See comments below:

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake St.
Dallas, PA 18612
email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 570-674-6413


> -----Original Message-----
> From: * EASI: Equal Access to Software & Information
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rosemary Ernst
> Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 11:19 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Fw: Call for review: Evaluating Web Sites for
Accessibility
>
> Okay ... then these are the  questions I should have asked in the
first
> place:
>
> 1) Does anyone know how many people actually use Home Page Reader as
> opposed to JAWS, Connect Outloud or Window Eyes? Where might I find
> statistics on this?
>
> 2) From David Poehlman's response it seems that HPR is comparable to
> Connect Outloud. As a web developer, if I test a site in Connect
Outloud,
> will it likely work in the other voice browsers?
[]
That depends on whether Connect Outloud uses standard methods of
accessing a web page.  If it uses special calls internal to the browser,
but not accessible to other AT devices, then you can't make that
assumption.  If, in accordance with W3C recommendations, it accesses the
DOM and other accessibility features through documented APIs then you
can say that similar compabibility is available to users of other
devices/systems.
>
> In my experience Netscape and Macintosh are miserable in their
> compatibility with accessible technologies. SO I assume people will
use
> the
> latest version of IE on a PC, or Lynx.
>
[] I don't think you can ever casually dismiss one platform over
another.  The Macintosh does have different accessibility issues than
the PC, but all are addressed in some products.  Similarly, Netscape
does some things better than IE (don't ask me what, I'm an IE user), and
is used by something like 25% of the net users, so can't be dismissed.
It can be a pain to try to work with both browsers, but if you stay with
standard HTML and CSS calls, and do not ever use *any* proprietary tags,
your odds go up.

> Thanks for your opinions and experience,
>
> Rosemary Ernst
> Web Developer
>
> On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 10:39:14 -0400, David Poehlman
<[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> >hpr requires that you use ie.  it self voices some other apps as well
as
> >ie but has its limitations.  3.0 is their latest encarnation.  you
can
> >still use 2.5 to access netscape but there are some improvements in
the
> >merge with ie that make 3.0 a better fit for *browsing* needs.  The
> >document also stresses that one needs to be trained in using
assistive
> >devices in order to use them to evaluate pages/sites.  you can get a
> >free demo of home page reader by asking at:
> >http://www-3.ibm.com/able/
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Rosemary Ernst" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 11:23 AM
> >Subject: Re: Fw: Call for review: Evaluating Web Sites for
Accessibility
> >
> >This WAI document suggests the use of IBM's Home Page Reader to as a
> >voice
> >browser to use for testing. Has anyone used this product? How does it
> >compare to JAWS or Window Eyes?
> >
> >Rosemary Ernst
> >Web Developer