Home Page Reader (Hpr) was a
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
, a self-voicing
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
designed for people who are
blind. It was developed by
IBM from the work of
Chieko Asakawa
(b. 1958) is a blind Japanese computer scientist, known for her work at IBM Research – Tokyo in accessibility.. A Netscape browser plug-in she developed, the IBM Home Page Reader, became the most widely used web-to-speech system available. S ...
at IBM Japan.
The screen reader met
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working ...
(W3C)
HTML 4.01
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript ...
specifications,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for ...
1.0 and
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
In 2006, it was announced on the Hpr mailing list that IBM ''does not have plans for any further updates of HPR'' and the software was subsequently withdrawn from sale by IBM in December 2006. IBM has given code to be used as a
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
extension.
The program also had a peer-support mailing list.
[Its archives were available at http://www.talklist.com/forms/ibm-hpr]
Criticism
In summer 2002 a non-scientific study concluded that Hpr did not make any distinction between the built-in
keyboard shortcuts
computing, a keyboard shortcut also known as hotkey is a series of one or several keys to quickly invoke a software program or perform a preprogrammed action. This action may be part of the standard functionality of the operating system or ...
for entering different modes and the
access keys available on websites. The research claimed that Hprs would do better to use links mode to cycle through a list.
System requirements
Hardware
Hpr had the following hardware requirements:
* 166 MHz processor
* 32 MB RAM Windows 95/98; 64 MB RAM for Windows NT
* 14 MB hard disk space; 42 MB hard disk space for HPR and Netscape Communicator
* SVGA (640 X 480, 256 colors) graphics
* Windows compatible: modem (28.8 KBPS), sound card (16-bit), and CD ROM drive (quad-speed)
* Integrated or separately attached numeric keypad
Software
Hpr had the following software requirements:
* Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0
* Internet service provider (ISP) connection
* Netscape Navigator Version 3.01 or higher
* For Home Page Mailer, Microsoft Personal Web Server, Version 4.02 required for Windows 95/98; Peer Web Services, Version 4.0 required for Windows NT
* A mail program set up with preferences, or Microsoft Personal Web Server or Peer Web Services required for mailto: tags
References
;Notes
;References
External links
*
*
IBM Home Page Reader is Dead->
HomePage reader @ evolt.*
tp://ftp.software.ibm.com/sns/hpr/ HPR ftp directory IBM
IBM Home Page Reader Keyboard Shortcuts WebAIM
IBM Home Page Reader Tutorial WebAIM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibm Home Page Reader
Discontinued web browsers
Home Page Reader
Windows web browsers
Internet Explorer shells
2002 software
Computer-related introductions in 2002