Improving the Web Browsing Environment for Dyslexics

According to an IBM white paper, dyslexia may affect as much as 6-10% of the population. In researching ways to enhance its Easy Web Browsing software (EWB) for learning-disabled users, IBM identified several kinds of supporting functions that were helpful to users with different forms of dyslexia. The supporting functions fall into three main categories.

Category 1: Functions that support visual/perceptual clarity

Color overlay—similar to wearing colored glasses

Displaying a ruler under the line being read

Allowing users to increase the space between lines

Zoom feature that works like a hand-held magnifying glass

Category 2: Functions that support the user's grasp of character phonology

Reading the text out loud using synthesized speech

Inverting color of the magnified part of sentences while the text is being read aloud

Category 3: Features that help users understand the meaning of text

Furigana—for Japanese text, showing the hiragana printed beside each kanji character

Adding spaces between words (specific to Japanese text, which does not use spaces)

EWB was found to increase both reading speed and ease of reading for participants in the study.