Server upgrades, back up creation and improvements to the ATbar framework with documentation.

Magnus White has joined the team over the summer taking over from Seb Skuse who has joined an iPhone app development company.

Server monitoring

Monitoring server status

Magnus has spent much of his time setting up a new documentation system and upgrading the servers to host ATbar and the market place with a back up and monitoring system. This allows us to see at a glance all the systems working including the text to speech, spell checking and word prediction that use third party services. With around 1500 uses of the toolbar per day, upgrading the server had become essential and the timing was right with Magnus taking over as lead developer.

Monitoring ATbar services

Monitoring ATbar services

Lustig dance centre screen grab

ATbar used as part of the website code so remains persistent for all web pages on the site with any browser.

 

 

Looking at general stats on 19th Sept 2012 there is an interesting mix of uses of the ATbar:

498165 youtube.com
490799 google.co.uk
446676 facebook.com
436897 moodle.bradfordcollege.ac.uk
101987 en.wikipedia.org
60570 www.facebook.com
44861 bradfordcollege.ac.uk
42579 www.google.co.uk
40823 news.bbc.co.uk
32666 apps.facebook.com
30986 lustigdancetheatre.org
19748 jobseekers.direct.gov.uk
16322 thetelegraphandargus.co.uk
10839 search.ucas.com
8456 studyingonline.eu
6859 bing.com
 

ATbar Marketplace update in Arabic and English

Over the last two weeks Magnus has been working hard to make the Arabic marketplace and the English marketplace easier to use – Now it is time for testing and providing comments!  With over 30 plugins it was becoming apparent that we needed to sort and filter the contents of the marketplace.

 Search and Filter

The ‘Search’ works in English and Arabic and you can search for plugin and toolbar names, descriptions and categories plus tags that are language specific. Search words are recorded so that we are aware what is being searched and can work on the type of plugins that may be required.  The search is not collecting any IP addresses or personal data.

Plugins can be filtered by language and category and you can set the number of items to be viewed per page so that you do not have endless plugins scrolling down.  However, once a plugin has been chosen the page jumps back to where you were if choose to have a long list.

plugin filters

 Language changes

If you are in a page belonging to one language it is now possible to switch between languages and stay on the same page rather than jump back to home.

Install Toolbars

There is now a helpful arrow to show you how to add a toolbar to your browser.  The only problem we have to overcome is the fact that the ‘Install button’ becomes the name of your toolbar and you might need to re-name the bookmark (right hand mouse – edit (Chrome) or rename (Internet Explorer) in your bookmark/favorites list or under properties in Firefox).  This is available in both Arabic and English.

toolbar link

rename toolbar

This is how you rename the toolbar of your choice.  There is the possibility of using the title of a toolbar for the install button but this could mean the name is too long – short names are best.

 

A framework that might help those developing Arabic software and websites.

Fadwa ALRowais is researching the use of a framework that is aimed at helping those  developing software in the Arabic language to be more aware of issues that might arise for those who have Dyslexia.  This is proving very helpful in general terms for those of us who do not speak, read or write the language.

Navigation features

aljazeera screengrabOne navigational requirement says: ” Ensure that data entry, ‎data display and navigation controls are ‎consistent in direction (for example, in ‎Arabic interface data entry ‎for ‎textual content should be from right to left, for numeric content from left ‎to right and navigation controls for the next screen should point towards ‎the left and for the previous screen point towards the right).‎

ATbar reset arrowShould the reset page icon on ATbar stay with an arrow heading left or should it be reversed as its intent is to send you back to an original look? 

Whilst work goes ahead to make the toolbar and its menus read from right to left we want to ensure that all icons are correct and are representative of their functions.

ATbar high contrast modeWhat happens when you linearise a web page for easier reading in Arabic – it should go from right to left but this will only happen if you are using the Arabic version of the ATbar. Reading ahead you will see some discussion about justification and this can be done via the CSS (Cascading Style sheet file) on the ATbar website and also under the colour changes plug-in.

