Texthelp launches BrowseAloud Plus 1.1

ANTRIM, U.K. - March 13, 2013 - PRLog -- Texthelp Ltd today announced the release of BrowseAloud Plus 1.1.  This is the first planned update of BrowseAloud Plus and it has added new functionality to better enhance customer needs.  New features include PDF reading, secure site reading, pronunciation control, voice control, 17 new additional voices and an improved toolbar.

BrowseAloud Plus is one of the latest speech applications from Texthelp that requires no download and works with all major browsers and operating systems across Smartphones, Tablets, Macs and PCs.  This ‘zero download’ solution delivers instant high quality speech and reading support to assist those with print disabilities, mild visual impairments, cognitive disorders and those with English as a second language, when browsing the web.

It extends the reach of BrowseAloud to all major mobile devices by reading website content out aloud in a high quality human-sounding voice with synchronous highlighting in a contrasting colour.  This allows users to identify what text is being read aloud and navigate within and between web pages.

What’s New

BrowseAloud strives to continually develop its service to help customers make their online presence available to as many people as possible, regardless of age, reading difficulty, language, or disability. Improvements contained in this recent update to BrowseAloud Plus include:

Online PDF reader – BrowseAloud Plus can intuitively identify and read almost any PDF document – even if the link doesn’t end in .pdf and those that are securely hosted.
Secure site reading – BrowseAloud Plus reads secure web pages, it does so whilst maintaining secure communication of confidential information.
Pronunciation control – Website owners can now make pronunciation changes to their site, this feature will be useful when pronouncing place names, people’s names and acronyms.
Voice control – Website owners can set a default voice (and language) on their site or on individual pages of their site.  This feature will be particularly useful for dual and multi-lingual sites.
New voices – the range of voices has been extended from 7 to 24.
Toolbar updates – a close button has been added to the BrowseAloud Plus toolbar allowing the user to remove it from the screen at their convenience.  The toolbar has also become movable so it can easily be repositioned anywhere on the screen to suit personal preferences.

David Robinson, BrowseAloud General Manager, said “This is an exciting development for BrowseAloud Plus and we are delighted to offer our customers even more added value with these new features.  PDF and Secure Site reading were especially high up on our priority list and it is fantastic to be able to secure these vital features for our customers, less than a year after the initial launch of BrowseAloud Plus.”

“Whilst this is our first planned update of BrowseAloud Plus, it is by no means the last.  We have a clear vision of where we will take BrowseAloud in the future and we have many more exciting developments to come to ensure that we operate in a fully cloud-based system.”

BrowseAloud Plus provides instant high quality speech on all devices and browsers at no cost and with no download to website users.  Get it now from www.browsealoud.com/GetBrowseAloud.  

- Ends -

For more information about BrowseAloud, please contact:
Shauna McCollum
Marketing Executive
T: +44(0)28 9442 8105
E: s.mccollum@browsealoud.com
W: www.browsealoud.com

Note to Editors

BrowseAloud:

BrowseAloud is the world leading reading support solution from Texthelp, which is designed to improve access to online information for those with cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia, literacy difficulties, mild visual impairments or where English or French is a second language. With a selection of high‐quality voices covering a range of languages and a number of unique features, BrowseAloud is quickly being adopted as the product of choice worldwide.

Texthelp was formally incorporated in 1996 and specialize in the design of assistive software solutions to support those struggling to read and write. The company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Adobe Solutions Network Developer, Apple Business Partner, HP Business Partner and is ISO 9001:2008 accredited. For the past thirteen consecutive years, Texthelp has been a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award winning company.