LowBrowse: a web browser for the Visually Impaired

Lighthouse International, an advocate of accessibility for people with low vision, is announcing an innovative new add-on software tool that will enable millions of people worldwide with low vision to access previously inaccessible web pages.

While existing programs enable blind people to access the web effectively, LowBrowse is the first program to enable people with moderate or severe low vision to both view web pages as the original web author intended and read the text on those pages tailored to their own visual needs.

The highly anticipated program, which runs in conjunction with theMozilla Firefox browser, will be offered at no charge and is expected to be available to the public for download via the Firefox add-on site in late summer or early fall of 2008.

LowBrowse is part of a larger research project on low vision user interface design headed by Aries Arditi PhD, Senior Fellow in Vision Science at Lighthouse International, under a grant from the National Eye Institute. "This technology enables all the text on a website to be presented in the same readable format - size, color, font and spacing - regardless of which page is being viewed and without having to navigate to the next line," said Arditi, a vision scientist and an expert in web accessibility.

"As a leader in the field of low vision and as strong advocates for accessible technology, we are very pleased to offer this innovative technology at no charge," said Tara A. Cortes, PhD, RN, president and CEO of Lighthouse International.

Using open source technology, this browser add-on will be free to users through the Firefox Add-on site. It works with Windows, MacOS and Linux.

Associated Link: LowBrowse at Lighthouse International

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