Text to Speech issues

It has been hard to find a localised text to speech (TTS) engine as voices in Arabic appear to only exist in Standard Arabic and the language spoken on a daily basis differs from the language used in education and in formal writing.

Localisation apart there is also the concerns about the way the text is read not just the type of voice.  Whereas in English there are clear word margins and punctuation to help the TTS engine, in Arabic there are two types of spacing – the word boundary space and spaces that can occur within a word.  Accurate pausing and  intonation patterns are harder to achieve with synthesised voices in this case.

Website Content

Cultural aspects of the language that impact on help files and instructions  – There is the need to have separate dialogues for each gender because the Arabic language is a gender ‎specific language (for example, the word (‎رَسَمت‎) /rasamat/ which means ‎‎’draw’ is used to refer to the female, while the word (‎رَسَمَ‎) /rasama/ is used to ‎refer to the male).‎  In fact many sites use the male version, but this is something we need to consider when working on training materials in particular.

Fonts that are easy to read are important such as Arabic Transparent and Simplified Arabic Fixed, avoiding angular font types such as Koufi and Andalus.  In the case of the ATbar site Helvetica neue was chosen in sans serif style.  However, we have also been advised that whenever possible it is important to offer automatic diacritization so the ‎appearance ‎of ‎diacritics can be controlled with options for full ‎diacritics, ‎partial ‎diacritics and no diacritics.   The use of partial diacritics ‎with Arabic ‎script is better than ‎no diacritics,because those who are dyslexic may be depending on the diacritics for phonological assistance via their visual clues. An example of this occurs when discussing ‘tanween’ ‎‎/n/ formatted as ‎a diacritic, to ‎distinguish between root word ‎ending with letter ‘n’‎‏‎ ‎‏and ‎sound ‎‏/‏n‏/ ‏produced by ‎diacritics at ‎‏the ‎end of word ‎‏‎(‎for example‎: /‎n‎/ ‎at the ‎end of the word ‎‏‎(‎لُبْنَان‎) /loobnaan/ is different from /n/ at the ‎end of the ‎word ‎‎(‎لَيْلٌ‎) ‎‎‏/‏lailon/).‎

When it comes to Arabic text alignment the advice is to use right-justified or fully-justified ‎text. In ‎full-justified mode, Arabic orthographies use ‎connectors (kashida) elongating ‎specific characters of the cursive ‎script without producing extra white space ‎between words as in English texts. Fully-justified ‎Arabic text has been reported as ‎being useful for better recognition of letters and attached diacritics as ‎well as offering visual help when reading from right to ‎left and moving from top to bottom through ‎the lines.‎

We are hoping we can improve our web pages and the toolbar to illustrate as many of the guidelines as possible. More guidelines will follow as the framework is developed.  Thank you Fadwa.

 

 

 

 

Mada Center launches ATbar in Arabic with news reel coverage.

The Mada Center hosted the launch of ATbar in Arabic their news article began:

Mada (Qatar Assistive Technology Center) has released the Arabic version of “AT Bar,” a powerful open source tool that enables people with disabilities to access the internet and computers with greater access.

This comes with a very big thank you for the Mada Center’s support for this project and the wonderful time I was given by David Banes and all those at the Center during this time.   I could not believe it when I read the papers the next day.  The Gulf Tribune, Creative Commons Qatar and Peninsula papers had articles about the ATbar along with ‘Qatar is Booming.com’.

Thank you 

YouTube videos illustrating the ATbar features.

We have set up a series of YouTube videos that include:

Text resizing, font style changes and line spacing. This video has no audio but shows how a user can select the magnifier on the toolbar to enlarge text without resizing the graphics – this tends to allow for more readable text when compared to zooming using the browser Ctrl+ which also enlarges the graphics.  However, this feature does not work when Flash has been used within a webpage or fonts have fixed sizes or styles.  The same applies to increased line spacing which is also demonstrated.

