, software version, and tasks tested.
- Give dates where they matter. Flag older reports that may no longer reflect the product.
- Distinguish manufacturer claims from documented operating instructions and independent testing.
- Explain any disagreement between sources rather than silently choosing one.
- Do not treat a lack of accessibility reports as proof that the product is accessible or inaccessible.
- If you cannot browse or inspect a source, say so. Do not imply that you have checked it.
- Do not rely on advertising phrases such as “easy to use”, “voice enabled”, or “accessible design” as evidence of nonvisual access.
Assess the complete experience
Consider the tasks relevant to this product, including:
- Identifying controls, buttons, sockets, and orientation.
- Initial setup, pairing, account creation, and network connection.
- Everyday operation and changing settings.
- Reading status, progress, results, warnings, and error messages.
- Recovering from mistakes, connection failures, or unexpected modes.
- Cleaning, maintenance, replacing consumables, and resetting the product.
- Installing updates and repeating setup after a reset.
Distinguish between assistance needed once during setup and assistance needed repeatedly during normal use.
Controls and feedback
Explain how I would actually perform important tasks without sight.
- Are physical buttons distinguishable by touch?
- Do controls have fixed positions and predictable behaviour?
- Can settings be identified reliably, or must I remember a starting state and count button presses?
- Does the product provide meaningful speech, tones, tactile feedback, or accessible text?
- Do sounds identify particular states, or merely confirm that something happened?
- Is important information shown only through lights, colours, symbols, or a visual display?
- If there is a touchscreen, is there documented screen-reader support or another verified way to complete the same tasks?
- If voice control is available, which functions does it cover, and what happens when it fails?
Do not assume that physical buttons make the whole product accessible, or that a touchscreen makes it inaccessible.
Companion apps and online services
If a phone app, computer program, or website is involved, assess it separately from the physical product.
Check compatibility with my device and screen reader where relevant. Distinguish between an app being available on a platform and being usable with its screen reader.
Explain whether the app is optional, required only for setup, or required for everyday use. Identify any essential tasks that remain inaccessible even if other parts of the app work.
Mention relevant dependencies such as internet access, subscriptions, cloud services, or a particular operating system. Do not describe an app-based workaround as reliable unless there is evidence for the specific task.
Present the findings
Begin with a short practical verdict focused on my intended use: promising, suitable with limitations, probably unsuitable, or insufficient evidence.
Then use clear headings and short lists to cover:
1. Tasks that appear usable independently.
2. Tasks that require a workaround or assistance.
3. Important unknowns.
4. Questions to ask before buying.
For each significant finding, make the evidence clear:
- Documented: supported by a manual or other specific manufacturer documentation.
- User-tested: reported by someone who actually tried the task; identify the relevant setup where known.
- Unverified: plausible, claimed, or suggested, but not established by the available evidence.
Manufacturer documentation is not the same as independent verification. Do not claim that the whole product is accessible because one feature works.
Describe workarounds realistically, including their inconvenience and limitations. Treat tactile labels, memorised sequences, camera assistance, and help from another person as workarounds rather than built-in accessibility. Do not assume they suit my needs.
Questions before purchase
Give up to five specific, practical questions to ask the seller or manufacturer. Focus on unresolved issues that could affect my decision.
Ask about particular tasks rather than simply asking, “Is it accessible?”
Include a way to test the exact product, such as a demonstration, a trial, or trying it with my own phone and screen reader.
Include checking the applicable return policy, especially whether opening, setting up, pairing, or briefly testing the product affects eligibility, and whether return costs or fees apply. Verify the seller’s terms where possible rather than assuming them.
Finish with the most useful next step, such as testing a particular function or obtaining written confirmation of an essential feature. If the evidence is insufficient, say what would resolve the uncertainty.
Accessibility and style
Use clear headings, short paragraphs, and simple lists that work well with a screen reader. Do not use tables, emojis, decorative symbols, or asterisks for emphasis.
Explain unfamiliar technical terms briefly. Give source links descriptive labels, and keep them close to the findings they support.
Be practical and candid. Do not offer blanket reassurance, invent test results, or describe a product as fully accessible without evidence covering the relevant tasks.
Output only necessary clarification questions or the assessment. Do not add acknowledgements, commentary about what you will do, or generic closing offers of help.
So Gary Lineker says that in Britain we should no longer refer to Christmas cards. We should call them Winter cards instead. Ridiculous.
Good song. Reminds me of school days. I am listening to Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better on TeamFM.
Question, and I think I know the answer to this but I am being thorough. Does NVDA have a keystroke to output the application version and build number, similar to JAWS Control+Insert+V?
Evening everyone. I'm looking forward to the weekend!
So just been working away on various projects as usual and also working with customers on the phone, especially today.
What spare time I've had since the weekend, I've been helping with the app Accessible Auphonic, which probably most people know about by now.
