David, I'm curious why the list of screen review programs being evaluated
only includes one of the five GUI products currently available? I see
that Screen Reader for OS/2 is listed, but I do not see Biolink's Protalk
for Windows, Syntha-voice's SLIMWARE Window Bridge or Artic's WinVision,
nor do I see Berkeley Systems' outSPOKEN for the Macintosh. Is there any
particular reason why they're being omitted?
Greg
|Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 15:10:44 -0800
|From: DAVID ANDREWS <netmail!72157.3547@compuserve.com>
|To: Multiple recipients of list <nfb-rd@moria.nfbcal.org>
|Subject: Screen Review Evaluations
|
| February 21, 1994
|
|
|Dear Software Evaluators:
|
| As those of you who attended the R & D Committee meeting at
|the end of January know, we will be embarking on a project to do
|written evaluations of all screen review programs. Below is a
|list of screen review programs and who has agreed to evaluate
|them:
| Programs Evaluators
|
|1. Artic Businessvision Curtis Chong
|2. ASAP Sharon Duffy
|3. Flipper Brian Buhrow
|4. HAL (CompuSite Reader) Harold Snider
|5. IBM Screen Reader for DOS Steve Jacobson
|6. IBM Screen Reader/2 for OS/2 Cathy Schroeder
|7. ISOS Harold Snider
|8. JAWS Emerson Foulke
|9. Master Touch David Andrews
|10. outSpoken Tom Wlodkowski
|11. PCMASTER Tim Cranmer
|12. PROVOX David Andrews
|13. Screen Power Jim Willows
|14. Speaqualizer Curtis Chong
|15. Tiny Talk Lloyd Rasmussen
|16. Vocal-Eyes John Miller
|
| We still need reviewers for the following packages:
|
|1. Seeklyne
|2. Soft Vert
|
| Seeklyne is a small software package that works with the
|Speech Thing, a speech synthesizer that hooks to the parallel
|port of a computer. I have one and can lend it to anyone who
|wishes to take this one on. If you wish to volunteer to review
|either or both of these packages, or if you know someone who
|might be willing to do so, please let me know.
|
| The draft reviews are due on June 1, 1994, and should be
|>from five to eight print pages in length. The reviews should be
|written in a narrative style and should cover the following
|points/criteria:
|
|1. General description: How does the program work? How are
|commands laid out? What is the logic? Description?
|
|2. What speech synthesizers are supported? Is indexing
|supported and how well does it work? Does it shut up the
|synthesizer efficiently and quickly?
|
|3. Requirements: Are there any hardware and/or software
|requirements? Version of DOS, etc.?
|
|4. Installation: How do you install it? Is it easy? Do you
|need sighted assistance? Can you do it if you don't already have
|some speech up?
|
|5. Memory requirements: How much memory does it take? Can it
|be moved high? Can it run in expanded or extended memory? Can
|you reduce the memory footprint? Can you remove it from memory?
|
|6. Navigation: How do you navigate around the screen? Discuss
|reading units, character, word, sentence, line, paragraph,
|screen, entire document, etc. Review Mode? Audio cursor? Can
|you route the real cursor or the review/audio cursor?
|
|7. Settings: How do you set things: speech rate, tone, pitch,
|punctuation level, capitalization alert, etc.?
|
|8. Configuring: Do you need to configure? How do you do it?
|How difficult is it? How do you define windows, silent areas,
|monitors etc.?
|
|9. Monitoring: Can it monitor different areas of the screen and
|notify you of changes? How do you set it up? How well does it
|work? What options are there, beeping, chaining windows, etc.?
|
|10. Alternative cursors: Can the program track an alternate
|cursor, highlight bar, ASCII character, soft cursor, etc.? How
|do you set it up? How well does it work?
|
|11. Attributes: How do you identify attributes: background and
|foreground color, extended ASCII characters, highlighted text,
|bold and/or underlined text, etc.? How can you use this
|information?
|
|12. Searching: Can you search for things on the screen,
|character strings, attributes, etc.? How well does it work?
|What can you do with it?
|
|13. Keyboard: How is the key response? Are there keyboard
|conflicts and how can you get around them? Is there a pass-
|through key? Can you tell if the caps lock key is down? Can you
|find out the status of other toggle keys?
|
|14. Macros: Does the program have built-in macro capability?
|If so, describe. Is there provision for macros from an external
|program?
|
| 15. Pre-defined configurations: Does the program come with pre-
|defined configurations for popular software packages? If so, how
|many and what? Are there other configurations available via the
|company, dealers, or a BBS? How well do any available
|configurations work?
|
|16. Autoloading: Does the program autoload configurations? If
|so, how does it work, and how well does it work? If not, what
|other provision is there?
|
|17. Pronunciation: Can you change how things are pronounced?
|Is there an exceptions dictionary? If so, how does it work, and
|how well does it work?
|
|18. Responsiveness: How responsive is the software? Does it
|require a fast machine? Does it eat up lots of CPU cycles? Does
|it adversely affect other applications? Can it run with a
|multitasker such as Double DOS or DESQVIEW?
|
|19. Support for sighted people: Do the menus appear on the
|screen, or just in speech? How well does it help a sighted
|assistant, highlighting review cursor, etc.? Can it easily be
|shut up if a sighted person must use your computer?
|
|20. Documentation: How is the documentation? What formats does
|it come in? How good is it?
|
|21. On-line help: Is there on-line help? How does it work?
|How good is it? Is it context sensitive?
|
|22. Technical support: Is there technical support and help
|available from the company? Is it toll-free? How good is it?
|
|
| If I have left anything out, please let me know.
|
|Sincerely,
|
|
|
|David Andrews, Director
|International Braille and Technology
| Center for the Blind
|NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
|
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