Text to Speech

  • I have used many of these on my WordPress blog and found out that they either break my site, or don’t include the whole content, or they do both. Plus many give you just one option of where to put the text to speech text link or graphic/file. You just don’t have the control you need.

    So I decided I would create my own block of code text that includes the link to the mp3 and has a nice text to speech image. I create my own text to speech files and upload them then take it from there.

    I am not a hacker. I am not much of a website coder either. I just pick up a little code here and there from the net when I need it. The problem I described above is the norm when it comes to text to speech on the Internet. No one but just a few wants to mess with the idea. Those that do are limited to getting the tool that converts the text. Those that convert the text limits your text, and/or doesn’t do a very good job.

    The code I used is below but i wish it was a part of WordPress and marked as a area that you can tic to enable, and use you own small graphic image or select one from a list of colors, and told those fixing to download or listen how to download in case they don’t know how.

    I really wish WordPress could be the first one that caters to the sight impaired to help bloggers out that want to be . My code is not that great I am sure others could do better job of it. 

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<b>Text to Speech<b />
<img class="size-full wp-image-1383" src="Apps-preferences-desktop-text-to-speech-icon-e1402604486523.png" alt="text to speech" width="30" height="30" /><a href="URLHERE.MP3"> Text to Speech</a>

<b><span style="color: #800080;">To download MP3 right click link and "save as"</span> <b />

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Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • really wish WordPress could be the first one that caters to the sight impaired to help bloggers out that want to be

    All core WordPress developers are working very hard to make WP as accessible as possible to all disabled people – including those who are site impaired. There’s even a special WordPress Accessibly team. But that means making WP comply with current web accessibility standard and coding practices so it can be used with software like JAWS, Window-Eyes and Nvidia. All industry standard screen readers that comply with the ATAG guidelines.

    Your personal solution is just that – personal to you. If you want, you could create your own plugin that would implement this solution but building into WordPress itself is, I’m afraid, well beyond the remit of core development.

    Thread Starter weebit

    (@weebit)

    Your personal solution is just that – personal to you. If you want, you could create your own plugin that would implement this solution but building into WordPress itself is, I’m afraid, well beyond the remit of core development.

    I understand but I guess I should point out to you that the text to speech software is better than the Internet convert version of text to speech. This is why I decided to make my own audio files then upload. I use Dragon and Text Speaker.

    BTW I do not have the experience to make a plugin. I don’t know anything about how to make plugins.

    I guess I should point out to you that the text to speech software is better than the Internet convert version of text to speech.

    I didn’t mention anything about Internet convert versions of text to speech. JAWS, Window-Eyes and Nvidia are all industry standard software – built for this specific purpose. Dragon, on the other hand, is more of a speech-to-text/dictation tool. So it’s about ensuring that you use the right software for the right job. Anyone who rally needs a screen reader (including some user groups who are not sight impaired) will already be using the right kind of software. They don’t really want audio files that they have to download. What they really want are sites that have been built with disabled users in mind and according to the relevant specifications so that their chosen software works effectively. Out of the box, WordPress already does a great deal of that ground work.

    Thread Starter weebit

    (@weebit)

    My text to speech reads pages and emails for me. Called Text Speaker and the other one is Natural speaking. Dragon I use specifically to spit out comments on news sites, emails, etc. I am at the cusp of being legally blind. So I don’t qualify for Jaws at a discount, or the help in order to purchase the software. There are many people that are in my situation too.

    Regardless if a person is legally blind or not some times they would rather have the audio file. Audios are all the rage right now. They could also be like me and on the cusp of being legally blind. Reading lots of text is hard on my eyes. So I guess I need to check into making the plugin. If that is the case where would I find this information? Thank you for your time.

    Have a look at Writing_a_Plugin.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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