Monday, July 21, 2008

A SOFTWARE TO AID VISUALLY IMPAIRED ACCESS THE WEB

In a country with the largest blind population in the world — it was nearly 15 million plus on last count — a new software could go a long way for people who are partially blind. LowBrowse, as the software has been named, is an innovative web browser software for visually impaired people. It will help them read web pages easily.

Developed by Lighthouse International, a US-based NGO that works with visually impaired people, LowBrowse will be a boon for people who have medium to very low vision. "The technology will become increasingly relevant as baby boomers age and millions of people deal with vision loss from diabetes and age-related macular degeneration," says Tara A Cortes, president and CEO of Lighthouse International.

The first programme of its kind, it's tailored to help partially blind people access and read the net with ease. The programme runs in conjunction with the Mozilla Firefox browser, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. What's more, Lighthouse International plans to offer it free of charge on the net. It is expected to be available to the public for download via the Firefox add-on site in late summer or early fall this year.

0 comments: