April 14: Blind people can now browse some government Web sites. Recently, a government Web portal – shanghai.gov.cn – together with the Web sites of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, Shanghai Bureau of Justice and Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, began to offer "trouble-free browsing" services to make it more convenient for blind people to access information and services.

According to sources, the pilot program for more accessible government Web sites was launched in Shanghai in 2007. Currently, the government Web portal shanghai.gov.cn has reformed its entire network except for "online services" and other "links," while the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, Shanghai Bureau of Justice and Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau reformed some of their columns.

The columns providing "trouble-free browsing" include news, government information, policies and regulations, services for assisting the public, online interaction, circulars, search services and others.

The Shanghai Association of the Blind has organized blind people to experience the "trouble-free Web sites" many times. The results show that the blind can browse the information on these Web sites with the help of screen-reading software and other assistance tools, while those who are visually-impaired can adjust the font size, contrast ratio, grayscale and other aspects to suit their browsing needs.

Since the "trouble-free browsing" service was put into trial operation on shanghai.gov.cn a month ago, 94 percent of the newly-released information can now be read by blind people.

Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn