Every person interacts with digital content differently, but knowing which assistive tools will help isn’t always obvious, especially for first-time users.
Many accessibility solution providers ask users to choose from predefined profiles or identify with a particular condition before showing a set of pre-defined features. While these approaches can provide a useful starting point, they don’t always reflect the way people interact with digital content in real life.
Two people with the same diagnosis could need completely different things on the same page. One may need it read aloud, the other finds that intrusive and just wants more spacing. Someone else could benefit from a high contrast view, whereas another person finds it exhausting.
And plenty of people who’d benefit from these tools have no diagnosis at all. They could be tired, on a phone in bright sunlight or reading in their second language.
Profiles ask people to define themselves before they get support. To us, that doesn’t feel like inclusion, but categorisation.
“Every one of us reads differently, and no label has ever captured that. Deciding for someone is the opposite of inclusion. Choice and personalization are everything.”
Ross Linnett, Founder & CEO, Recite Me
“That’s why we’ve developed Smart Suggest, a new feature within the Recite Me Assistive Toolbar that provides intelligent, page-based recommendations to help users discover the assistive tools most likely to improve their experience.”
People-first inclusion
Recite Me has always started from the same place: put the power in the hands of the user. Give people every tool, let them combine them however they want, and trust them to know what works. But choice is only useful if you know where to start. A toolbar full of options can be a lot to take in, especially the first time you see one. We developed Smart Suggest to fill that gap.
How it works
Smart Suggest analyses the content of the page, not the person using it.
When a page loads, it identifies the type of content being viewed and highlights assistive tools that are often useful in that context.
- Long-form articles or policy documents, where tools such as text-to-speech, reading rulers or screen masking may support reading.
- Forms, where adjustments to font size, spacing or color contrast can improve usability.
- Tables or information-dense layouts, where magnification or masking can make content easier to follow.
It then gently pulses the features most likely to be useful for that content. It doesn’t take over the experience or make automatic changes, but provides a sensible starting point.
From there, everything works as it always has. Take the suggestion, ignore it, or build your own combination. Don’t want suggestions at all? One click turns them off.
Keeping the user in control
Smart Suggest never changes the user’s experience automatically. Every recommendation is optional, giving people the freedom to accept a suggestion, ignore it or create their own combination of assistive tools.
Recommendations can also be switched off completely at any time.
Recite Me has always believed people should be able to personalize how they experience digital content. Rather than deciding what someone needs, our Assistive Toolbar gives users the freedom to tailor their experience using a wide range of support tools, but we’ve built this feature to take out some of the guesswork.
Smart Suggest builds on that philosophy by helping users discover those tools more quickly, without making decisions on their behalf.
Smart Suggest is live for all Recite Me Assistive Toolbar customers at no extra cost. On by default. Off in one click.
Have Questions or Feedback?
Contact us today! Our team is always eager to engage with the web accessibility community, learn from your experiences, and continually improve our products to support as many people as possible.
