Last updated: June 14, 2023
The following sections will highlight accessible reading apps for Windows operating system. Each app’s section will include which formats it supports, how to open and read a book using that app, and some advantages and disadvantages of each app.
The NNELS website features several tutorials for accessing and using other reading platforms. One of these may be used by your local library and could provide access to another collection of books.
Reading Systems and Apps
Thorium Reader
Cost: Free
Supports: EPUB, DAISY, PDF
Thorium Reader is an ebook reader designed to take advantage of the accessibility features of content. It recognizes and allows a screen reader to speak accessibility metadata, image descriptions, headings, and other attributes designed for nonvisual accessibility. Other metadata is also supported, enabling features such as access to a book’s table of contents.
Thorium Reader is primarily a text reader. It does not support audio-only formats, including DAISY. DAISY books must contain text for Thorium Reader to access them. Thorium Reader can play the audio if a DAISY book contains both text and audio. Audio-only DAISY will import but not play.
Thorium Reader uses a web view for its interface, which means navigating it will feel much like browsing a website, and you can use website navigation keystrokes, such as pressing H to jump to headings.
To open and read a book in Thorium Reader:
- Launch Thorium Reader
- Navigate to and press the “Import a publication” button.
- A standard Windows open file dialogue will appear. Locate the book you want to open and press enter. Your screen reader will announce when the import is finished.
- Navigate to and press the link containing the book title you just added. The book will open to the first page.
- The contents will be within the main region of the screen. One section or chapter will be displayed at a time when reading an EPUB. If reading another text format, the entire book’s contents will be displayed, allowing continuous reading.
- You can use standard screen reader keystrokes to read the contents, including Say All, which will read from your position to the end of the currently displayed content.
- To flip to the next section or chapter of an EPUB, press the “Right” button at the bottom of the page. The “Left” button next to it will flip to the previous section or chapter.
- If reading an EPUB, the “Activate Text To Speech” button within the toolbar will start reading using a voice separate from your screen reader. This will read continuously and advance to the next chapter automatically. However, screen readers will speak when advancing to the next chapter, causing you to hear two voices at once if you do not minimize the window or silence your screen reader.
- If reading a DAISY book containing text and audio, the “Activate Readaloud” button will start playback of the included audio.
- While playing audio, controls will appear, letting you navigate backward or forward through the book and adjust the playback speed. Additional voice settings will be present if reading a text-only format using text-to-speech.
- A list within the toolbar contains options to search, place a bookmark, adjust settings, and access navigation. The latter is how you access the table of contents and any bookmarks you have placed.
Once imported, books will remain in Thorium Reader unless you delete them. To resume reading a book you previously started, launch Thorium Reader and skip ahead to step 4. The book will open to the chapter you were on when you last closed the book.
Pros:
- Supports accessibility metadata and attributes, allowing full access to any content that has been made fully accessible.
- Free to download and use.
- Supports website navigation quick keys.
Cons:
- App behaviour while reading text varies depending on the format, which is inconsistent and may be confusing.
- Opening multiple books is unintuitive, and each opens in its own window.
- When returning to a book, the focus is returned to the correct chapter but not always the correct place within the chapter.
- Screen readers interrupt while reading via text-to-speech unless the window is minimized or the screen reader is silenced.
Dolphin Easy Reader
Cost: Free, additional features available with an optional £30 per year subscription
Supports: EPUB, DAISY, PDF (requires premium subscription), DOC
EasyReader by Dolphin Computer Access is an ebook reader fully accessible to blind and low-vision readers. It supports image descriptions, table of contents navigation, heading navigation, and activating external links when reading books in text formats which support those features. It supports navigating via the table of contents, bookmarks, skippable structures, and adjusting playback speed when playing DAISY audiobooks.
Most of Dolphin EasyReader’s interface is that of a traditional Windows program and does not behave like a web page. However, the text of a book is displayed in a web-style view, allowing screen readers to use web navigation quick keys to find and jump to elements.
To open and read a book in Dolphin EasyReader:
- If you will be reading a DAISY audiobook, extract the zip file containing your DAISY book to a folder.
- Launch Dolphin EasyReader.
- If prompted, press the “Login” button and follow the instructions to create or log into an account.
- Once logged in, press “CTRL + O” to import a book.
- A standard Windows open file dialogue will appear. Locate the book you want to open and press enter. If opening a DAISY audiobook, navigate into the folder you extracted it to and press enter on the file named ncc.html.
