The Augusta Blind Rehabilitation Center is going to start teaching/issuing GUIDE for the beginner who have never used a computer.
What is Guide?
GUIDE
is an all-in-one computer package, for people who are blind or
partially sighted. It has been specifically designed to be
easy-to-use and easy-to-learn. So it doesn't matter if you've never
used a computer before, GUIDE will help you to achieve the results
you want.
GUIDE has its own in-built screen reader, so it will read out the text on every screen, even while you're typing. It also has its own in-built screen magnifier, so you can enlarge the text on every screen, whether you are writing a letter or surfing the Internet.
And what's more, GUIDE requires very little training, so most people can easily teach themselves how to use it. This is because GUIDE uses easy-to-follow menu options for each task, which are controlled via the keyboard and displayed on uncluttered screens. If you are stuck, a Help Page can be accessed from any screen, to give you extra advice and support.
Guide is available as a CD to be loaded onto an existing computer, or as a complete computer package, all setup and ready to be used. See your VIST Coordinator for more details.
Guide offers many great features, which are all integrated within one package, so that there is no need to switch between different programmes to complete each task. These enable the user to:
- :Large Print and Spoken Help:
- Write letters and documents:
- Spell-Checker, Dictionary and Thesaurus:
- Scan and read books and documents:
- Magnify Handwriting, Diagrams or Pictures:
- Print or edit photos from your digital camera:
- Send and receive emails:
- Surf the Internet:
- Listen to Internet Radio:
- Keep contacts in an address book:
- Calendar and Reminders:
- Play CDs and MP3s:
- Memo Recorder:
- Calculator:
- News Reader
- Keyboard Practice:
- Customization
Large Print and Spoken Help:
Each screen in Guide has its very own help page, explaining about that screen and what options are available on it. The help pages can be magnified, spoken out by Guide's voice or printed in large print.
Please also see the links on our main navigation menu that cover frequently asked questions and testimonials from some of our many happy customers.
Write letters and documents:
Write, edit, save, retrieve, spell-check and format all letters and documents. Guide takes you through the whole process of writing letters and documents, using clear audio instructions and reading out text as it is typed. Text can be formatted in the normal ways, such as aligning left, centre and right, making it bold and changing its colour and size. The on-screen text can be magnified and, in addition to Guide reading out text as it is typed, your document or letter can be read back as a whole or in smaller word, sentence or paragraph portions. Your letter or document can be saved and finish another day, or it can be printed out automatically in large print. Guide can print on may different paper sizes and also includes a function to automatically print envelopes.
Spell-Checker, Dictionary and Thesaurus:
Guide includes two spell-checkers and a 250,000 word dictionary and thesaurus! The first spell-checker checks the spelling of words as you type them. If Guide detects a spelling mistake it instantly makes a sound, so you know to go back and correct the last word. The second spell-checker is a full spell-checker that will check every word in your letter, document or email, etc. When a spelling mistake is detected a list of suggested corrections is displayed, for you to pick one from. You can also type a correction manually or choose to ignore the word altogether. Both the spell-checker, Dictionary and Thesaurus can all be used anywhere in Guide where you are typing text.
Scan and read books and documents:
This feature turns your computer into an easy-to-use Reading Machine. Printed text documents are placed on the scanner and are then both spoken out by Guide's voice and magnified on the screen. The reading speed can be adjusted, and with the press of a button, words, sentences or paragraphs can be repeated. For reading bank statements and other similar documents, Guide has a special column mode, that ensures the text is read out clearly and logically. After reading, documents can be edited, saved and printed out in large print.
Magnify Handwriting, Diagrams or Pictures:
Images, hand written letters, diagrams or just about anything placed on your scanner can be magnified on screen. Simple controls allow the images to be zoomed in and out, and moved left and right and up and down. Different colouring combinations can be applied, so you can turn black writing on an white page into yellow writing on a black page! Many other colour combinations are also available. Your zoomed image can be saved, altered and printed.
Print or edit photos from your digital camera:
Plug in your camera to your USB port and instantly view and magnify the your photos. Zoom and crop your images on screen, then print them out on plain or photo quality paper. It really couldn't be easier!
