This website has been designed to make it as accessible and useful to visitors as possible. One of  key technologies we have added to the site is the world’s most advanced and flexible text to speech (TTS) system. This is called Talklets and it has been developed by a UK company called Textic (www.textic.com).

The Textic Toolbox, which you can find on each page of the site, includes several useful features to make the site more accessible to visitors.

Foremost among these is the this website talks!  Simply click the button labelled “Switch Talking Text On” and point to some text with your mouse to hear it read to you in a clear life-like voice.  Click the button again to switch off the text reader.

Other features include:

Save main story as MP3.  Click this button to save the main text on this page as an audio file which you can listen to later or even copy to your iPod! Alternatively you can click on and hold the mouse button down to drag highlight any text which can then be saved as MP3 by clicking the MP3 button.

Adjust text size.  Click this button to cycle through various text sizes until you find the one that suits your preferences.

Change background colour.  Select one of these colours to adjust background colour to suit your reading preferences. This feature is particularly useful for visitors with low vision, colour blindness or reading difficulties such as dyslexia.

The right-click function is a unique accessibility feature of Talklets. Simply hold the cursor over a word and right-click (PC) and a pop-up box appears which gives access to the dictionary, thesaurus and, in some cases a context-sensitive pronunciation feedback mechanism allowing users to contribute to Talklets pronunciation lexicon.

Instant translator. Any page on this site can be translated into one of several languages by clicking on the appropriate flag icon. This translation is performed using Google’s Translation service, which is among the best in the world. However, since it is very difficult to achieve fully accurate translation using an automated process without human intervention, we do not claim that this is a perfect cross-language transposition of the site, but it is a very useful tool for visitors for whom English is not their first language.

Talking Hot Keys

We have worked hard to make Talklets as accessible as possible to all users so have included a range of 'hotkeys' which allow Talklets to be controlled by the use of keyboard strokes rather than a mouse. The range of keys will be familiar to some users of other assistive technologies.

The standard keys are as follows:

F9 - Switch hotkeys and sound on/off

F12 - Hear Hot Key List

S - Smart Story Finder - This feature asks VIKI to automatically find the main story or content on the page. This feature is currently only available for Internet Explorer users.

M - Toggle the mouse over reader. When on, the text of the element the mouse is over will be read.

A - go to next link.

H - go to next heading.

L - go to next list.

I - go to next item in a list.

G - go to Google Accessible Search.

E - Go to the next editable input box. N.B. This will mean your key presses will enter text and NOT activate hotkeys. To activate hot key interaction again press F8.

B - Next button.

F8 - step out of input element, so access keys are re-enabled.

T - Next table.

X - Next DIV.

SHIFT plus any of the above (except the Smart Story Finder) - Reads the previous .

U - Enter a URL (Web address).

BACKSPACE - go to previous page.

FULL STOP and SHIFT - next element. Most element types will be read aloud.

COMMA and SHIFT - previous element. Most element types will be read aloud.

Z - Zoom in. SHIFT plus Z to zoom out.

V - Read again.

For more information about text-to-speech technology visit

To use Talklets from Textic you need to have JavaScript enabled in your web browser. It is normally enabled by default as JavaScript is used on a large proportion of sites. To check that JavaScript is enabled on your browser, or to enable it, follow the following steps.

Browser settings: Enabling JavaScript

The following instructions describe how to enable JavaScript in your browser. If your browser isn't listed, please consult its online help pages.

Internet Explorer (6.0)

1. Select Tools from the top menu.
2. Choose Internet Options.
3. Click Security.
4. Click Custom Level.
5. Scroll down till you see section labeled Scripting.
6. Under Active Scripting, select Enable and click OK.

Internet Explorer (7.0)

1. Select Tools > Internet Options.
2. Click on the Security tab.
3. Click the Custom Level button.
4. Scroll down to the Scripting section.
5. Select Enable for Active Scripting and Scripting of Java Applets.
6. Click OK.
7. Select YES if a box appears to confirm.
8. Click OK. Close window.
9. Reload page.

Mozilla Firefox (1.0)

1. Select Tools from the top menu.
2. Choose Options.
3. Choose Web Features from the left navigation bar.
4. Select the checkbox next to Enable JavaScript and click OK.
5. Mozilla Firefox (2.x)

Open Firefox.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click Content in the Options list.
3. Under the Content section, check the box next to Enable JavaScript.
4. Click the Advanced button to open the Advanced JavaScript Options box.
5. Check the appropriate boxes under Allow scripts to.
6. Click OK.
7. Click OK.

Apple Safari (1.0)

1. Select Safari from the top menu.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Choose Security.
4. Select the checkbox next to Enable JavaScript.
5. Please keep in mind that upgrading your browser or installing new security software or security patches may affect your JavaScript settings.