Information Technology Services

"Text Transcoder" Information

The ext-only server, called "LIFT Text Transcoder," is a tool that instantly generates a text-only view of Web content, making it accessible to blind people who use screen readers, people with poor vision who must magnify the content, and other individuals who rely on similar tools. Those who maintain NDSU Web sites may link to the text-only server, and the server will translate the site into text.

If you cannot add the Text Transcoder yourself, you can request assistance by visiting www.ndsu.edu/webhelp, logging in, and choosing Request Text Transcoder Help. A help ticket will be created, and someone from the Web Support Team will contact you.

• "Text Transcoder" Info
• How to apply Text Transcoder to a Web site using HTML
• Adding Text Transcoder to sites using Dreamweaver

1. Open your Web page in whatever HTML editor you use.
   
   
2. Find the place in the code where you want the "text only" link to appear on the screen.
   
   
3. Insert the following code at that spot:
   
   <a href=http://text-only.ndsu.nodak.edu:8080/tt/referrer title="text-only page produced automatically by LIFT Text Transcoder">Text only</a>
   
   
4. Save your changes, publish them to the web server and test your work. The "text only" link will display a text version of your page if applied correctly.
   
   
5. Please note that if you add this to at least your home page, visitors who take the "text only" link from your home page can continue to navigate through your whole site viewing text-only screens. As the visitor takes each link, it will automatically fetch the text-only version.
   

What is "Text Transcoder?"

The text-only server, called "LIFT Text Transcoder," is a tool that instantly generates a text-only view of Web content, making it accessible to blind people who use screen readers, people with poor vision who must magnify the content, and other individuals who rely on similar tools.

How To Apply Text Transcoder

Including the text-only link in your Web site is not difficult. Just follow these easy steps.

1. Open Dreamweaver and select your site. In this example we will show how to add a link to the Text Transcoder in a Dreamweaver template. It is preferable to add it to a template so that the change will be reflected throughout the whole site.

2. Open your template file and switch to split screen view if needed.
Note: You can expand or decrease the upper section of the split screen by moving the bar between the two sections of the screen with your mouse.

3. Insert your cursor where you want the "text only" link to appear on the screen. This should be towards the top of the screen for usability.
If a chunk of code becomes highlighted in the upper section of the screen, use your right arrow key to remove the highlighting.

4. In the upper part of the screen, find where your cursor is ( | ) and switch to that spot by clicking there.

5. This is where you will copy/paste or type the following lines of code.
title="text-only page produced automatically by LIFT Text Transcoder">
Text only

6. Click in the lower half of the screen and your "text only" link will appear (or "refresh").

7. Save the changes you have made, and the template will update all pages that use it. Then publish the changes to the Web server as usual.

8. If you experienced difficulty with this and need help, visit the www.ndsu.edu/webhelp
screen, and choose the "Request Text Transcoder Help" option.
This procedure works with other non-template files, too. If you add the "text only" link to your home page, a text-only visitor can continue to view the entire site as text only from the initial home page.
For an example of Text Transcoder in use, visit http://its.ndsu.nodak.edu

Technical Notes on Text Transcoder