[gui-talk] a search engine for the blind

Wed Jul 26 11:38:51 CDT 2006

It isn't that it limits what topics you can search for.  It filters the 
results it presents with regard to how closely their page design adheres to 
the W3C standards.  If you want to know the full story, g to that URL (I 
didn't notice if the original post with the article provided it) and click 
on the FAQ link to see the entire explanation.  Then it will become clear.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <fl_mom at earthlink.net>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] a search engine for the blind

Well, I wondered when reading the article if the search engine would be
limiting as far as topics searched for. Thanks for the additional info.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Deutsch" <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] a search engine for the blind

Hi Sherry,

This new Google search engine was also written about a couple of weeks ago
in the New York Times tech update section and several other places, and a
number of blind and low vision people on the mailing lists I'm subscribed to
have been trying it out.  The principle is interesting, although personally
I'm more concerned with the accuracy of search results rather than being
blocked by Google from knowing about a site which doesn't come up to the
standards written into this program.  If a site turns out not to be
navigable, I can just try the next search result.  Add to this the fact that
I tried out the search using search terms that ought to have led me to a
site I already was familiar with an visit often, without any hassle, but
this search engine didn't show it at least on the first couple of pages of
results, which is where it comes up on a regular Google search.  I forget
now which site this was, but it suggested to me that the criteria that are
written into the algorithms that make this search engine's choices aren't
just going to protect you from horrible, graphics-dominated sites that would
frustrate you by silence or by focus problems, but all sorts of perfectly
Jaws-civilized sites, as well.  But the thing is in a Beta stage, at
present, so who knows how nicely it may become refined.  One thing that's
interesting is to click on the FAQ link on the home page of that search
engine, which explains basically how the thing is set up and what its
intentions are.

There happens also to be another variant of Google that blind and low vision
folks may appreciate, and this one is reached using the usual google.com URL
but with a slash e at the end of it.  I  forget what the e stands for.

Here, the search results are, I think, the same as what you'd turn up using
the regular Google with the same search terms, but the results are more
simply presented, just a URL, practically.  I understand that if you can't
make sense of that URL, lacking a few lines of sample text beneath  it, you
can do this mouse hover thing and see some descriptive info that appears if
you are sighted and hold your mouse pointer on the right place, or if you
use the Jaws tools for accessing that "mouse over" deal.  Which I tried to
learn, using Surf's Up, but found discouragingly complicated to do, so I
never use that sort of feature.

But the alternative site's worth trying, in case it suits you better than
the frustration I describe.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherri" <fl_mom at earthlink.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List"
<gui-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 6:58 AM
Subject: [gui-talk] a search engine for the blind

I ran across this article in a weekly newsletter I receive. I haven't tried
this site yet, but thought this might be of interest. The link to get to the
entire article is at the bottom of this e-mail.

Sherri
> A Search Engine For The Blind: Google Unveils Accessible Web ...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

by Chris Sabga
Infopackets Gazette
Infopackets Contributor

Google has just unveiled Accessible Web Search, a search engine for the
visually-challenged. Here's how it works: Regular Google sorts search
results primarily by how relevancy, but Accessible Search takes it a step
further by also listing pages will that will be easy for the blind to
navigate. To meet Google's Accessible Web Search criteria, a web Site has
to be "visually simple." That means it ...
... Click to read the rest of the article (and our most recent articles)
online:

http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/gazette/2006/20060726_a_search_engine_for_the_blind_google_unveils_accessible_web_search.htm

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