The Internet and the World Wide Web, which is a part of the Internet, contain millions of pages of information. These information pages are generically called "Web Pages." Nowadays, almost every organization which must interact with the public has its own information web pages. A collection of web pages for a particular organization is called a Web Site. In the past a person had to have a computer and special telecommunications equipment to read these web pages. But now, you too can browse the wealth of news and information available on the World Wide Web by using your telephone.
Using your access phone number, call Sun Dial II, and you will have the opportunity to browse the
World Wide Web and visit the web pages of many different newspapers and service organizations. To do this,press the 2 key on the main menu, or say
"surf the web".
The first page that you will come to when you go to a particular organization's web site is
called the "home page." For example, Sun Sounds has a home page, and from that page you can browse, or go to many other
web pages with information of interest to Sun Sounds listeners, volunteers and supporters.
After you reach a web page of interest, Sun Dial II will automatically begin reading it to you. If you have never heard a page from the web read to you before, it might take some getting used to. But don't worry, we'll examine how to work with the web in the sections below.
Every web page consists of items called elements, and links. Elements consist of text you may want to read. Links are used to connect the page you are on to other web pages.
If you are reading web based newspapers, or other pages from the World Wide Web, pressing 1 in the navigation menu, or saying "top" will take you to the top of the page and begin reading. As Crystal reads to you, you will hear the word "link" when you pass a link. A link is an item which can transport you instantly to another article or another web page. To follow a link, press number 6 (the go forward key) on your keypad or say "link".
Elements are the paragraphs and articles of information you will read. Often you must wade through many links to get to the first text element. We have provided you with a shortcut though. Press 7 on the keypad or say the word "text" to jump to the first block of text.
When you call Sun Dial II, you will hear a short welcome message. You are now at the main menu. Select 2, or say "surf the web" to open up the World Wide Web which includes Web based newspapers. You will then be taken to a web page from which you can select national or local newspapers, resources for people with disabilities, and many other information web sites.
Sun Dial II will begin reading this web page of options to you automatically. When you hear Crystal say "link, National Newspapers," press 6 on your phone pad, or say "link" and you will then hear the list of national newspapers available on Sun Dial.
Each of the newspaper titles you hear is a link to that newspaper's web page. For instance, when you hear Sun Dial II say "link, The Wall Street Journal," pressing 6 on your phone pad, or saying "link" will take you there. If you miss the link you want, you can press 1 to go back to the top of the web page to hear the list read again, or press 2, to move up the page an element at a time. Or, if you prefer, you can say the word "top" or the word "up" to perform the same functions using voice commands.
If instead you would prefer to hear a local newspaper, you have many choices. Nearly every local newspaper in Arizona maintains a web site. So, if you pick the "Local Newspapers," selection, you will be presented with a very long list of both daily and weekly newspapers from all over Arizona. The list is too long to print here, but it includes the Arizona Daily Star, the Arizona Republic, the New Times, and newspapers from small communities such as Kingman, Yuma, Prescott, and many others. Each newspaper title will have the word "link" in front of it, so press 6 on your phone pad or say "link" to go to that particular newspaper.
Every newspaper sets up its web site a little differently, so there is no way to learn about your favorite paper except to visit it until you are familiar with it.
Most newspaper web pages have a long list of links near the top of the page which can take you quickly to other parts of the newspaper. Crystal will say the word "link" before reading each link. Selecting a link by pressing 6 or saying "link" will take you to a new page. Unfortunately, you will hear the same long list of links at the top of each new page. This can be frustrating and tedious, so we have built in a way to jump past the list and get to the text quickly by pressing 7 on the telephone keypad or by saying "text".
If you made a mistake, and need to go back, press 2 to move up the page an element at a time, 1 to go back to the top of the page, or 4 to go back to the previous page. You can again perform the same tasks with your voice by saying "up, top," or "go back."
You will probably find that navigating newspapers takes a bit of practice, but once you master it, you will have a tremendous wealth of news and information available right at your finger tips any place, any time.
Popular major newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal may become very busy as millions of people attempt to reach and read their web pages. If you try to reach the New York Times for instance, at a peak time, say 9:00 A.M. EST, you may find you can't get in, or the page may load very slowly. This is a web traffic problem, and Sun Dial II has no control over this problem.
You may also encounter the problem of broken links. If a web page within a newspaper has been removed, then the link to that page also must be removed. If the publisher forgets to do this, which does happen, then when you try to follow that link Sun Dial II will give you an error message. This is not a Sun Dial II problem, and we cannot fix it. Depending on how badly broken the link is, Sun Dial II will either just keep you on the page you started from, or it may totally restart taking you back to the Main Menu. If this problem happens repeatedly, please get in touch with us and let us know so we can research the problem.
When you want to go back and select a different newspaper, you can either back out by pressing 4 or saying "go back." If you, instead, want to quickly start the whole thing over again, you can say "main menu" or press the * key to jump straight back to the Sun Dial II beginning menu.
If you get stuck, or confused, call us at 480-774-8300, and we'll give you a hand.
There is a lot of information on the World Wide Web which is not in newspapers. It is amazing what one can learn by exploring. Sun Dial II has made this both possible and easy.
When you first call Sun Dial II, pressing 2 or saying "surf the web" at the main menu will get you to the World Wide Web. You will find that no matter where you start, with some patience, you can navigate to almost anywhere else on the web.
For instance, you can select an option called "resources for People Living With Disabilities," and you will be presented with a list of links to organizations like the Braille and Talking Book Library, the American Council of the Blind, the Public Library, and the National Federation of the Blind. You can even visit other radio reading services by following the International Association of Audio Information Services link.
When you are browsing any of these web pages, the telephone keys and the voice commands work the same way as when you were reading newspapers.
As noted before, there are voice commands to do all of these functions without pressing keys.