Literacy and Engagement with Historical Records

 

CAR Functional Overview

 

Central Access Reader was developed by Central Washington University. It is a free and open source eReader that incorporates the use of text-to-speech. It was specifically designed to accommodate the reading needs of individuals with print disabilities. 

 

Minimum Requirements:

  • 64-bit Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista.

  • Minimum RAM: 2GB

  • Processor: Single-core, 1 GHz

 

How to Load Text into CAR

Select a Word Doc on your computer
Press the plus button

or, you can drag and drop a Word Docx into CAR

CAR supports Microsoft Word 2007 or later .docx documents.

 

Paste text from clipboard

Open as many Word Docs or paste as much text into CAR as you like. Navigate between documents and clips on the tabs at the top of the window.

 

Playback

Start:Press the start button to begin playback.Stop:Press stop to stop playback.

 

--OR--

 

Press the spacebar to start or end playback

 

Speech Rate Toolbar:
You can change the rate of speech as CAR reads. Press the "Rate" button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to reveal the rate slider.

 

CAR Toolbar:

 

General Settings Icon:

  • Adjust rate, volume, and pause length

  • Select from TTS voices on your computer

  • Change math discipline

  • Change how images and alternative text are handled

 

Highlight, Color, and Font Settings Icon:

  • Change the colors of the background and text in the document

  • Enable highlighting by word and sentence as it is read

  • Change the font type

  • Change the color theme of CAR

 

Save to MP3 Icon:

 

Adjusting Text Size Icons:
Zoom inZoom outor reset zoom

 

Show/Hide Navigation Window Icon:

 

Selecting Where to Begin Reading

 

Using Your Keyboard

CAR highlights the word where it will begin reading

  • Left and right arrow keys move the highlight forward and backward

  • Up and down arrow keys move the highlight to the previous or next paragraph

  • Home and End keys move the highlight to the beginning or the end of the paragraph

  • Page Up and Page Down keys move the highlight between headings

Press the spacebar to begin reading at highlighted location.

 

Using Your Mouse

  • Click on word, image, or math equation, then press the spacebar

  • Highlight a passage and press the spacebar

 

Navigation Pane Menu:
The navigation pane shows any headings marked within the Word Document.

If headings have been enabled in your document, click the heading and press the spacebar to begin reading from that heading.

If pages have been enabled in your document, click the page number and press the spacebar to begin reading from that page.

 

Advanced Settings Menu

 The Advanced Settings Menu is located in the upper right-hand corner of the window.

 

Reading Math Correctly

If there are math equations in your document, make sure to select the correct math discipline in the general settings.

CAR can read math:

y=ax2+bx+c

x=−bħb2−4ac2a.

 

Comments or Suggestions?

If you have suggestions on how CAR can better drive the reading experience, then please let the developers know!

http://www.cwu.edu/central-access/car-comments-and-suggestions