Auditorial: An Accessible Storytelling Website

Recognizing that most websites “do not meet accessibility standards,” Google, The Guardian, and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) have designed Auditorial, “an experiment in storytelling.” This website makes it possible for users who are blind or have low vision to customize websites to meet their sensory needs. Auditorial uses features like “multimodal films, text-only modes, focus controls, video, and audio speed controls to tell a story.” Readers can access Auditorial’s settings to adjust the experience at any point in a story. Whether the user wants to read, listen to or watch a story, its customizable interface can be adjusted to individual preferences. When reading, for example, alternative color schemes are provided to enhance the experience for those with color sensitivity or low vision. For those who listen, Auditorial offers storytelling in an emotive and expressive way that is “missing in screen reading software.” In watching a story, users can experience “visual effects, sound narration, and textual captions.” The story can be paused, fast forwarded, or rewound. Read more about it on the makeuseof.com website: What is Google’s Auditorial Experiment?