I hope everyone has had a good day!
Introducing Accessible Auphonic: Better Audio, Made Easier for Screen Reader Users. https://hartgenconsultancy.com/introducing-accessible-auphonic-better-audio-made-easier-for-screen-reader-users/
This is an interview with author Jeffrey Archer, recorded just a few hours before his death this Monday.
It is conducted by Gyles Brandreth. I've always liked Gyles a lot, and I especially enjoyed his autobiography Odd Boy Out.
This interview was recorded at a live performance at the Leicester Square Theatre in London.
This Tuesday, the day after Jeffrey Archer's death, his 50th novel was published.
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6835e960944c948b9a623f10/e/6ac62bbd3dc1c1be4a9e72d7/media.mp3
@brian Linking the speakers' notes to bullet points has literally changed the way I create presentations. Now, I write each bullet or text item while considering what the notes I want to apply to it that won't fit on the slide should contain. Instead of having to construct content blocks that try to stand alone and speakers' notes that try to ensure the audiance can retain what I said about a bullet I discussed earlier, I can discuss the bullet and expound on it right away.
Using the ability to link speakers' notes with individual content blocks is truly special when combined with Brian's creation of a reading script that PresentAble will generate for you that converts the presentation into text. Now when I review the file I will be presenting from, I see a content block and right below it is the note that directly relates to that particular content block.
I can't wait for everyone who works with presentations to have the chance to use PresentAble! We are creating something that is special.
A good work day; very very productive.
I did quite a few Leasey installs for new customers.
Also, a little more app development in some key areas which people will benefit from in a couple of weeks.
As people may know, I am working with Jonathan Simione on an app to create accessible PowerPoint presentations. We're pretty much there, but when I woke up this morning, he presented me with an interesting challenge. I like challenges.
If you are working through a presentation, rehearsing it, and you have speakers' notes, how can we associate part of the speakers' notes with a single bullet.
When you think about speakers' notes, they are related to a single PowerPoint slide.
But if you want to explain something, you may want to have an extensive note related to a single bulleted item on that same slide.
That makes complete sense. You're presenting something, and you have a series of bulleted items. You want to make notes as to those specific bulleted points.
Well, I scratched my head for a moment; cut me some slack it was about 2 AM!
Anyway, I did get there. You can do it now.
I will tell you something though. I am working with Jonathan's wife Desiree on another app; I'm not sure what she is going to do with this yet, but it is called Accessible Auphonic.
Auphonic is an excellent service which can do all manner of audio processing of files. I've used it lots over the years.
The web site is very usable, but a desktop app can make it more effective and jobs get done faster.
I have not done much on this one with the development of it apart from making suggestions. But I had an idea about the context sensitive help. People should be educated in terms of what these settings do, through the context help, in the same way I try to do with Leasey Social.
Telling people what a setting is can be helpful. But that's not educating someone. That is not telling someone why they would want to use a setting or what the effect of applying it may be, in simple easy-to-understand language. What is the point of telling someone that they are focused on a control and how to interact with it if the user does not understand what the effect of doing so would be!
Well, I think I am good at AI prompting but it is simply not getting this help in quite the way I would expect.
And it goes to prove what I have thought; AI is great but there are just some things a human being has to do. This help is not couched in the language which does what I was hoping for.
You could spend time on this and you might get there, but often, the best thing to say is damn it, let's just write it. Get on with it, and write it yourself, because that is the very best way of getting the quality you want.
Anyway, that is my day. I hope everyone has had a good one.
WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey #11 Results
@DerryLawlor Hi Derry, did you see Jeffrey Archer had died? Very sad given it was the day before his last book was published, which is today.
@DesireeRenae I just wanted to say that your Accessible Auphonic app you've been working on inspired me to do something.
For broadcasting, I use a product called Stereo Tool which applies a lot of audio compression and equalisation.
For years, I have adjusted the settings so it is exactly what Lulu and I have always liked and that everything crossfades beautifully. But, there's a huge number of settings you can control, and there are some aspects of the interface not completely accessible. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything which could be to our advantage.
So, I got Codex to create me a completely accessible version of the app.
Actually, it proved that I don't want to change anything at all. But it was a very useful exercise to verify at least that I still like the work I have done over the years. So thank you for the inspiration. I had not thought of doing anything like that before.
RE: https://social.vivaldi.net/@ReadingTheDots/117390992427973898
This is so sad, my favourite author.
A good day on the work front at least. I got all of the documentation written for the new Leasey update, so I'm very pleased with that.
I needed to get my head down and get on with it as there was a lot to do.
Working with customers tomorrow. I hope everyone has had a good day!
Several weeks ago, I recorded some brief audio demonstrations of my dictation tool which allows people to dictate directly into the Leasey Word application. People have particularly welcomed this concept and have asked a number of questions about it. I want to answer some of those questions here.
