What is Webtalk
It's a fun application that reads aloud the web pages you click on. Webtalk is available on Android, and will be available soon for other smartphones.
Check us out on youtube!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6KTrkmiCg8
Here are the main features:
- Select the voice rate (voice speed)
- Select startup URL (e.g. http://m.cnn.com)
- Select and edit custom text to voice dictionary
- Select web browser type - the full Android browser or a simple web page browser
With Webtalk, you can enjoy listening to news articles, sport articles, technology discussions and more, instead of reading the text. Try it out - click on Full Browser, then click on the first article, and the Android voice will read it aloud.
Who is it for
Anyone! If you are tired of reading these small website letters, or reading text on your smartphone is not convenient as you are occupied with different task, or just want to enjoy the information by listening to it - Webtalk is for you.
How to use it
Webtalk has two modes of operation - full browser and simple browser. In full browser, Webtlak "streamlines" and strips non-audible information from the text, so it sounds as close as possible to someone reading aloud the text. Webtalk was adjusted to streamline some popular mobile websites:
More websites will be added in due updates of Webtalk. For websites not in this list, Webtalk will use some generic logic to try and streamline the text. Note that in full browser mode Webtalk is trying to simplify the reading - so for example Webtalk will not read aloud a home page (such as http://m.cnn.com) but rather wait for you to click on a link within this home page.
In simple browser mode, Webtalk will not try to streamline the text, and will attempt to read the web page text as is. This mode is useful for simple, stand-alone websites (such as this one!) or single web pages.
Using Webtalk is so simple! most of the stuff is displayed right there on the screen as you start Webtalk. That includes selecting the voice speed, custom dictionary, startup URL and browser.
To change the voice speed, click on "Medium voice rate", and select either slow rate, fast rate, or just stay with the default. Select "back" when you are done. Note that all settings are saved for you when you exit Webtalk:
To edit the custom dictionary, click on "Custom dictionary". You may add up to 10 words or sentences, and convert each to any other word or sentence of choice. Note that by default Webtalk will apply some logic to "streamline" the text - so filling-in the custom dictionary is not required for Webtalk, its for your convenience:
To start browsing one of the websites on the list above, just ener the website homepage in the URL section, and click full browser. The standard Android browser will be launched, and you can use it as you normally do - Webtalk will attempt to read aloud the text each time you click a link in this page.
Webtalk will continue to read aloud the text even as you browse backward, move the cursor around, use browser's menu options etc. - until you click on a new link. This feature allows you to continue listening to the selected article, while looking for another interesting item.
To exit Webtalk, just click the "back" button until Webtalk main screen shows up. Another "back" click will exit Webtalk and shut down the voice.
You can always click the phone's menu button to get Webtlak help screen:
And then click "Help Webtalk" button and then "Click for Webtalk site" to get to this website, for the latest and greatest updates:
Perquisites and comments
Please read the following:
1. Webtalk works on Android version 1.6 and up (SDK level 4 and up)
2. If Android TTS (text-to-speech) feature not enabled, you may be required to download the (free) TTS. To verify that TTS works on your Android, select menu->settings->Text to speech->Listen to an example.
3. While installing and running Webtalk the user will be asked to agree to allow Webtalk the following permissions, which are essential for Webtalk to work correctly:
android.permission.INTERNET
com.android.browser.permission.READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS
com.android.browser.permission.WRITE_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS
4. Voice language: Webtalk will try to adapt to the user’s local, the main language tested is English
5. Voice quality and functionality is native to Android – Webtalk is using the Android TTS capability. Thus, as further improvements to Android TTS are made available by Google, Webtalk users will enjoy them as well.
6. There may be some delay between seeing the article text to hearing the voice (up to 30 seconds) due to Internet connectivity and/or other applications running on your Android.
7. If you see article text but hear no voice, click the "back" button and select a different article, the voice should be heard. You can now click "back" and select your first article. This is just how Webtalk works, it tries to skip heard articles.
Get in touch
We'd love to hear from you! As we are working on the next stepping stones in this fascinating journey, we are happy to get feedback and incorporate in our next version, help you out with technical issues, or just share experience. Please write us at maildover@gmail.com