Pneuma Solutions Blog

Pneuma Solutions is seeking an experienced front-end web developer for a desktop application using Electron. This is a remote contract position. What you’ll be working on We are currently developing a web browser based on Electron, designed to make the web easier to use for blind people. In addition to standard web browsing functionality, our browser will include features designed specifically for blind users, including an automatic reader mode, an accessibility overlay blocker, and integrations with our subscription services. You will be responsible for taking our current proof of concept, implementing the remaining features, completing the user interface, and preparing the product for release. Requirements Experience developing accessible web applications, including testing with screen readers on Windows and Mac JavaScript proficiency: we expect robust, modular, maintainable JavaScript code Deep understanding of HTTP: a web browser must use the web’s core protocol correctly and efficiently Security awareness: a web browser is the most security-sensitive application on most personal computers, and our users trust us to get this right Desired … [Read more...] about Pneuma Solutions seeks experienced front-end web developer

Accessible information is gaining ground on the war against the PDF. In fact, presenting information only inaccessible PDFs is becoming illegal. But, will an accessible web design be too expensive of an overhaul? The answer might just surprise you. But why are PDFs a problem for print disabled people in the first place? It’s important to know, governmental and corporate libraries globally currently hold billions of legacy PDF documents. These documents contain valuable information, but are inaccessible to print disabled individuals. Why? Because PDFs were designed as a print-centric format with accessibility retrofitted as an afterthought, if it's there at all. The fonts, colors, and layout of a PDF document are usually unchangeable, making the document more difficult to read for people with limited vision. PDFs typically lack element information about their structure, which makes them difficult to navigate with a screen reader. This also leads to formatting which is below standard to achieve successful Braille conversion. Even worse, too often PDFs are scanned from printed pages. These PDFs contain just images, either with absolutely no visible text to a screen reader, or … [Read more...] about Accessible Information vs the PDF: Are you breaking the law?

The pandemic has the online World scrambling to find ways to patch glaring accessibility issues. Website overlays are just one example of quick fix solutions that attempt to bridge persistent gaps. Except, once deployed, companies realize the shortcuts only create bad press and do little to make their products and services more inclusive. More than empty promises, Pneuma Solutions will position you for inclusive success by providing your digital content to everyone with print disabilities seamlessly. One of your greatest assets is digital content. You work hard to create informative manuals, training materials, billing statements, and a great variety of content central to your business operation. It’s time to make this content easily available, and accessible, to anyone who depends on it. Scribe Enterprise is adept at consuming massive volumes of data and rendering it in a way that is easy to read for the growing number of persons with print impairments. For the end user, the Scribe experience is a seamless encounter with the data you want to share. For you, Scribe is a robust cloud technology with the capacity to smoothly convert document images into readable text, from the … [Read more...] about Scribe Enterprise: The Undisputed Best in Augmented Document Remediation

At Pneuma Solutions, we stand by our commitment to excellence. So does every other software developer, right? But the difference between us and everyone else is that Ours is a cause, not just the bottom line. The day we become irrelevant will be the day we can say accessibility has become so ubiquitous as to be commonplace, and that will be a day worth celebrating. Until then, we work in a pool of companies following distinct strategies in an attempt to make accessibility universal. We each have our competing vision of what that looks like, and no one vision is better than or more correct than the other. There is more than enough work to go around. So while we compete, we are still on the same team with the same goal of making the World a more accessible place. In the end, more options means greater emphasis on accessibility in the marketplace and more tools available to us as consumers. In that spirit of positive sportsmanship, we present a comparison of our flagship product, Scribe, versus RoboBraille. It’s a comparison a few people in the blindness community have drawn, and rather than shy away from the whispers, we’re going to examine both products head on and let you be the … [Read more...] about Comparison of Scribe with RoboBraille and SensusAccess

CNIB, CNIB Deafblind Community Services (DBCS) and Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada (VLRC) have partnered with Scribe for Meetings to help make remote programs, meetings and presentations more accessible and inclusive.   Scribe for Meetings, a solution designed by Pneuma Solutions, allows users to create and screen share accessible slideshow content. How does it work? The Scribe app runs during a presentation, monitors the information displayed in the meeting, and sends information about the on-screen content to the Scribe cloud service. Scribe syncs that information with the slides that the presenter previously uploaded and displays an accessible version of the content in real-time in its own window. Using Augmented Document Remediation technology, Scribe for Meetings can convert presentations into eight different accessible formats in more than 140 different languages! This provides people who have a print disability, including sight loss, with access to accessible presentations using a screen reader, a braille display and/or Scribe’s own built-in speech synthesizer. Participants can also download presentations for offline viewing. Scribe for meetings is now available for … [Read more...] about Canadian organizations partner with Scribe for Meetings to enhance accessibility and inclusivity

In the summer of 2016 the United Nations declared the Internet to be a human right. A noble declaration, but for print impaired people like me, the feel-good words of a global cause and everyday life can be so different that we feel like we aren’t even part of the conversation. Here at Pneuma Solutions, we support any campaign to put information into the hands of as many people as possible; however, it has been our experience that making information available and making it accessible to the letter of the law are two different issues and need to be considered as such when discussing access to information by those of us that have print disabilities. Sure, information should be available in as an accessible medium as possible, but costly exact compliance to interpretable standards should never be allowed to get in the way of access to information. That is why we started Pneuma Solutions and furthermore why we are announcing our remediation tool called Scribe For Personal Documents. So, what is a print disability anyway? Individuals who cannot effectively read print because of a visual, physical, perceptual, developmental, cognitive, or learning disability" are classified as print … [Read more...] about Introducing Scribe For Personal Documents

Were you planning on purchasing Scribe For Meetings? If you’ve delayed the purchase, it’s time to act now. But, before we get to that, let me share some other bits of Pneuma Solutions news. Pneuma Solutions Scribe Augmented Media Remediation Platform is now available in your geographical region. This means YOUR data, in YOUR country. Scribe is also available on Amazon’s GovCloud infrastructure. Scribe for Meetings made a splash earlier this year when Pneuma Solutions announced the ability to make PowerPoint presentations on Zoom equally accessible to print impaired participants. Honestly, it’s not something we had put on our development roadmap, but when the pandemic struck we pivoted to the new reality. We saw the need for Scribe’s augmented media remediation technology to serve a different purpose, and what started off as a casual project evolved into a robust feature set that is now used by everyone from small nonprofits to major universities. Scribe For Meetings now works with Microsoft Teams. Today Scribe For Meetings breaks down yet another accessibility barrier with the inclusion of the Microsoft Teams platform. Now every exciting feature you have enjoyed with Zoom … [Read more...] about Scribe for Meetings Promotion Expiring Soon!

We're proud to announce the release of the Scribe for Meetings browser extension. Now there are even fewer steps to take when you need to attend an online meeting and enjoy real-time access to digital content presented on screen during the meeting. The process is ridiculously easy: Download the extension at the link below. Log into your registered meeting the same as you always have on your PC. Receive automatic notification the meeting has been registered, and enjoy the presentation! Follow the links you need for Firefox or Chrome/Edge. This extension marks another milestone in Pneuma Solutions' goal of leveling the information access barrier for those with print disabilities. Students and working professionals alike will never again be left out of the conversation. All the presenter needs to do is: Upload the presentation Share the link everywhere they share the meeting link Let in the Scribe For Meetings Bot at the start time of the meeting. Are you new to Scribe for Meetings? Give it a try. As meeting facilitators, we think you'll like the intuitive setup process. As end users, we know you'll love the on demand access to everything your peers are … [Read more...] about The Scribe For Meetings Extension Is Now Available on Your Favorite Browser