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Thorium Reader (German)  by EDR Labs  

  • Reading System Thorium Reader (German) 
  • Vendor EDR Labs
  • Assistive Technology: Jaws 
  • OS: Windows 
  • Tested with Braille: No
  • Tested with Screenreader: Yes
  • Input type: Keyboard

Results for Basic Functionality: 46.67%

Last updated: 16 December 2021

Test book used: Fundamental Accessibility Tests: Basic Functionality, version 1.0.0

Summary

Thorium 1.7/ Windows 10/ Jaws 2021.This app was tested with the German interface. Concerning the accessibility of the basic functionalities there is still room for improvement. Especially the chapter and page navigation seems to be too difficult and confusing when using an assistive technology. Other missing feature are performing and reviewing a search, reviewing and navigating to bookmarks as well as adding and navigating to notes.

Test results for Basic Functionality
Test ID Name Description Result Notes
file-010 Operating system/Platform accessibility If you are using a hardware device, it can be started independently and essential accessibility for starting and exiting applications is available. Pass The screen reader Jaws starts automatically when starting the hardware device. Thereby it is ensured that applications can be started and switched off independently.
file-110 The reading system can be activated independently If you are using a reading app that requires you to create an online account then the complete getting started process should be accessible. Pass The activation and authorization are accessible.
file-210 Open content Open the Fundamental Accessibility Test book in the reading system. Pass By selecting „my books“ in the main menu you can find the control „ import EPUB-files“. The dialog window for selecting files conforms to the familiar Windows structure and is accessible.
file-310 Listing documents Check if you can navigate inside the bookshelf. Pass The user interface of the reading software is highly accessible and well structured. All controls are labeled and can be recognized by the screen reader. By activating or deactivating the checkboxes of a function or setting, everything can be adjusted to personal needs. The bookshelf can be presented in a grid or list view. Both views can be navigated in an accessible manner. For each book, a submenu exists which provides more book functions and is accessible too.
nav-005 The table of contents in the app presents the content hierarchy Check if the table of Contents is accessible and its hierarchy is presented correctly by the reading system Pass When activating the checkbox for the navigation you can find the TOC. The TOC is presented above the text of the open book when activating the corresponding checkbox. The hierarchy and heading levels are presented correctly. Each TOC entry/heading is presented as a hyperlink.
nav-010 Navigate to chapters through the Table of Contents Check if you can navigate to a section by using the table of contents. Fail The navigation by means of the TOC doesn’t work. When selecting a section by using the enter-buttom the focus doesn’t lay on the desired location but above the main content frame.
nav-110 Navigate content by pages Check if you can navigate the content by pages. Fail The „next/ previous page“ command can be found below the text and is labeled „left/ right“ within the screen reader. By activating the control nothing seems to happen and the cursor gets stuck at the bottom of the controls. The „go to page“-feature can be found within the navigation menu. Both the input of any page number and the drop-down list above can be used without any problem. However, you don’t reach the desired location when selecting a page. The cursor rests on the control of the navigaiton menu. When updating the screen ( a function of Jaws with the corresponding shortcut) the cursor is again above the beginning of the text. The information about the current reading position you can get above the „go to page“-feature. Beside the possibility of navigating by pages using the „left/ right“ control, the drop-down list for selecting respective pages or the input filed for the page number I don’t find an option to navigate by pages. The issue that despite of selecting another page by means of the mentioned methods, the cursor is not placed at the desired location, remains.
nav-210 Navigate forward and backward through reflowed content Use any control or command to navigate forward and backwards in the book content. Fail Jaws doesn’t provide an extra navigation command in order to navigate by pages. I can use the shortcut „h“ to move to the individual chapters.
nav-310 Read navigation information Use the "Where am I?" or any other similar command available in the reading system and check if you can get information about your current position in the book. Fail By using „Jaws key + t“ a „where am I?“-function can be found. The title of the current document as well as the current chapter are communicated. However, the current page number is not announced.
nav-410 Perform a search, review the search results Perform a search, review the search results and navigate to the selected search result in the content. Fail Via the main menu the search within the document can be activated by using the checkbox. Right underneath the input field the search results are presented as links. While performing a search is easy, the links can not be activated. By pressing the enter or space key you don’t reach the desired location.
nav-510 Move across chapters without using TOC Check if you can move across chapters without having to use the Table of Contents. Pass Because the chapter headings are labeled accordingly, you can navigate to them by using shortcuts.
anno-010 Add a Bookmark or Highlight Some reading systems may have a Highlight feature in place of Bookmarks. The tests for Bookmarks may then be performed with Highlights. Pass The checkbox for adding a bookmark can be found in the main menu. By activating it a bookmark is somewhere added. It is impossible to say where the bookmark was placed. There is no feedback whatsoever. But the adding process is accessible.
anno-110 Review and navigate Bookmarks or Highlights Check if you can review and navigate Bookmarks or Highlights. Fail By selecting „my bookmarks“ within the navigation menu which can be found easily the added bookmarks can be found. The bookmarks are presented using a percentage value. There is little that can be done with this because it obviously only refers to the percentage in the text but not to a page number or an actual text passage. Above that the bookmarks can not be activated or navigated to. There are two controls for each bookmark which are labeled „edit“ and „delete“. Using „edit“ an input field appears. There you can enter a text but somehow it is not possible to save it.
anno-210 Add a note Add a Note at this location in the book. Provide a few lines of text in the Note. Fail If this test refers to the control „my annotations“ which can be found in the navigation menu, it can not be activated. Jaws says „the control for the annotations is not available“.
anno-310 Review and navigate Notes Check if you can review and navigate Notes. Fail There was no possibility found to add a note. Therefore a navigation to any notes can not be conducted.