YouTube link to the video

The second video demonstrates how the A.I.Type word prediction works as well as spell checking when writing a blog using WordPress.  Use the HTML mode when working in the edit box rather than the Visual mode and then you will also be able to use the text to speech to aid proof reading.


YouTube link to the video

The last video demonstrates the use of text to speech with the Acapela voice in both Arabic and English.


YouTube link to the video

ATBar Word Prediction and Text to Speech working in text boxes

Arabic wordprediction

Arabic wordprediction with keyboard access

Seb has enabled the AIType word prediciton with keyboard access and text to speech for simple text boxes in his recent updates to the toolbar for both Arabic and English.

The Word prediction button needs to be selected before entering text.  It is possible to use the ‘esc’key to ignore a prediction and close the dialog box or use Ctrl+Alt and the word position as a number to insert the required word.

word prediction

Word Prediction in WordPress

We have found that the prediction and text to speech work with HTML views of text boxes in WordPress and Blogger but not the Visual mode which overrides the ATbar.

The text needs to be highlighted before the text to speech button is selected.  There may be a pause before you hear the speech.

ATbar WordPress Plugin now available in Arabic and English

Adding ATbar WordPress plugin

Adding ATbar WordPress plugin

Magnus has just updated his ATbar WordPress plugin so it now supports English, Arabic and the Marketplace toolbars. You just select the version you want and if it is a marketplace one, just paste the install link from the toolbar viewing page in the marketplace and it will load the toolbar just like the normal ATbar.

It’s uploaded on the WordPress repository and Git Hub and it’s installed on our blogs and ATbar.org.

Anyone found useful open source assistive technology programs in Arabic?

From a three year old slideshare presentation by Ahmed Mekkawy on “FOSS: Technologies, Communities, and the Society“, it is clear that there is interest in the current status of Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) in Arab societies.

A recent FOSS survey is seeking to learn more about user engagement with the open source community.  It has been produced by ‘a regional research team affiliated with the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the School of Business of the American University in Cairo, in collaboration with Ma3bar, the Arab Support Center for Free & Open Source Software at the University of Balamand, Al-Kurah, Lebanon.’

It would be wonderful if the results of the survey could provide us with more information about Arabic open source assistive technologies but for the moment just knowing about the availability of any products would be helpful. (Sadly the survey ends with a Captcha so it is not screen reader accessible.

There are blogs on the subject such as ArabicFOSS – it is written in Arabic (Try our Google translate plugin that works with the major browsers) and another is LinuxArabia.com.  The Jordan Open Source Association has a good following at present and their Facebook page links to many other discussion forums and blogs, but not to the Arab Afro Open Source Software Forum if that part of the world is of more interest.

Despite searching and contacting individuals accross the area we have struggled to find FOSS assistive technology programs that have already been developed in the Arabic language.  Please leave comments to tell us about any you might have found.

miftaah logoMiftaah on Ma3bar.org offers Araic translations for information about several portable apps.  Their range of apps includes office, browser, email, PDF readers and VLC. However, I discovered that although the menus may be in Arabic (as we have achieved with our Access Tools pendrive menu (version 2) the actual programs are still those available in English from  Portable apps).

Arabic Arabeyes LogoArabEyes has links to a number of start up projects including the Duali spell checker and Khotot, a set of open TTF Arabic fonts.  More information is available about the latest release of the bold version of KacstOne font v5.0.
Sadly many of the other sites are dated and the code is no longer being updated.

The Firefox browser is available in Arabic but when you start to look for ‘add-ons’ you immediately return to a US version from the Arabic page – search on ‘Arabic’ and the results are mainly linked to keyboards, dictionaries and translations. The spell checker uses the same database as that used in all the browsers and ATbar – Ayaspell based on Hunspell  – also available as the Ayaspell project from Source Forge.

