Tips & Tricks

Browsing, reading aloud and saving web pages off-line

1. Browser:

The top menu bar:

  1. Address entry and search bar function:
    The top menu bar contains on the left side, as you are accustomed, the address line for direct input of the Web addresses and on the right side a search bar function. Tap the left edge of the search bar to select your favorite from the different search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Wikipedia). Alternatively, the selection can be made in the „Settings“ area in the toolbar in the „Browser“ section.

  2. Collapsing and expanding the upper menu bar:
    When browsing web pages, the upper menu bar automatically collapses to allow more available space for displaying the page content. In order to expand the menu bar again, pull the visited web page all the way down or tap the time display on your iPhone / iPad at the top of the screen.

The bottom toolbar:

  1. Scrolling back and forth between web pages you have visited

    To scroll back and forth, choose the appropriate symbols ( and ) on the left side from the toolbar.

  2. Switching from full screen mode to text mode: ON T, T OFF

    For better readability, especially on the small iPhone screen, we recommend switching to the text mode. Simply tap the toggle switch with the text symbol () so that it changes from „OFF“ to „ON“.

  3. Options for text mode: Font, font size, night mode

    The settings menu in the toolbar allows you to adjust the font and the font size according to your needs (area „Text mode“ in the „Settings“ menu ). For use during changing light conditions, the night mode can be turned off and on optionally.

  4. Saving and managing bookmarks

    To mark a visited web page with a bookmark, open the browser and tap the „Save“ symbol on the lower toolbar and then „Save Bookmark“. Calling up the bookmarks occurs through utilization of the menu point „Collections“ -> „Bookmarks“. After you have clicked the "Edit" button on the upper right, you can:

  1. Managing and clearing history and search history

    The web page history can be displayed by clicking „Collections“ in the bottom toolbar and then selecting „History“ It can also be deleted, if necessary. Therefore use the button „Edit“ on the top right and either delete all entries with the button „Delete all“ on the top left or delete line for line using the delete symbol on the left margin. Similarly, you can do the same with the history of the search terms you have entered. Go to the toolbar and tap „Collections“ -> „Search History“.

  2. Cookie management

    The treatment for cookies in Voice Reader Web can be set in the menu Settings under „Browser“ -> „Accept cookies“: You can choose “Never”, “From visited pages” or “Always”.
    To clear all cookies, tap on “Collections” and select “Clear cookies”.

2. Reading aloud:

Instructions

  1. Start: Open Voice Reader Web.

  2. Web access: The first time you start, the Linguatec web page will be loaded automatically. Let it be read out to you or switch to any other website by using the website address line (top left) or the search bar function (top right). If you have already created a bookmark or saved pages offline, you can open them under „Collections“ in the lower toolbar. If the opened webpage supports RSS, you’ll find a grey RSS-symbol at the right edge of the address line. Tap on it to choose the desired format and to open the RSS-file.

  3. Voice selection: In the „Settings“ (bottom toolbar), you can choose your reader from out of 21 languages and 32 voices (section „Voice“). Additional offline voices can be downloaded under „Available offline voices“ While a web page is loading, the chosen reader is displayed shortly on the bottom right.

  4. Read aloud: Use the „Read“ icon in the bottom toolbar to have read aloud automatically the content of a web page. Alternatively, you can highlight a section or a word and click the button „Read“ in the popup menu. Keep your finger on an area of the web page you want to have read aloud. Drag the cursor to the desired position in the enlarged view and click „Read“.

  5. Read aloud options: Start reading: Click the „Read“ symbol to have the web page text read to you. An audio file is created. Pause: To pause the reading, click the pause button. Additional read aloud functions are only available though use of the offline voices (Menu „Settings“ -> „Available offline voices“) > Jump to the next section during aloud reading by clicking the Forward button. < Using the Rewind button you can go back in the read section step by step.

  6. Finish reading and other options: Stop reading:
    You can stop playback by clicking the „Close“ symbol on the bottom right. This returns you to the browser view.
    Store and manage the audio file offline:
    Using the option „Save audio file offline“ in the „Save“ menu, you can store the generated audio file directly on your device. Enter a title and confirm with "OK". The file will be saved in the „Collections“ menu under „Audio files“ from where you can open them at any time. Changing title or deletion of the file is also possible.
    Send text and audio: Using the „Save“ menu and the option „Send text and audio“ you can send the text and the generated audio of the web page via email in written and audio form. This requires that you have a functional email account set up on your iPhone / iPad.

  7. You may now change the reading setting, start a new search, enter further web page addresses or load saved web sites...
    Have fun!