Results for Non-visual Reading: 92.86%

Last updated: 16 December 2021

Test book used: Fundamental Accessibility Tests: Non-Visual Reading, version 1.0.0

Summary

Thorium 1.7/ Windows 10/ Jaws 2021. This app was tested with the German interface. The app is designed for reading the e-books with the screen reader JAWS. Beside the missing hyperlink navigation all accessibility aspects are provided.

Test results for Non-visual Reading
Test ID Name Description Result Notes
reading-010 Initiate "read from here" Focus on the beginning of a paragraph or a sentence and initiate reading. Reading should continue until interrupted by the user or at the end of the current document, e.g. current chapter. The text being read should preferably remain in view, but this is not a requirement to pass the test. Pass The reading starts by using the corresponding Jaws command and stops when finished manually.
reading-110 Stop and resume reading Initiate reading from any point in the book. Stop reading and note the last read position. Initiate reading again and check if reading starts at the last read location. Pass The reading resumes at the same location but not from the same word. It always starts at the beginning of the sentence or line.
reading-210 All text should be read in the proper order Sample text has been provided to test the reading order. The Paragraph 2 should be read after Paragraph 1. Note that visually Paragraph 2 is placed to the left of Paragraph 1 but it is second in the reading order. Pass The reading order is correct.
reading-310 Image alternate text reading Ensure that the alternate text for the image is available. Pass The alt text can be read completely, as a whole, word by word as well as line by line.
reading-410 Change reading speed It should be possible to adjust (increase/decrease) the speed of reading. This test should be performed using the Assistive Technology being used for accessibility evaluation. Pass The reading speed can be adjusted. When using a braille device as assistive technology, the refresh rate can be changed, too. But unfortunately my braille device is not able to present the full text due to the missing capacity. I have to advance it manually and thereby the reading flow is interrupted.
reading-510 TTS allows pause for headings, paragraphs, list items, etc The user should be able to identify the difference between content items such as headings, paragraphs or list items by sufficient pauses in the TTS reading or appropriate formatting in the Braille device. Pass When using Jaws the screen reader announces the heading and also emphasizes the punctuation correctly. However, the TTS emphasizes vaguely and pauses sometimes too long. When using a braille device, the punctuation is perceptible and headings are underlined.
reading-610 Navigate between the cells, rows and columns in the table Check if you can navigate between the rows and columns of the table Pass The table navigation works by using the standard commands of Jaws.
reading-710 Navigate between internal hyperlinks Check if you can navigate between internal hyperlinks. Fail By activating the hyperlink, I can reach the page where the link back is provided but I don’t reach the exact position of it. The cursor is placed at the very top of the page, just like when navigating back.
reading-810 Move to the next block item Check if you can move to the next available page element e.g. paragraph, image or table by using a common key/gesture like swipe right, down arrow etc. Pass I can navigate to the block items using the standard commands of Jaws.
reading-910 Navigate by characters Check if it is possible to navigate to next and previous character in the book text by way of any command or gesture. Pass By using the left or right arrow I can navigate by characters.
reading-1010 Navigate by words Check if it is possible to navigate to next and previous word in the book text by way of any command or gesture. Pass By using Ctrl/ left arrow or right arrow, the cursor navigates the document by words.
reading-1110 Navigate by lines Check if it is possible to navigate to next and previous line in the book text by way of any command or gesture. Pass By using shift/ arrow down or up, the cursor navigates the document by lines.
reading-1210 Navigate the content by headings Check if you can move to the next and previous headings in this book without using the Table of Contents. Pass By using h or shift/h you can navigate by headings without the TOC.
reading-1310 Select and copy text Reading systems should provide the ability to copy pieces of text that could be used for notes, in quotations, or to facilitate searching terms contained in the book. In some cases, this could be achieved using an AT such as a screen reader, for instance with a dedicated cursor or other procedures. Pass The text can be selected as well as pasted into other applications. By using shift/right arrow the text can be selected by words or by using shift/down arrow the text can be selected by lines. Through ctrl/c you can copy it and through ctrl/v you can paste it into other applications.

