I often get books from the Overdrive system. In the past I have downloaded mostly books in WMA format and a few in MP3 format. I recently decided to try a book in Epub format, and I was directed to download Adobe Digital Editions to display the book. I had heard that this program was not accessible, but I installed the latest version on my Windows 7 computer anyway. I got exactly nothing usable for my trouble.
I did some searching with Google to see if there were any plans to make the program accessible. I found a statement on the Adobe site that version 2 of Adobe Digital Editions would be compatible with all of the major screen readers. They didn't say when it would appear on the scene, however. I saw a comment on their blog that said that an accessible version had been promised since 2009. I did find an Overdrive app for my iPod Touch that can display the book. It also runs on the iPhone and iPad. It works pretty well, but navigation is a little tricky. While I was exploring the Adobe web site for accessibility tips, I found it rather ironic that their suggestion for making the site more accessible was to update the flash run-time for my browser to the latest version. This would be a lot easier to do if they would improve the accessibility of the installation program. I'm not too comfortable using the web sites that do an automated installation of the flash run-time on your computer system. Gary King [email protected] If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
