Intelligent housing repair software made simple.

Several times we have been asked if Keyfax Online (Repairs and Enquiries) can provide translation and be presented into different languages. Occasionally, we are asked about accessibility too: Can Keyfax Online be presented in a way that is easy for visually impaired tenants to use? Happily, the answer to those questions is now “yes”. Since the recent integration with ReachDeck for version 4.3.2, Keyfax Online can now offer all of these things, right out of the box.

Pioneering Citizen

Those savvy people at Citizen Housing have led the way on this integration. The ReachDeck integration now means that Citizen Tenants accessing their Online Portal can enjoy:

• Automated translation of page content if English is not their first language.
• Having website contents read out (for visually impaired users).
• The option to customise the fonts and colours, for easier viewing of the page

As you can see in the diagram, the pop-up menu is labelled as “Browsealoud”. But this has recently been rebranded as ReachDeck. So, we’ll refer to it here as ReachDeck – it’s the same accessibility widget provided by texthelp.com. The integration was built using the Browsealoud 3.0 release in May 2021.

Tenant Portal Users Options

ReachDeck users will be familiar with these functions, but for anyone who isn’t familiar, what follows are the main Toolbar functions. As you can see, there are a range of options to help the visually impaired, as well as language translation options.

Drag to move toolbar

If you embed ReachDeck as a floating toolbar, it can be helpful to move it around the page. For example, the ReachDeck toolbar may cover text you want to read, so may need moving. To move around the ReachDeck toolbar, click and drag the toolbar as shown below…

This automatically reads out the text on the page, and is set ‘on’ as a default.

This reads out the text you have selected. Select the text you wish to hear read out, and then press the ‘play’ button. It will then appear on screen, highlighted as below:

Translate into another language

Select the button shown below…

The drop down will appear to select another language…

Select the language you would like to translate into, the page will now show in the language you selected, e.g. Spanish.

To create an MP3 file

1. You need to be on the page you want to ‘record’
2. Select the text you would like to record
3. Click on the MP3 button on the widget
4. Provide a name for the recording. Click ‘Generate’ and an MP3 file will be downloaded.

Screen Mask

The screen mask allows you to focus on the paragraph you are trying to read and reduces distractions on the page. The white highlighter bar allows you to apply focus and ‘black out’ the remaining text and the bar moves with you as you scroll.

Select this button to activate the screen mask as shown below…

To magnify text

Select the text you wish to enlarge and then select the magnifying glass symbol

Once selected, the screen will change to show the highlighted text at the top of the page, it will also read it you.

Simplify Page

Removes ‘clutter’ from the page, showing just the text rather than pictures and formatting, allowing you a clearer focus on the information.

The page then appears in the simplified format…

Settings

Select the settings button (as above) to edit your settings when using the Browsealoud widget.

You can change the following settings:

• Change the highlighter colour
• Activate the text magnifier, determine magnification size
• Decide if it speaks to you when you hover over the text and at what speed
• Whether ‘simplified’ view is always applied
• If you want links to be read out to you and if documents are opened in Browsealoud viewer automatically

Good News for existing TextHelp/ReachDeck Customers

Any existing ReachDeck customers can easily get Keyfax Repairs Online or Enquiries Online integrated. It just needs your Keyfax system to be running version 4.3.2 or later. Then, simply add the Keyfax Online URL to your ReachDeck dashboard Toolbar configuration:

If you are not a ReachDeck customer, please contact them directly to find out more.

This new integration is another exciting addition to Keyfax for Online Repairs and Enquiries (you know about Google Analytics already, right?). It’s a standard integration and is included free as part of the current release of Keyfax. So, we are looking forward to helping more customers with improving their online tenant portals.