| What is the most unlikely visitor on your | | | | most of the Agents is free. |
| site? Users (potential customers as anyone) | | | | |
| withimpaired vision. | | | | Scripts make sure that the user can download |
| | | | needed or missing parts automatically, and |
| But how true is this statement today? Well - | | | | from then on - he is fully prepared... |
| to say the least - it is about to change. | | | | |
| | | | The integration into a site is no harder, |
| While the hearing impaired utilized the web | | | | than working with any given Java Script. |
| right from start and made it to their tool of | | | | |
| choice. | | | | There are even tools available, to support |
| | | | you writing the "action" script. |
| For a user, whose vision is impaired - or is | | | | |
| even completely blind, the odds not very long | | | | So why would you do that? |
| ago were very dim, to take part in the | | | | |
| biggest improvement since the invention of TV | | | | To begin with - it improves the quality of |
| - the World Wide Web. | | | | life for people, you have enough problems |
| | | | anyway. |
| Test to Speech Engines, Voice Recognition and | | | | |
| Multimedia - all these tools have improved | | | | But if you want to have a more practical use |
| the situation dramatically - and they far | | | | - Offering these service now - where almost |
| from being in the experimental state. | | | | no one is doing that will make your site |
| | | | stand out - and visitors with impaired vision |
| Every once in while you have these | | | | value that and remember. The rate of |
| encounters, where a customer tells you about | | | | endorsement you may be able to achieve is |
| his blind family member and how neglected | | | | much higher than with the |
| they feel in respect to so many things. | | | | |
| | | | "ordinary" visitor. |
| And sometimes - they ask you, what they can | | | | |
| do to address this group on their site. | | | | In my example - in almost 20% of all new |
| | | | gigs, we are being asked to implement Agent |
| When I started to take on this issue, I was | | | | Technology - from Zero % 18 months ago. I |
| first a little helpless, for this was a whole | | | | would say, that this is a significant |
| new areaof expertise in Marketing and Web | | | | increase. |
| development. But soon it became clear that | | | | |
| the tools and the means to implement | | | | The community of people with impaired vision |
| something, allowing visitors with impaired | | | | is tight nit - and if you're site is a good |
| vision to take advantage of a site. | | | | source for information, products etc., you |
| | | | can be sure, that once the word is out - it |
| The first step were voiceovers - presented as | | | | won't hurt yourtraffic. |
| real media. A real bummer. But - the | | | | |
| production costs, considerations like | | | | Bottom Line is, the odds are, that, if you're |
| bandwidth make them a tool, which cannot be | | | | doing it right, promote this Site ability |
| applied all the time. | | | | andupdate your content once in a while, you |
| | | | will attract a new clientele, and even if the |
| And then I re-discovered the Agents. Remember | | | | worstthing happens, and you don't make any |
| those little animated guys, Microsoft(R) | | | | improvement in your visitor frequency - you |
| introduced with Office 97? These guys - the | | | | still have the benefit of being able to lean |
| Microsoft(R) Agents - cannot only communicate | | | | back and say - I did something good, today. |
| with Balloons and interact with the user - | | | | |
| no. They can speak! | | | | Here are some links - to get you into the |
| | | | developing mood: |
| Utilizing a text to speech engine, the MS(R) | | | | |
| Agent Technology, and an Agent of your | | | | Microsoft(R) Agent home page |
| choice, you can make this cartoon character | | | | |
| speak, whatever text you provide. And it is | | | | Agent Resources |
| fast and what is more - they can even listen | | | | |
| to voice commands and interact - which I will | | | | The Script Helper Mash |
| talk of in one of my next articles. | | | | |
| | | | So be good, do something for the life quality |
| On all new Microsoft OS(R) Versions the Agent | | | | of citizens with impaired vision and your |
| technology is included anyway, and if not | | | | business and have fun doing it. |
| installed,the download of it, the DevKit and | | | | |