You've probably never thought of yourself as handicapped before but that's what you are. And because we have the ADA in this country, Blogger is required to have an alternative approach. It's right there, didn't you notice? See the word verification box where it says "Type the Two Words"? Right next to it are three icons: a refresh icon, an audio icon (volume button), and a question mark. You need the audio icon (pictured). If you hit that, you will get spoken words to use for your verification. It will sound like you are at a party but there will be about five words that are spoken very clearly for you to write.Of course this does nothing for the deaf person or the nonnative speaker who may have more difficulty deciphering spoken language, but it will definitely help a number of you.
And now that I have written this, I am going to link to it when people complain about Blogger's new word verification. You can feel free to do the same.
Anna, you are correct. It does NOTHING for the hard of hearing. My kids see just fine and they have trouble reading the new blogger verifications. So my backup eyes can't read them 50% of teh time, I certainly cannot hear the words and patience is growing a bit thin. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteSeriously, five words!?! I have removed word verification from my blog to make it easier for my followers. All of my comments are sent to me via email and when I see spam, I can simply delete it myself.
ReplyDeleteMy computer is outside the small boy's bedroom. I catch up on blogs while he's drifting off to sleep. Therefore I have the sound turned off. OK so I miss out on soundtracks to people's blogs (I didn't realise that people had them until someone else mentioned it!) but it doesn't disturb him. Or the Large one who has sensitive hearing at bedtime - "I heard a step creak, I can't sleep".
ReplyDeleteIf your family are watching TV while you surf then no-one wants the computer voice every few minutes, it also says things as you go from screen to screen on our laptop.
I am just a few years away from needing a hearing aid ... right now the only difficulty I have is hearing mechanically produced sounds like those on the computer or those on voice mail ... and I have eye issues [cataract, old age] ... so I will just struggle along with the visual word verification which I manage to decipher at least two times out of every three attempts. I wonder if this is the way children with dyslexia or aphasia see the printed word ... if so, it's a wonder any of them learn to read at all. And just to add a little zip to this post, both my verification words are distorted today!!!
ReplyDeleteI turned off word verification a couple of days ago. I don't want to make it too hard for folks to comment on my posts. If I find I'm having a problem with spam, or weirdos, I'll turn comment modification on. BTW, if I forget to log in before I comment, I find that I'm always asked to do word verification a second time, regardless of how accurate I think my typing is!
ReplyDeleteI usually read blog posts for fun, inspiration... Did you just call me old and handicapped?
ReplyDeleteI almost spit out my Mt. Dew! I KNOW you directed this at me!!! ROFLMAO.
ReplyDeleteI had noticed the sound button but never tried it until now. Now i know my eyes are not what they were, but as far as i can tell my 50 year old ears can still hear a pin drop, but that sound verification sucks!
ReplyDeleteI will still type the words in, if it doesn't take what i think then i will give up and not leave a comment, which is a shame.
BTW i too have taken off word verification.
PS. If your reading this then yayyy me! i got the words right!
I am now concerned about bad spellers. If I get word verification on the first try, I feel like I have accomplished something for the day - I relish a little victory!
ReplyDeleteHad to comment on this just to see if I got two words (since I haven't been commenting anywhere lately), and hear the speaking thing. The first written word was nsatan (can't recall the second word) so then I clicked on the speaker icon. All I heard was the word six and a bunch of mumbling that sounded like those records being played backwards which reveal "NSATANIC" messages in the song.
ReplyDeleteThis must be an evil plot of some kind, I'm sure of it.
;-)
I tried the voice, I was ditracted by the others voices saying stuff to remember the words, which were 5 words.. lol What gives? lol
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I'm not the only one who couldn't hear the words either.
ReplyDeleteI have tinnitus and I could hear the background louder than any coded word.