Available offline and online voices:

  1. After purchase of the Voice Reader Web App 32 online voices (32 Stimmen für 21 Sprachen)voices (32 voices for 21 languages) are available for reading out to you. You can choose a different voice at any time by tapping „Settings“ -> and then „Voice“. When using the online voices, 2,000 characters can be read out.

  2. If you want to convert a longer text to audio or have web pages read aloud offline, independent of a network connection and data volume usage, we recommend that you purchase offline voices. Here you also have a choice of 32 voices. The 21 available available languages are listed in the bottom toolbar under „Settings“ -> „Avaiable offline voices“ After clicking the respective flag, the voices available for the corresponding language are displayed. To listen to an audio sample, simply tap the button.If you would like to purchase the voice, tap the displayed price and confirm your purchase with „OK“.

  3. Attention! If you already own our Voice Reader Text to Speech app and have acquired an offline voice there, you can use it free of charge in Voice Reader Web as well! To do this, go to the Voice Reader Text to Speech app and click on „Settings“ in the „Voice“ section and there at the top on the button „Share offline voices“ -> „Open in Voice Reader Web“. Thereafter, start Voice Reader Web and go to „Settings“ -> „Available offline voices“ -> „Restore offline voices“. In the „Restore“ message box you will receive information regarding which voices have already been purchased. Confirm with „OK“. A yellow downward pointing arrow next to the respective voice displays that the download is ready. Click to begin the loading process. Similarly, you can also share free of charge an offline voice which you purchased in Voice Reader Web with Voice Reader Text to Speech! If the yellow downward pointing arrow isn’t shown in Voice Reader Web, please delete the app from the multitasking bar and restart again the sharing of the offline voices in Voice Reader Text to Speech. (Please double-tap the home button on your mobile device. This will bring up the multitasking display, showing your "recently used" apps. Press and hold the icon of the Voice Reader Web app more than 3 seconds, than tap the red circle with a dash to delete it from the multitasking bar)

The advantages of the offline voices:

Adjust voice and reading settings:
You can easily customize Voice Reader Web using the „Settings“ button in the bottom toolbar.
Voice: Tapping „Voice“ will display a list of available voices. The section „Offline-Stimmen“ displays the local voices you have already been purchased. All online voices are displayed under „Online voices“ The desired reading voice is selected by tapping it.
Available offline voices: Tap this entry to find out more about the offline voices. You can listen to a sample of each voice or purchase an offline voice directly.
Save audio: Under „Format“ you can select your preferred file format for saving your audio files. The available formats are: m4a (Advanced Audio Coding), caf (Apple Lossless Coding) and wav (Linear PCM Coding). Under „Quality“ you can select either 22 Khz (high), 16 Khz (middle) und 8 Khz (low). You also have the option to choose individual settings for speed, pitch and volume. You can drag the slide control to the desired position for each setting. To restore the default settings, tap the „Reset“ an. To return to the browser, use the „Browser“ button.

3. Saving web pages offline:

So that you can access your favorite web pages even when no Internet connection is available and to avoid running out of reading material or having enormous fees when being abroad, we integrated in Voice Reader Web a very easy, yet practical function for saving web pages offline.

Saving web pages offline: Open the desired web page in the browser and save it offline with the click of a button. Just tap on „Save“ in the lower toolbar -> „Save page offline“ That's it!

Loading offline saved web pages: In the lower toolbar go to „Collections“ and choose the desired title in the „Offline pages“ folder.

Reading offline saved web pages: After you have loaded the offline saved web page, of course, you can have it read out to you. This option is available for both online and offline voices. In the menu „Settings“ choose your desired reader under -> „Voice“ select – if necessary - other reading settings and go back to the selected web page using the „Browser“ button. Start the reading out using the „Read“ in the lower toolbar.

Managing offline saved web pages:

  1. Deleting offline saved web pages or folders:
    Tap in the „Collections“ menu on the „Offline pages“ folder and click on „Edit“ on the upper left. An offline page is deleted from your device by clicking the „Remove“ button on the left margin and choosing the „Delete“ button.

  2. Creating a new folder:
    If you want to store your offline pages clearly in folders, tap in the „Collections“ menu on the „Offline Pages“ then on the upper right on „Edit“ and finally on „New folder“ on the upper left. Enter a title and confirm with „OK“.

  3. Changing title or folder:
    Change to the editing mode by clicking „Collections“ -> „Offline Pages“ -> „Edit“. Tap on the item or folder to be changed. Click in the title line to change the name or select a different folder. Your settings will be changed with the „Save“ button.
Imprint