Zekr have produced a “Free Open Source Quran Study Software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS” that is available in several languages including Arabic with audio support but thre does not appear any support to update the work on espeak in Arabic although it is happening in European Languages.

Perhaps the place for professionals to find out more is the ArabNet as this crosses boundaries when it comes to the commercial and open source world. It hosted the ArabNet Digital Summit in Beirut and as Mike Butcher from TechCrunch said:

“The MENA (Middle East North Africa) region’s largest digital event has been expanded to 5 days featuring speakers, panels, workshops, a startup competition and about 1,500 delegates. In a sign the the Arab business world is really getting switched on to tech these days, there’s even a hackathon-style developer event during the conference. I daresay there will be some interesting startups for TechCrunch to unearth there.”

So hopefully you will join us in the quest for open source and freely available Arabic language assistive technology.  Here is a short video from the Mada Center in Qatar   about building the awareness around assistive technology and accessibility in Arabic.

It is thanks to the Mada Center that we have been able to explore the development of open source assistive technologies in Arabic and the latest version of the ATbar in Arabic has occurred. 

 

Testing times for ATbar version 2 and the Marketplace.

Over the last few weeks the latest version of ATbar in English and Arabic has been put through its paces – the Arabic translation can be reached through the link at bottom of the page or go directly to the ATbar Arabic version.

English version of ATbar

Arabic version of ATbarIt is thanks to the work of Seb and Paul from AIType that we now have word prediction in place. This will work with most simple text boxes and searches – allow time for the word list to appear and you will soon have full word prediction!

Seb has also changed the look and feel of the spell checker so that it resembles a dialog box.  At present the text to speech is using a Voice As A Service (VAAS) system with Acapela voices via the Insipio servers.  It is hoped in the future, with the marketplace in full use, users will choose their own ATbar voices with a selection of free and possibly more open source options available for those who wish to use text to speech.

Magnus has been working on the marketplace, which allows ATbar users the chance to choose which plugins they would like to add to the toolbar. There is already a wide selection in English and the standard toolbar options available in Arabic.  Developers will be able to make their own plugins with an ATkit and eventually the marketplace will be open for these to be uploaded and shared with others.

ATbar plugins from the marketplace

Both Fadwa and Edrees have been kind enough to help with translations of both the toolbar and the website.  This has been a great kindness as they are taking their PhDs and have several papers on the go at this time.  Areeb has also helped when panic has set in and we are unable to work out whether the spell checker or word prediction is working correctly. Often a cry of help has gone up in the lab, only to have enormous kindness shown  by our colleagues who speak Arabic – Thank you.

Lisha has also joined the team to kindly test both the toolbar and marketplace for bugs, as someone who had not tried the ATbar before last week.  Her results can be downloaded as an Excel spread sheet – ATbar results (.xls download) and the marketplace evaluation MS Word document (.docx).  The ATbar tests have been carried out using Internet Explorer 7/8/9, Firefox and Chrome (latest versions) with websites in English and Arabic.  The main points to note are that ATbar will not expand fixed width fonts and if a user comes across a site where the toolbar does not make fonts larger, then both pictures and text will have to be magnified using the browser’s zoom feature (Ctrl+).  It is also possible that the font styles and line spacing may be affected by this type of web page design.

Sites that use Flash are inaccessible to the ATbar, just as they are to screen readers unless additional work is carried out by the original developer.  The ATbar may be hidden by Flash elements and some scrolling menu bars.  There are also issues with some versions of Internet Explorer that do not occur with the other browsers when script is used to hide elements on a web page.

During this phase of the ATbar development we really would be grateful if all bugs could be recorded on the ATBar GitHub pages and any future ideas for extending this service added to the REALISE website.