Send and receive emails:
Send, receive, reply to, edit, forward and save emails. Guide makes sending and receiving emails unbelievably easy! Guide automatically connects to the Internet and retrieves any new emails awaiting delivery. The new emails are put in a list where you can pick which ones to read. The Guide voice will speak out the selected email, as well as showing it in large print on the screen. If photographs or other images have been attached to the email, Guide can magnify them instantly at the touch of a button! After reading the email you can reply to it, delete it, print it in large print, forward it to someone else, save or view any attachments or just save the whole email to read again later.
When writing a new email, you can select someone from your address book or simply type in the email address. Guide then asks you to type the subject of the email, then asks you to type the actual message. When complete, your message can be spell-checked then sent. Guide automatically connects to the Internet, then tells you if it's been sent successfully. All the emails you send are saved in a separate list, so you can read them again if you require.
Do your grocery shopping, find bus timetables, book train tickets or just go surfing with our amazing new web browser. With just three keys on your keyboard you can read any page! Simply use the left and right arrow keys to move about a page and the enter key to follow links. It's that easy!
As you move about the page with the arrow keys, Guide highlights and reads out each piece of text. Each page can also be magnified if required. To further aid reading, pages can be optionally switched to a text only view that displays the page in your preferred Guide colours.
Use the arrow keys to move about the page, as you move Guide
highlights and speaks out the text
Magnification can be Increased or Decreased
Any page can be switched to a text only version if preferred
Listen to Internet Radio:
Listen to Internet radio stations and podcasts from around the world. Simply select from the list of radio stations, then press enter to listen! The Guide radio station player has easy-to-use on-screen controls that can be used to start and stop the radio station and control its volume. The radio can even be left playing in the background, while you use other parts of Guide!
Keep contacts in an address book:
Store postal addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and notes for all of your contacts. The address book can be searched to quickly find a particular contact. Once found, you can browse or print their details, print and envelope, send them an email, write them a letter or have Guide actually dial their telephone number. As with all other parts of Guide, the address book can be magnified and the Guide voice clearly speaks everything out.
Calendar and Reminders:
Enter appointments in a calendar and choose to be reminded of important events. View your calendar month by month, day by day or hour by hour. Filter your calendar to show just free or just busy times.
Play CDs and MP3s:
Play a normal CD with your computer. Guide will get the CD title, artist and title of all the tracks automatically from the Internet and show them on screen where they can be spoken out or magnified. On-screen controls allow you to play, start, stop, pause, skip-forward or skip backwards through the tracks. You can leave the CD playing, while you go and use other parts of Guide. If you have downloaded an MP3 or you have a CD with MP3s on it, Guide can now play these as well!
Memo Recorder:
Using your computer's microphone and speakers you can record and playback spoken memos. The memos are kept in a list, so each one can be easily played back. A recorded voice memo can also be emailed to someone and played back on their computer! (The recipient does not need a copy of Guide to play it back).
Calculator:
Use the calculator for basic or scientific calculations! The calculation and answer can be magnified and, as normal, Guide speaks everything out.
News Reader
Guide includes two news readers. One for reading Internet news, the other for reading UK news supplied on CD from TNAUK (The Talking Newspaper Association of the UK). News headlines are shown in a list, with more details displayed at the top of the screen. All headlines can be both magnified or spoken out with the Guide voice.
Keyboard Practice:
If you're new to a computer keyboard, Guide has a keyboard learning tool that allows you to explore the keyboard and learn where each key is and what it does. A description for each key is shown in large print on-screen and spoken by Guide's voice.
Customisation:
The look and operation of Guide can be fully adjusted to suit individual needs. Amongst other things, you can change the screen back colour, text colour, font type and pick a male or female voice. Magnification and voices can also be independently controlled and even disabled if required.
You can even customise the Guide menus! Menu options can be added or removed and you can assign your own shortcut numbers and letters to each menu item.
Customise Text and Background Colours
All text in Guide can be both Magnified and Spoken