Screen Reader Accessibility with Zotero?

wtottman · November 3, 2024

Hi all! I'm trying to use Zotero to read my files while simultaneously using a screen reader.

I'm thinking either Zotero desktop or the online library via Chrome, and for screen readers, I have access to both Kurzweil 3000 and Natural Reader (which both have a desktop version and a Chrome extension).

*The point is to be able to read the text while also listening to it, to help with my own comprehension and focus... And I specifically wanted to do this in Zotero so I can highlight and take notes, etc. (I know Kurzweil has notetaking abilities, but I didn't want to start crossing over as I have edited/highlighted/etc TONs of files in Zotero already).

The best I've gotten is running Kurzweil 3000's "Read the Web" Chrome extension while using the Zotero online library, but it's clunky and only reads one line at a time before pausing (despite me changing the settings and such).

Any suggestions? Thanks all!

bwiernik · November 3, 2024

There is a text to speech plugin for Zotero desktop that might meet your needs https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/116141/announcing-zotts-a-text-to-speech-plugin-for-zotero

wtottman · November 5, 2024

Wow, thanks bwiernik (and Imperial_Squid for making this!). I just tried it out, and so far has been pretty much what I was looking for :D

abaevbog · November 5, 2024

You may also consider using screen readers like VoiceOver (for macOS) or NVDA/JAWS (for windows). As far as I am aware, these are the most popular tools that folks with low vision use to interact with/read in Zotero, and they may work for your use case as well.

Imperial_Squid · 2024-12-21T04:42:43+00:00

@wtottman glad to hear ZoTTS is useful to you!

(I was just doing a scan of the forums and was very pleasantly surprised to see people suggesting it to others!)

Just wanted to mention that if you have any questions/issues/feature requests/comments/critiques/etc, I'm always around on the GitHub and in my emails to help.

Happy reading!