Results for Read Aloud: 75%

Last updated: 16 December 2021

Test book used: Fundamental Accessibility Tests: Read Aloud, version 1.0.0

Summary

Thorium 1.7/ Windows 10/ Jaws 2021. This app was tested with the German interface. The read aloud feature is suitable for reading the text. Nethertheless there is still room for improvement when it comes to setting the focus of the feature on a specific section when using an assistive technology or to changing the highlight color.

Test results for Read Aloud
Test ID Name Description Result Notes
ReadAloud-010 The content can be read aloud Focus on the beginning of a paragraph or a sentence and initiate reading with text-to-speech using a feature of the reading system. Fail It is not possible for me to put the focus of the TTS on a specific location. The read aloud feature just starts reading from a random position. The only possibility to start reading from a desired section is by selecting a chapter in the TOC. In this case the read aloud feature starts at the right position. But starting from a specific sentence or line seems to be impossible because the main content window disappears when TTS is activ. However, this feature is suitabe for reading but the navigation is difficult. One thing is interessing though; when the TTS is activ, the text normally being read aloud by the screen reader or presented on the braille device disapears.
ReadAloud-110 Stop and resume reading Initiate reading from any point in the book. Stop Read Aloud and note the last read position. Initiate reading again using the Read Aloud feature and check if reading starts at the last read location. Pass After pausing, the TTS resumes reading at the beginning of the sentence but after stopping the feature completely, the TTS starts at the beginning of the chapter.
ReadAloud-210 The Read Aloud feature should continue until interrupted by the user The Read Aloud feature should continue until interrupted by the user, keeping the text being spoken in view. Pass The read aloud feature continues until interrupted by the user. When using a braille device as assistive technology the text being read aloud is not presented. While the read aloud feature reads or is paused, the text window for the screen reader fades out. Only after a proper stop the text window for the screen reader appears again and I could read the content using JAWS.
ReadAloud-310 All text should be read in the proper order Sample text has been provided below to test the reading order. The Paragraph 2 should be read after Paragraph 1 by the Read Aloud feature. Note that visually Paragraph 2 is placed to the left of Paragraph 1 but it is second in the reading order. Pass The reading order is correct.
ReadAloud-410 Change Read Aloud reading speed It should be possible to adjust (increase/decrease) the speed of reading. Pass While the read aloud feature is active, the reading speed can be adjusted using the drop-down list found in the upper menu bar. There doesn’t seem to be a shortcut for the adjustment while there is one for play, resume and stop for example. Providing an extra shortcut means an easy user-friendly method to adjust the reading speed without searching exhaustively.
ReadAloud-510 Text to Speech handles punctuations and document structure appropriately When Read Aloud is activated, there should be slight pauses after headings, list items etc., rather than reading as if it is one continuous section of text. Pass TTS allows sufficient pauses after punctuations and raises as well as lowers the voice slightly. Headings can be recognized through little pauses. Sames applies for list entries which are cleary separated from each other through emphases and pauses.
ReadAloud-610 Text is emphasised as it is spoken by read aloud Check if the Text is emphasised as it is spoken by read aloud. Pass The line being read aloud is highlighted in yellow and the word currently read is underlined in organge. The focus always lays on the text being read aloud and after reaching a new section, the focus moves down automatically in a way that the reader can keep up.
ReadAloud-710 The emphasis or highlight colour can be changed Activate Read Aloud feature as described in the previous test. Change the colour of emphasis or visual highlight of the text being read aloud using any feature available in the reading system or the operating system. The users should have a choice of different colours for text highlighting. Fail There is no possibility given to change the visual presentation of the text highlighted.

