Question
What is webReader for ReadSpeaker?
Can I disable webReader?
What are features of webReader?
Answer
What is webReader for ReadSpeaker?
ReadSpeaker webReader reads text content in D2L out loud. By listening to the text while you read, you can better understand the text. You can listen anywhere, on any online device, and at any time. This makes D2L content more accessible. As a user, you don't have to download anything. Simply click the Listen button to listen to content: An audio player appears (see image below) and webReader starts reading the content out loud.
Can I Disable webReader?
WebReader can be disabled on a course. To do so please fill out this request form. For information on how to do this please contact the Digital Accessibility Team or the Center for Teaching and Learning.
What are the Features of webReader?
In the player, you can:
- Pause and continue the reading
- Stop the reading
- Restart the reading from the beginning after using the stop button
- Use the skip buttons to rewind or forward the audio
- Adjust the volume
- Adjust the reading speed
- Close the player
Using the Features in the Menu
Click the menu button to the left of the Listen button to open the menu. The menu (see image below) has many useful features. Each feature is explained below in a separate section.
Pop-up Player
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + C
When text is read aloud, you will see a pop-up player at the bottom right of the screen where you can:
- Pause and continue the reading
- Use the skip buttons to rewind or forward the audio
- Toggle the automatic scrolling of the page (on/off)
Floating Listen Button, Player, and Menu
Put focus on drag handle: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + U
When you scroll down on the page, the Listen button, player, and menu will float to a different position to remain visible. The floating Listen button or player will show a drag handle.
You can use the drag handle to drag the Listen button, player and menu to where it is most convenient in relation to the content shown on the page. They will move back to the default position when you scroll back up. They will always float to the position you last dragged them to.
Note: that if there are multiple players on one page, a player will only float if it is actually in playing mode
Keyboard Navigation
You can use keyboard combinations (keyboard shortcuts) to activate most features. Each feature has its own shortcut. You can change these shortcuts in the Settings pop-up window.
With the shortcuts as they are set now, webReader can be activated, i.e. focus can be set on the Listen button, with the shortcut Shift + Ctrl + Alt + K. Shift + Ctrl + Alt + L will set focus on the player and also start the reading.
Some important shortcuts are:
- Put focus on Listen button: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + K
- Put focus on player and start the reading: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + L
- Put focus on pause button and pause or resume the reading: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + P
- Put focus on stop button and stop the reading: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + X
- Open/close menu: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + 1
Inside the player and menu, i.e. when the user has set focus on the player, tab/shift+tab can be used to navigate and the enter or space key to activate a certain button or option.
The shortcuts for the individual features are mentioned in the respective sections below. For the features that are accessed from the menu, they will only function if the menu has been opened on the page.
Settings
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + S (works only after the menu has been opened once)
Click to personalize webReader according to your preferences. A pop-up window will open where you can adjust certain settings that determine how webReader works. Read about each setting below. Your personalized settings are saved between sessions.
Highlighting
-
Text Highlighting On/Off
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Choose to have the text highlighted while it is read aloud (On) or not (Off).
-
What to Highlight
Choose what you would like webReader to highlight:
- Word and sentence
- Sentence only
- Word only
- No highlighting
-
Word Color
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Choose the color for highlighting words as they are read or choose to underline instead.
-
Sentence Color
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Choose the color for highlighting sentences as they are read or choose to underline instead.
-
Text Color
-
Choose the color for the highlighted text.
Other Settings
-
Automatic Scrolling
- Toggle automatic scrolling (on/off). When activated, the page will automatically scroll down to follow the highlighted text. This setting can also be toggled from the pop-up player which will show when the player is active.
-
Pop-up Menu for Selected Text
- Choose whether a pop-up menu will appear when you select text (on/off).
-
Settings for Pop-up Menu
- Choose ‘Close automatically’ and choose after how many seconds, if you want the pop-up menu to close automatically after a while.
- Choose ‘Do not close’ if you want the pop-up menu to remain visible.
Change Shortcuts for Keyboard Accessibility
- You can change the shortcuts or key combinations for different actions. To change a shortcut for a specific action, click on the button showing the current shortcut and then define the new key combination by holding the keys down at the same time on your keyboard. The button will now show the new shortcut.
Restore Default Settings
Use the tick boxes to indicate which webReader settings you want to restore to their default values. Tick "All", or tick one or more other boxes:
- Settings for Text Mode and pop-up windows
- Highlighting Settings
- Settings for Automatic Scrolling and Pop-up Menu for Selected Text
- Shortcuts
Reading Voice
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + R (requires menu to be open, in order to choose a reading language)
Choose the voice webReader should use to read the text. There can be voices in different languages and/or different voices for a language. Simply select the voice you wish to use from the drop-down. Note that this tool will only be enabled when there is more than one available reading voice.
Click and Listen
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + H (works only after the menu has been opened once)
Click "Click and Listen" to turn this feature on or off. A green tick on the toggle switch indicates that it is on. webReader will then start reading a paragraph when you click anywhere in the paragraph. This allows you to listen to a paragraph you want to read without having to select it first and then click the Listen button. On mobile devices, the feature works when you tap in the paragraph (‘Tap and Listen’).
For keyboard accessibility: when the feature is activated, you can use the right/left arrow keys to focus the next/previous section or the next/previous paragraph within a section. The down arrow key puts the focus on a paragraph within a section. The up arrow key brings the focus back up to a larger section. The key L will start playing the focused paragraph or section.
Enlarge Text
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E (works only after the menu has been opened once)
Click "Enlarge Text" to turn this feature on or off. A green tick on the toggle switch indicates that it is on. webReader will then display the sentence being read at the bottom of the page, with a larger font size and simultaneous word highlighting. You can play, pause or stop the reading and make the text larger or smaller.
Text Mode
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + V (works only after the menu has been opened once)
Click "Text Mode" to open a pop-up window with the current page in a text oriented version. You can choose how the text will be displayed (see above under ‘webReader Pop-up Windows’). Images are also shown if they have a text associated with them.
Page Mask
Keyboard access: Shift + Ctrl + Alt + M (works only after the menu has been opened once)
Click "Page Mask" to see the page with a focus bar. The rest of the page is dimmed. The focus bar follows the mouse cursor, or the finger on touch devices, to make it easier to focus on smaller portions of text at a time. Hit the escape key or click the cross on the right edge of the focus bar to turn the page mask off. Click on the + or - to make the focus area larger or smaller.
To enter (or exit) keyboard navigation mode when page mask is showing, hit the space key. A small keyboard icon will show just above the focus area when keyboard navigation mode is active. When active, arrow keys can be used to move the focus area (or shift key + arrow key for faster movement). Plus and minus keys will change the size of the focus area.
Please note: Page Mask is a purely graphic tool that can help some users focus but might not be useful to people with low vision.
For more information about Read Speaker, please reach out to the Digital Accessibility Team or the Center for Teaching and Learning.