- Once back on the main screen, locate the list box containing your imported books. If the book you just imported is not listed, press “F5” to refresh the list. Press enter on the book you want to open. The book will open, and you will be placed at the beginning of its contents.
- If reading a format with text, use standard screen reader keystrokes to read the content. One section or chapter will be displayed at a time. Pressing enter on the text “Load next” at the bottom will load the next section or chapter.
- Press “F5” to start audio playback, or press the tab until you find the “Play” button and press it. If reading a DAISY book with audio, the included audio will play; otherwise, a text-to-speech voice will be used.
- The previous and next buttons on either side of the Play button will rewind or fast forward the book. The “Navigation settings” button will allow you to specify how much the book will rewind or fast forward by.
- To change the playback speed of an audiobook, press “CTRL + left arrow” to slow down or the “CTRL + right arrow” to speed up. However, this will not work if you are in the web view containing the title of the current part of the book; you must tab to another control before using this or other keystrokes.
- Pressing “Shift + Tab” until you reach a tree view will bring you to the table of contents, which you can browse with arrow keys and press enter to jump to another section, after selecting a section, press “Tab” again until you return to the book’s text.
- If you press the right arrow on the “Headings” tab, you can switch to “Bookmarks” or “Search.” You can then press “Shift + Tab” to access those features.
Once imported, books will remain in Dolphin EasyReader unless you delete them. To resume reading a book you previously started, launch Dolphin EasyReader and skip ahead to step 6. The book will open to where you were when you last closed the book, although the screen reader focus will not be placed at precisely the exact spot within the chapter.
Pros:
- Free to download and use.
- Supports table of contents navigation, image descriptions, and other accessibility features of text content.
- Supports table of contents navigation, bookmarks, skippable structures, and adjusting playback speed for DAISY audiobooks.
Cons:
- It requires several steps to install. You have to provide your name and email address, then receive the download link in an email.
- Requires being logged into an account to use.
- It only displays one chapter of a book at a time.
- Internal links to other sections of a book do not work properly.
- When returning to a book, the focus is returned to the correct chapter but not the correct place within the chapter.
- Audiobook playback keystrokes are inconvenient because they don’t work while in the web view part of the screen.
QRead
Cost: $30 USD
Supports: EPUB, DAISY (text only), PDF, DOC
QRead is a lightweight and easy-to-use ebook reader. It allows screen readers to easily access the text contents of many formats, including EPUB. It does not support non-text content and will strip images, form fields, and text formatting. For this reason, QRead is suitable for reading novels or other primarily text-based content but is not recommended for books which rely on images, charts, tables, or other visual information. QRead does not support audiobooks.
QRead’s interface is more like a traditional Windows program, which provides options in a menu bar and does not behave like a website. It does support headings and links and provides key commands for navigating to them.
To open and read a book in QRead:
- Launch QRead.
- Press “CTRL + O.” A standard Windows open file dialogue will appear. Locate the book you want to open and press enter.
- Wait for the book to load. The time it takes will depend on the book's length, but as it is only text content being loaded, it shouldn’t take more than a second or two. Your screen reader will announce when it is loaded.
- You can use standard screen reader keystrokes to begin reading. The entire book’s contents are loaded into the tab, so there are no buttons you have to press to turn the page or jump to the next chapter. You can perform a “Say All” and read the entire book in one sitting if you like!
- If you’d rather have the app, read the book with a separate voice, press “CTRL + s” or open the file menu, navigate to the Speech menu and select “Start Speaking.” The “Speech Options…” option within the Speech menu allows you to change the voice, speech rate, etc.
- If you wish to open more books, repeat steps 2 and 3. They will open in additional tabs; you can press “CTRL + Tab” to cycle between your open books. QRead will keep your place in each book.
Whenever QRead is launched, all the books that were open the last time you closed the program will be loaded, and the focus will be on the exact spot where you left off in each one.
Pros:
- Intuitive interface with keystrokes for many common tasks.
- It can handle opening many books simultaneously and organizes them into tabs for easy access.
- It displays the entire book at once—no need to interrupt reading by pressing a button to move to the next chapter.
- Remembers your last position in each book, right down to the character.
Cons:
- Does not support accessibility metadata or non-text content.
- Does not support a table of contents within the metadata. Navigation by chapter is only possible if the content contains links or headings.
- Somewhat expensive.