Cognitive Web Accessibility: Readability Products & Services

Design To Read
"If you are designing for, or researching, people who do not read easily then we want to provide ways for you share ideas and research. Our ultimate aim is to improve the lives of people who do not read easily ...".
Clippable Bookmarklet
"Formerly known as 'Readability 2'". Free Web-browser bookmarklet that strips all distractions from Web pages, and attempts to show only the primary text content.
Readability Leaflet: How to Produce Clear, Written Materials for a Range of Readers
"Readability shows how both the design and readability level of texts can be adjusted to ensure that those with difficulties do not encounter an unnecessary barrier. It covers areas such as the use of white space, appropriate font choice and sentence length, as well as offering a readability test that helps determine how accessible text is to a disadvantaged reader."
TidyRead
"TidyRead renders web pages with better readability as an-easy-to-read manner, similar to eBooks, by accurately extracting the context text and removing the cluttered materials."
Tar Heel Reader
"... a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. The books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches." ... "This site is a result of a collaboration between Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and the department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."
Easy Read Translation Services
"Easy Read Translation makes documents and websites easy to read. We use Easy Read words and symbols to translate your documents and information. Our Easy Read services follow the Equality and Human Rights guidelines for Easy Read Translation." Commercial Service.
The Information Foyer
"We work with you to create your accessible information. The first step in making your documents accessible is to contact us. Talk to us. Send us your document by email or post and we will give you a quote." Commercial Service.
Working with Words
"Working with Words makes information easy for people with learning difficulties and people with low literacy."
Twurdy Search - Search for Readable Results
Twurdy is a Web search engine that "... uses text analysis software to 'read' each page before it is displayed in the results. Then Twurdy gives each page a readability level. Twurdy then shows the readability level of the page along with a color coded system to help users determine how easy the page will be to understand."
VocabProfile - English
Upon submission of text, VocabProfile details "... how many words the text contains from the following four frequency levels: (1) the list of the most frequent 1000 word families, (2) the second 1000, (3) the Academic Word List, and (4) words that do not appear on the other lists."
StoryToolz: Readability Statistics
Determines the average grade level of a text passage. Upon submission of the text, StoryToolz produces scores from several readability algorithms and averages them. It also produces statistics on sentences and word usage.
EasyInfo Standard Pages
"This is a website about making information easier for people with learning difficulties. The website is about bringing people together, finding out about good ways of working and sharing ideas."
SymbolWorld
"... a website created by Widgit Software, dedicated to people who use symbols. It has material for all ages and includes personal contributions, stories and learning materials." "... is designed to have clear easy navigation with large buttons for any links."
JISC TechDis Toolbar
"Features include a text to speech function, spell checking and dictionary facilities, and a feature for gathering referencing information within a web page. It also provides simple ways to adjust the magnification or font used on web pages."
Standards-Schmandards: Readability index calculator
Tool that analyzes a Web page, and presents results from the readability algorithms of Flesch-Kincaid (English); LIX (Swedish, Danish); Fernandez-Huerta (Spanish); Douma (Dutch); and Kandel & Moles (French).
Juicy Studio: Readability Test
Tool that analyzes a Web page, and presents results from the readability algorithms of Gunning Fog, Flesch Reading Ease, and Flesch-Kincaid.
ROK TALK | Text to Speech and Accessibility Technology for Websites
Text-to-speech and text accessibility toolbar for Web sites. Commercial product.
VOA News - Learning American English With News
Web site designed for audiences who are not native speakers of English. The same characteristics that make its news articles accessible to that population also help make them accessible to people with cognitive disabilities.
Communicate: Webwide - The first symbol-supported web browser
Web browser intended for use by people with cognitive disabilities. Commercial product.
Readable App: read the web
Readable is a free Web-browser bookmarklet that strips all distractions from Web pages. If Readable can not determine a page’s main text content, it enables users to identify the text they want to read.
Readability - An Arc90 Lab Experiment
"Readability is a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you're reading."
Newham 'Easy Read' Portal
The Newham Easy Read Web site is intended for young people with intellectual disabilities transitioning from school.
Inclusive New Media Design (INMD)
"... aims to find ways to include people with intellectual disabilities (or ID) in the WWW. It’s doing this by working with web designers and developers, and talking to them about how to make websites that work for people with intellectual disabilities."
BBC - CBBC - BBC Inclusive Newsreader
News Web site designed for navigation by Tab key or single switch; and for users with "reading disabilities".