Help & Support
How to use the Text to Speak Toolbar
Speak Out Loud Feature
The
Speak/Read Out Loud' feature is now available within the SHEilds eLearning website. Within a few clicks you can now listen to the text found in the elearning content using a new toolbar. You can also download the spoken content as an MP3 file and save to your own computer to listen to later.
Show / Hide the Toolbar
There is a small icon in the top right hand corner of the webpage. This icon is used to toggle the new toolbar menu. Once the webpage has fully loaded you will be able to click on the image, if you notice the icon saying "
Loading"
the page has not yet fully loaded, please wait until you see a
blue coloured '
Show Toolbar'
or
red coloured '
Hide Toolbar'
icon. Simply click on the show/hide icons and a menu toolbar will be shown or hiden, which is displayed at the bottom of the webpage.
How to use the toolbar
- 'Manual' Reading or 'Automatic' Reading Modes.
The toolbar can behave in two ways, by default 'Manual' mode is selected.
- Manual
- Read out Loud
When in 'Manual' mode to hear the text read back to you, click and drag over an area of text you wish to be read. The text will become highlighted, next simply click the 'Play' icon from the toolbar menu. The selected text will then be played back to you.
Note: When selecting larger amounts of text please be patient. The larger the amount of text selected the longer it will take to read back to you.
- Stop Reading
If you want to stop the reading at any point simply click on the 'Stop' icon to interupt.
- Download as MP3
If you would like to save the selected text as an MP3 playback to your computer, simply highlight the text and click the 'Download' icon. You will prompted to choose a location to save the file to your computer. You can then use this file later, store on an 'MP3 Player' or 'CD' to listen to at your leasure.
- Automatic
'Automatic' Reading Mode once enabled allows the user to 'read out loud' any text the mouse is placed over. When your mouse is positions over any text, the block of text will automatically become highlighted and reading will begin.
Be Careful! If you move or re-position your mouse the text beneath will be automatically read. If you accidentally start the playback of some text you did not wish to listen to, you can stop the playback at any point by clicking on the 'Stop' icon.
- To Enable or Disaable Automatic Reading
Simply click the 'On/Off' toggle option in the Automatic heading of the toolbar.
Translate & Speak Out Loud
Did you know the Toolbar
can also translate text and read this back in a chosen language? A number of common languages are available to choose from.
- Translate
To use the translate and read out loud feature click on the 'Translation' area of the toolbar. A menu will expand with a list of available languages, click the language you would like to listen with. Now when you use the read of loud feature the text will be automatically translated and read back in the chosen language.
*(Please note that automatically translated text cannot be gauranteed as 100% accurate as with any automated translation service. Smaller sentences translate more accurately than whole paragraphs.)
- Captions
- Translated Captions are also available, so you can follow the translated text as it is being read to you. To use this option click on the Translation area and click on 'Captions' to enable/disable this feature.*
Accessibility
The new toolbar includes a number of Improved accessibility features for our users.
- Speak/Read Out Loud
- This feature can help reduce the negative effects of prolonged DSE usage. A common issue when starring at Display Screens / Visual Display Units over a prolonged period is eye strain or 'tired eyes'. Now using the toolbar you no longer have to subject your eyes to starring at text and focusing for long periods. You can sit back and listen comfortably without those 'tired eyes' causing problems.
- Zoom
- Aside from improved accessiblity 'Speak/Read Out Loud' feature, the toolbar can also Zoom in and out for those experiencing difficulty reading small text. Now you can easily change the text size to best suit your personal preference.
- Background highlight
- Studies show that some users find it difficult to read text on white (or other coloured) backgrounds, particularly those who are affected by Dyslexia. The toolbar enables you to change the background colour, which may improve the readability of text on the eLearning website.
Full User Guide
To see the full
User Guide for this toolbar click the information icon
found on the far right hand side of the toolbar.
Known Issues with the Text to Speech Toolbar
This section covers known issues with the Text to Speech Toolbar.
The Text to Speech Toolbar is designed to work with modern Web Browsers.
If you experience an issue with the TTS Toolbar please ensure you have the most up to date version of your Web Browser installed.
In most cases updating your Browser will solve any issues experienced. Below is a list of addresses where you can download the most up to date version for popular web browsers. At SHEilds Ltd we recommend using a web browser designed to work with the recommened web standards as outlined in the W3C Shools official website. Mozilla Firefox is superior in many ways to other browser as we find this browser to be the most secure, robust and compatible browser for our eLearning website.
Please ensure you have the most up to date version! of your preferred Web Browser installed before contacting our technical support department.
To get the most up to date version of your preferred browser please see the below list (in order of recommendation).
- Mozilla Firefox (Recommended).
- Safari.
- Opera.
- Google Chrome.
- Internet Explorer (Not recommended).
Most issues experienced with the Text to Speech Toolbar (in fact the eLearning site as a whole) are attributed to MicroSofts Internet Explorer Web Browser as it does not conform to recommended web standards. The most common issues experienced with the TTS Toolbar are related to 'display issues' and 'mp3 download issues'. In addition to this, each version of MicroSoft's Internet Explorer experience different issues. At SHEilds Ltd we have implemented a number of additional coding rules so the eLearning site is more compatible with IE, however we cannot guarantee you will have the best experience using MicroSofts Web Browser.
If you are using any version of MicroSofts Internet Explorer it is recommend you make the following changes in order to ensure compatibilty.
- Add http://www.sheilds-elearning.co.uk to your list of trusted sites
Simultaneously hold the 'Alt' key and press the 't' key.
Select 'Internet Options'.
Click the 'Security' Tab.
Select 'Trusted Sites' icon.
Click the 'Sites' button.
Enter the following address without quotation marks "http://www.sheilds-elearning.co.uk" and the click 'Add' button.
Untick the the option : "require server verification (https) for all sites in this zone".
Click the 'Close' Button.
- Allow downloads for your list of trusted sites
From the Internet Options -> Security tab select the 'Trusted Sites' and click 'Custom Level' button.
In the window which appears scroll down to the 'Downloads' heading (scroll down approx 1/3).
Under the 'Downloads' heading select the radio button option 'Disable Automatic prompting for file downloads'.
Click the OK button
- Allow Popups for the eLearning site http://www.sheilds-elearning.co.uk
From the Internet Options -> Privacy tab select the 'Settings' button.
In the window which appears Enter the following address without quotation marks "http://www.sheilds-elearning.co.uk" and the click 'Add' button.
- Install the latest versions of Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player & Adobe Reader
Please visit the website "http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" and follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
Please visit the website "http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/" and follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest version of Adobe Shockwave Player.
Please visit the website "http://get.adobe.com/reader/" and follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest version of Adobe Reader.
In most cases when all the above have been completed issues experienced with Internet Explorer are greatly reduced.
If you continue to experience issues please contact our technical support team via email on : tech@sheilds.org.