Results for Media Overlays: 53.85%

Last updated: 16 December 2021

Test book used: Advanced Accessibility Tests: Media Overlays, version 1.0.0

Summary

Thorium 1.7/ Windows 10/ Jaws 2021. This app was tested with the German interface. Generally, Thorium supports the media overlay playback. However, it is not recommended to use e-books with media overlays due to missing control over the playback.

Test results for Media Overlays
Test ID Name Description Result Notes
MOA-BASIC-010 Media Overlays Playback Tests whether playback of Media Overlays is supported. Fail When opening the EPUB there is no hint provided that the book contains media overlays. The book is presented like books without playback options. Within Thorium it is not perceptible that media overlays are embedded. There are no controls to start the playback. Only via the TTS-feature the text is being read aloud. It is not distinguishable whether the text is being read aloud by the TTS-feature or by the media overlay playback because the voices used are the same. The only evidence that the playback is active can be determined in the control options of the read aloud-feature which are placed at the top of the reading screen. When the playback reads the text aloud the control for changing the voice is missing and it is only possible to change the reading speed. It seems that for interacting with the media overlays the control bar of the read aloud feature is used. Thus, all further test results of this e-book are solely based on the assumption that the media overlays are activated by the read aloud feature.
MOA-BASIC-020 Pause and resume from the same position, without closing the book Tests whether media overlay playback resumes at correct location after pause Pass The media overlay playback started at the beginning of the sentence after pausing it.
MOA-BASIC-030 Resume playback from last position on opening a book Tests whether playback resumes even when the book is closed and opened again. Pass After opening the book the media overlay playback started at the beginning of the sentence where I paused before closing the book.
MOA-NAV-010 Section Navigation - Previous/Next Phrase Tests whether previous/next phrase navigation is supported. Pass By using the controls of the read aloud feature this navigation is possible.
MOA-NAV-020 Navigate to previous section Tests whether navigation to previous section is supported. Fail It is not possible to navigate to the previous section neither by using the navigation of the read aloud feature nor by using a shortcut of the screen reader.
MOA-NAV-030 Navigate to next section Tests whether navigation to next section is supported. Fail It is not possible to navigate to the next section neither by using the navigation of the read aloud feature nor by using a shortcut of the screen reader.
MOA-NAV-040 Navigate with pagelist Tests whether navigation to pages is possible using the page list or go to page feature. Fail The navigation seems to be random.
MOA-NAV-050 Move to next page Tests whether navigation to next reflowed page is supported when media overlay is playing. Fail The navigation seems to be random.
MOA-NAV-060 Move to previous page Tests whether navigation to previous reflowed page is supported when media overlay is playing. Fail The navigation seems to be random too.
MOA-NAV-070 Text and media overlay synchronization Tests whether media overlay is synchronized with text display. Pass The text and the media overlays are synchronised visually. When using a braille device the presented text doesn’t match the text being read aloud. The text on the braille device doesn’t advance automatically.
MOA-NAV-080 Set and navigate to bookmarks Tests whether bookmarks can be set and navigated to while media overlay is playing. Pass Bookmarks can be set and navigated to. Only the position of the bookmark is hard to detect because a percentage value is given not a page number. When multiple bookmarks are embedded you have to review all in order to find the right one.
MOA-NAV-090 Section Navigation - TOC Tests whether navigation to a new section is supported. Pass The playback starts at the beginning of the chapter.
MOA-NAV-100 Continuous playback across page turns Tests whether Media Overlay playback across page turns is supported. Pass The playback continuously carries on running.

Results for Extended Descriptions: 50%

Last updated: 16 December 2021

Test book used: Accessibility Tests Extended Descriptions, version 1.1.1

Summary

Thorium 1.7/ Windows 10/ Jaws 2021. This app was tested with the German interface. Both extended descriptions are available but the navigation to the separate file and back to the image could be improved.

Test results for Extended Descriptions
Test ID Name Description Result Notes
extdescription-010 Detection and Utilization of HTML Details and Summary elements Check if you can use HTML details and summary successfully and read the extended description contained in it. Pass The extended description presented within the details element is accessible.
extdescription-020 Technique for linking to a single extended description placed in a separate HTML file via text hyperlinks Check if activating the hyperlink placed under the image takes you to a separate HTML file with extended descriptions, and the back link there brings you back to the image. Fail This tests fails because after selecting the link back to the image, I don’t reach the exact reading position where I left off but at the bottom of the page. However, the navigation works smoothly and I can read the extended describtion placed in a separate file.