I am doing this initially using my personal Mastodon account because that was where the demos originated.
Let's deal with some basics first.
The dictation feature within Leasey word will be available within the next major update, hopefully at the end of this month.
Dictating text into an application is not something you can just pick up and work with. If you want to become proficient at it and avoid correction, it does take some practice. The documentation relating to the best use of Leasey word's dictation feature runs to just over 30 pages. That is how seriously we take this subject. It's not a few paragraphs which have been thrown together. It is a discussion of this subject which gives useful advice, and it is suggested people should read it when it is available. Purchasers of the Catching Up with Leasey training course to begin this month will obtain some tuition on this feature as well.
We have chosen to use an online service for interpreting dictated text. The reason for this is accuracy. We prefer that the text being transcribed is as accurate as possible. Anyone can create an application using freely available local transcription models, and if people want to use those and hope for the best, good luck to them. We however are interested in serious voice recognition, and that means exceptionally accurate transcription. I would go as far as saying that individuals creating such solutions have not had sufficient experience in working with people using voice recognition and just implemented it because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Having dealt with the basics, let's get down to some specifics.
Does the tool auto-punctuate?
Yes, at the moment, although that will change in the coming months. There are ways of controlling how it does punctuate though. Voice inflection certainly plays a large part in this process. However, you can force punctuation signs by speaking them, such as full-stop or period, comma, exclamation mark, etc.
Can you dictate lengthy passages without stopping?
Yes. That is not recommended when learning but it is certainly possible. There is also a feature called Live Transcription which is designed to capture lectures or meeting notes through transcribing what is being spoken on a continuous basis.
Does JAWS have to echo back each phrase as I dictate?
No. It can play a sound or have no feedback at all. If you do choose to have JAWS echo your text back, which if you cannot see is helpful in many situations, it will echo the punctuation signs even if the JAWS punctuation level is set to Some or None. This is because it is critical that you understand the punctuation signs which have been inserted, whether it has auto-punctuated or whether you have forced the recognition of punctuation signs.
Typically, how long does it take for a response to be processed if you speak a short phrase?
The average time on a good internet connection is 0.6 seconds.
It is possible to vary the processing time if you typically speak more slowly. For example, you can set it so that you could say, this is a very, then pause, and then say, good test. That would then be interpreted as a constructed sentence. So we're not talking here about the time interval between you speaking a phrase and JAWS echoing it back. What we are discussing however is how fast that audio processing is. If you speak relatively slowly, you do not want the system to interpret a part of speech as a complete sentence necessarily.
Can you speak commands to move the cursor to specific words or select them?
Yes you can do that. If you know the text you want to select or move to, you can say those words. The documentation describes those procedures.
What about dictating individual characters, including letters, numbers and punctuation signs?
You can do that too. In addition, with or without spell mode, you can indicate initial capitals or fully capitalised text. Spell Mode, like Dragon NaturallySpeaking, accepts letters, numbers and punctuation signs. Dictating signs used in Markdown is also possible even if Spell Mode is disabled.
What about inserting regularly used phrases and text passages stored as Leasey Clips or Leasey Texts?
Those too can be inserted with voice commands which can save an enormous amount of time. You can also use a voice command to copy the entire document to the clipboard, which brings us to the next important point.
Given that Leasey is a global application, why is dictation not available everywhere?
There will undoubtedly come a point where it will at least be available in Leasey applications themselves. There is an obvious next candidate within an app being worked on. But Leasey Word is a good starting point. Copying the whole document to the clipboard by voice does however mean it can be pasted elsewhere.
Can I Add custom words and phrases to improve the recognition accuracy?
The simple answer is yes, but we go a little further. One of the ways in which accuracy can be improved upon is if you give context as to what it is you are dictating about. There is a world of difference between the style you might use to dictate something to a friend as opposed to writing a formal document. So you can specify that on a document by document basis if needed. You do not have to do that but it can be helpful.
Can I dictate in Spanish?
Yes you can. The reason we chose Spanish was because one of our Beta Testers is a fluent Spanish speaker and there have been several requests for that. So you can speak Spanish, and then instantly switch to English if that is your preference.
In summary, accuracy is the name of the game here. Voice recognition is a serious business and recognition accuracy is by far the most important aspect of this whole area of working. There's no value in saving yourself time by dictating text only to have to spend an equal amount of time correcting misrecognition errors.
In all my years of working with Dragon, Windows Speech Recognition services, and other models, I have not seen anything which comes close to what Leasey Word is able to do. So when you get it, do try it out.
Well, it has been a lovely weekend. Looking forward to the next one! Tomorrow, back to work. A lot of documentation writing to do this week, and I do mean, a lot. And I need to be starting to think about our products working with JAWS 2027. Have a good evening!