RNIB Surf Right Toolbar - beta version available
Developed by Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and the Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C)
The Internet Explorer (IE) browser has many accessibility options available for customising the appearance of a website. However, these features are not turned on by default and many people don't know that they exist. They can also be hard to find and use.
The Surf Right Toolbar is a free download designed to make adjusting these options within Internet Explorer quicker and easier, using either the mouse or keyboard. It is not intended to be a developer toolbar for testing accessibility, Surf Right is for end users, people who have difficulty using the IE browser accessibility options and want to customise the page.
The toolbar allows people to individually adjust the way they view content on the web to make it easier to read. This could include people with reading, print or cognitive disability as well as older people experiencing deteriorating eyesight, photosensitivity and so on.
Most of the functions that the Surf Right toolbar offers are available via the Internet options tab in the browser, but are quicker and simpler to access using the toolbar buttons. Specific benefits include:
- Large clickable buttons: give clear information as to if they are "On" or "Off" as they have green ticks for "On" and red crosses for "Off"
- Keyboard short cuts: are available for all options in the toolbar
- Keyboard accessibility: all options can be accessed either using a mouse, pointing device or by keyboard only
- Saved preferences: once options have been set these remain for all pages you look at and not just the page you are currently on
- Cross purpose: the toolbar can help anyone when accessing the web and is not restricted to people with sight loss
Ways of cutomising websites using the toolbar include:
- JavaScript On/Off button: this allows people to enable and disable JavaScript for security reasons or to stop a page updating content automatically
- Styles: this button switches off styles so the visual formatting off a webpage disappears and looks much simpler
- Images On / Off button: switching images off may be useful if you are using a screen reader or screen magnifier or if you are using a slow internet connection. Removing animated images also protects people with epilepsy or photosensitivity from seizures
- Flash On / Off button: people may wish to turn Flash movies and animations off if they find them distracting whilst trying to read the text content of a page
- Text resize options: smallest, small, medium, large and largest options are available
- Custom styles: nine different style sheet are available for people to try out and choose from
- Options: allow people to configure general options for Internet Explorer including setting the home page and adjusting font and colour preferences. This screen also allows people to set your security and connection options
Visit the RNIB website to download the toolbar
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