Aural Style Sheets Aural style sheets use a combination of speech synthesis and sound effects to make the user listen to information, instea...
Aural Style Sheets
Aural style sheets use a combination of speech synthesis and sound effects to make the user listen to information, instead of reading information.Aural presentation can be used:
- by blind people
- to help users learning to read
- to help users who have reading problems
- for home entertainment
- in the car
- by print-impaired communities
An example of an Aural style sheet:
h1, h2, h3, h4
{
voice-family: male;
richness: 80;
cue-before: url("beep.au")
} |
The example above will make the speech synthesizer play a sound, then speak the headers in a very rich male voice.
CSS2 Aural Reference
W3C: The number in the "W3C" column indicates in which CSS recommendation the property is defined (CSS1 or CSS2).| Property | Description | Values | W3C |
|---|---|---|---|
| azimuth | Sets where the sound/voices should come from (horizontally) | angle left-side far-left left center-left center center-right right far-right right-side behind leftwards rightwards | 2 |
| cue | A shorthand property for setting the cue-before and cue-after properties in one declaration | cue-before cue-after | 2 |
| cue-after | Specifies a sound to be played after speaking an element's content to delimit it from other | none url | 2 |
| cue-before | Specifies a sound to be played before speaking an element's content to delimit it from other | none url | 2 |
| elevation | Sets where the sound/voices should come from (vertically) | angle below level above higher lower | 2 |
| pause | A shorthand property for setting the pause-before and pause-after properties in one declaration | pause-before pause-after | 2 |
| pause-after | Specifies a pause after speaking an element's content | time % | 2 |
| pause-before | Specifies a pause before speaking an element's content | time % | 2 |
| pitch | Specifies the speaking voice | frequency x-low low medium high x-high | 2 |
| pitch-range | Specifies the variation in the speaking voice. (Monotone voice or animated voice?) | number | 2 |
| play-during | Specifies a sound to be played while speaking an element's content | auto none url mix repeat | 2 |
| richness | Specifies the richness in the speaking voice. (Rich voice or thin voice?) | number | 2 |
| speak | Specifies whether content will render aurally | normal none spell-out | 2 |
| speak-header | Specifies how to handle table headers. Should the headers be spoken before every cell, or only before a cell with a different header than the previous cell | always once | 2 |
| speak-numeral | Specifies how to speak numbers | digits continuous | 2 |
| speak-punctuation | Specifies how to speak punctuation characters | none code | 2 |
| speech-rate | Specifies the speed of the speaking | number x-slow slow medium fast x-fast faster slower | 2 |
| stress | Specifies the "stress" in the speaking voice | number | 2 |
| voice-family | A prioritized list of voice family names that contain specific voices | specific-voice generic-voice | 2 |
| volume | Specifies the volume of the speaking | number % silent x-soft soft medium loud x-loud | 2 |
