Hal
Screen Reading Software
Contact Us to Order or click the buttons to the right of each product below
Hal Screen Reader (Single User)
Hal Professional
Hal Additional User License
Hal SMA (Single License)
Hal Pen (Single User)
Hal Pen SMA (Single License)
Hal Upgrade Pack (version 8 and above)
Hal Full Upgrade (version 5 and above)
Dolphin Backup CD

Developed for blind computer users, Hal is a software screen reader that works by reading the screen interactively and communicating through a speech synthesizer or a refreshable Braille display.

Hal provides blind users with comprehensive speech output and refreshable Braille access to the vast majority of popular main stream Windows applications such as the Microsoft Office, Microsoft Works and Corel suites, Internet Explorer web browser, instant messaging clients - particularly Windows Live Messenger, Windows Media Player, Skype, Adobe Reader, AVG, etc.

The Hal screen reader is available either on CD, as a download or on a handy USB thumb drive (Dolphin Pen), allowing Hal users to transport the Hal screen reader and settings between a wide number of Windows computers.

Hal is available with a choice of text-to-speech synthesizers, including the popular Eloquence and RealSpeak voices from Nuance. It is possible to easily switch between text to speech synthesizers with a hot key. Hal users can create user defined voices based on the currently selected text-to-speech synthesizer by adjusting: pitch, intonation, roughness, breathiness, head size and gender.

Hal can be set to use a Different voice for each of Hal's style scenarios: Editing, Prompts, Menus, Document Reading or using Hal's Virtual Focus. Control exactly which navigation, function, modifier, toggle and alpha numeric keys are announced by Hal. And change Hal's keyboard character echo with a simple hotkey.

Get to know the keyboard with Hal's Key Describe Mode, which reports exactly which QWERTY or Braille key has been pressed but without entering text or performing the associated action.

Hal supports a wide range of refreshable Braille displays and an increasing number of Braille Notetakers featuring Braille input, allowing a user to directly enter literary Braille back translated by Hal appearing in Windows applications as standard text. Hal's Virtual onscreen refreshable Braille display allows a sighted teacher or trainer to see exactly which Braille dots would appear on a physical Braille display. Hal can notify Braille readers of changes in style such as: colors, selected text, links, underlines, bold, italic, spelling and grammar errors, etc.

Hal's verbosity levels determine how much detailed spoken and Braille information a user receives about over 60 types of controls found in Windows and Windows applications. Hal is supplied with default low, medium, and high speech and Braille verbosity schemes suitable for the vast majority of users. Speech verbosity and Braille verbosity schemes can be chosen independently of one another. Hal provides the ability for users to create and customize their own verbosity schemes and cycle between all schemes with a simple hot key.

Hal's most popular keystrokes for reading information such as the current: character, word, line, selected text, window, status bar, and document, are single key presses ideal for anyone who has difficulty with holding down complicated hot key combinations. Moreover, Hal provides familiar alternative hotkey layouts for users transitioning from competitor products.

Hal users can independently specify which style information such as: punctuation, capitalization, colors, point size, font, underline, italics, etc. are reported while: editing text, reading a prompt or menu, performing a document read or while working with Hal's Virtual Focus.

Hal's Situation settings provide a user with the ability to customize and store screen reader behavior even between Windows within the same application. Hal's advanced mapping technology allows users, dealers and trainers to customize how Hal filters and acts on information from non-standard applications.

Hal's Virtual Focus provides familiar keyboard commands for Windows applications where no live keyboard focus is available. The Virtual Focus includes a Find facility allowing a user to search for a word or phrase.

Custom application lists can provide users with convenient lists of elements in popular applications, such as a list of links on a web page or a list of spelling errors in a Microsoft Word document.

Hal provides convenient access to a range of Windows settings which can optimize screen reader performance. Including: animations, auto completion, clear type, shadows and smoothing.

The Internet Update facility allows a Hal user to receive free screen reader and Map file updates via the Internet without having to completely reinstall the software.

Hal can be installed on wide and local area networks and is compatible with the following Windows Operating Systems:

Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows XP Home (with Service Pack 2 or later)
Windows XP Pro (with Service Pack 2 or later)

All Dolphin Software is supplied with a 30-day money back guarantee and free lifetime support.

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