Web Trek is a Web browser designed specifically for people with intellectual disabilities. Based upon research (more info below), it is sold by AbleLink Technologies as part of two software suites for $199 and $399. The following image shows screen shots of Web Trek in the background, and its associated “Visual Search Site” in the foreground.
Highlights Of WebTrek’s Features
- built-in screen reader that narrates Web-page text aloud in a voice;
- facility to use a picture from a Web page as an oversize favorites button on the user’s home screen;
- a single-click interface for buttons on the home screen; and
- access to the “Visual Search Site” (link to screen shots), a picture-based, Web search engine.
WebTrek’s Prototype Features
The prototype included the following features. The AbleLink Technologies Web site does not mention them, so I do not know if they are present in the current product. I hope they are.
- an audio prompt-description of a button when the cursor hovers over it; (This was set up to be similar to balloon help.)
- an audio prompt following a user-initiated event, such as a click, to guide the user through the next most-likely step in a task; (This was designed to minimize errors.)
- a minimum of buttons displayed, and only when the current task requires them; (An attempt to reduce clutter / distractions.) and
- the user’s name displayed on the start button and on the start page. (Personalization is its goal.)
Grant- & Pilot Study
The prototype was developed starting in 1999 with a grant from The U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). On the AbleLink Technologies site are a summary of the grant and the pilot study’s detailed description in an image-based, non-accessible PDF.
Notes
- This is a follow-up to my post, “Web Browsers for People with Cognitive Disabilities“.
- No endorsement of AbleLink Technologies and its products is intended or implied.