App to help dyslexics browse the internet

INNOVATION Application will also make the World Wide Web accessible to people with learning disabilities, visual impairment

LUCKNOW: Two teenage boys from Delhi, Anand Chowdhary, 18, and Nishant Gadihoke, 15, have developed an app called ‘Oswald’ that helps people with dyslexia, visual impairment and other disabilities browse the internet.

Based on the specifications provided by the British Dyslexia Association and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for dyslexic users, the app automatically corrects typography, contrast ratios and other visual elements on any webpage.

Research shows that black text on yellow background in ‘Open Dyslexic’ font makes it easiest for users with learning disabilities to read. It also helps the visually impaired by reading out the text on a webpage. Senior citizens with vision problems can also make use of the app to adjust font size.

The idea first came to Anand while participating in the AngelHack hackathon. He along with Nishant started working on developing an application that would automatically re-design a webpage according to what was best suited for a user’s needs.

Having designed websites for years, both Anand and Nishant realised that web designers and developers only focused on making their sites work for the majority of the people.

“One day, the entire web will be accessible to everyone,” said Anand, who firmly believes that accessibility and equality should be the fundamental principles of web browsing.

“Oswald will change how millions of people with learning disabilities browse the web,” said Nishant.

The app received an award at AngelHack Delhi 2016, where it bagged the Code4Impact winner award.

“Anand and I were working together on a project when we realised that the internet was not very forgiving towards people with visual impairments, with little to no support for dyslexic users and inefficient tools for people suffering from colour-blindness. Having identified this major problem, we could not help but work on a solution,” said Nishant.

“Oswald is very easy to setup and use. It also offers the advanced functionality provided by paid apps – and for no charge,” he added.

The makers informed that the Chrome version of the app was built natively in JavaScript. “We plan to bring it to Android and iOS devices soon,” they promised.