Updates on the progress on Arabic spell checking, TTS, Word Prediction and the ATKit

footstepsThe last few weeks since the Christmas break have flown by with a flurry of activity which is retrospect seems at times to have made us feel as if we have been going two steps forward only to have to go at least one if not more steps backward!  But there have been some breakthroughs in the areas of Spell checking, Text to Speech, Word Prediction and the ATKit website.

Spell Checking

Thanks to Mashael AlKadi we have a really clear evaluation of the spell checker titled Dyslexic Typing Errors in Arabic (PDF download) and also thank you to Mina Monta who commented that:

  • “Some of the words are correct in spell & in the meaning but AT spell checker detect that those are wrong words
  • In the suggested word list, there is no sorting according to the priority of the suggested word (according to the relativity between the suggested word & the original wrong word)
  • Some of the suggested words are wrong in spell
  • The number of the suggested words is to high comparing with MS Word spell checker.
  • MS Word is better in detecting the wrong words in grammar (the word has correct spell) “

Sadly research into English spell checkers has revealed that they are not as accurate as we had hoped when it comes to providing false errors and real words or homophones as can be seen from this presentation about online spell checking.

I asked Mashael whether adding a new corpus would help as Seb has succeeded in collecting a larger Arabic corpus and has put in some code to make it possible to add this extended vocabulary.   However, Mashael’s comment was:

“regarding adding new words, do you mean expanding the tool’s dictionary? I don’t think you should worry beacuse it was working very well expect for certain remarks that I’ve said such as the tool’s behavior with words attached to prepositions. In such case only some adjustments should be applied to the tool’s mechanism and I think it will work great.”

So with the support of Erik and Mina in our last meeting, it has been decided that we will work on particular improvements as a future aim with the help of our Arabic speaking colleagues.

Text to Speech

It has been a bit of a trial and error period starting with the withdrawal of Google Translate. We were aware this might happen, but had rather hoped there could be a reprieve as this was a free option, although in the tests carried out with 5 Arabic speaking students the results were poor in comparison to Acapela and Vocalizer voices. The sadness also on the part of the time spent on this work as it was something we had proved was possible to achieve – a free TTS on the toolbar.  Microsoft Speak Method was also tried and tested – but the TTS appeared to leave off initial sounds and the voice was unacceptable to our beta testers.

We also learnt that NVDA in Arabic was only going to work with the Arabic TTS offered by Microsoft and eSpeak and Festival with the Mbrola project was still an uphill struggle.

As a research project and definitely not for profit we also wondered if we could go back to Google Translate but the agreement  specifically says  “The program may be used only by registered researchers and their teams, and access may not be shared with others.”

Meanwhile Fadwa Mohamad kindly visited King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology(KACST) over the Christmas period and met Professor Ibrahim A. Almosallam who has been in touch to say that they are developing an Arabic Text to Speech application, but it has yet to be released.  I am enquiring as to whether this is a desktop application or a VAAS system (Voice as a Service) such as that offered by Acapela in Arabic.

Seb then spent time working on the Acapela VAAS system and this was shown to work well in all the tests although there are issues when a whole page is read out.  It is felt that it might be more appropriate to restrict the call on the servers and just allow text to be highlighted and then spoken.  We now have to negotiate the way we can work with this system, as the final output needs to be free to the user.

There is also the option of building a new Arabic voice and this is being explored – although it would take time and effort to generate the corpus, normalise the output and beta test, even when there are engines available to achieve this aim….. A new build Arabic voice needs further discussion but we have the connections in place.

WordPrediction

wordprediction screen grabSeb has been able to show how this feature for the toolbar is possible in English and the background architecture is in place for the Arabic version pending the language pack.

ATKit website

ATkit siteIt has been agreed that the mock up of the ATKit website that was available as a demonstrator should be taken forward and developed.  This has been completed with the ability to add plugins both free and those that require payment (for instance where a TTS requires a fee). Users can register, build  their own toolbar and save the results.  The next step is a completed Arabic translation and the ability to author plugins …

Arabic ATKit