Comics you can hear
A comic is a wall of small print inside small pictures, which is a hard thing to hand to someone who cannot comfortably see either. This reader takes the same issue and performs it: every line read aloud in computer-generated voices matched to whoever is speaking, drawn sound effects that really sound, and a soundscape under the scene. You can follow the whole story with your eyes shut.
One panel at a time, filling the screen
Instead of a full page shrunk to fit your display, the reader crops to a single panel and blows it up edge to edge, then moves to the next one on its own as the scene plays. For a low-vision reader that is magnification you do not have to drive: no pinching, no hunting for the next balloon, no losing your place halfway down a page.
Your own comics, read aloud
Import the CBR, CBZ or PDF comics you own, and read them one panel at a time for free. Have an issue voiced and a male and a female narrator read every line, each matched to whoever is speaking, with the drawn sound effects performed and a soundscape under the scene. Voicing takes a monthly plan or a top-up, and every import shows its price first. Full cast (every character voiced) comes with the Enthusiast and Power plans.
Built to be navigated without a mouse
The library, the store, the menus and the reader controls all work from the keyboard and report themselves to a screen reader. Inside a comic, turning a panel announces your position and nothing else, such as page 3, panel 5 of 40. The panel's own words are there too, in a hidden landmark named “Panel text”: the description, the dialogue line by line, and the drawn sound lettering, for your screen reader's virtual cursor or a braille display. Nothing in it is ever announced by itself, so it cannot talk over the performance. Find it in the rotor's landmark list in VoiceOver, by heading navigation in TalkBack, or in browse mode in JAWS and NVDA. We have tested the site and the reader with all four.
Panel descriptions, when you want the art too
Voices carry the dialogue, but a comic says a great deal in pictures that nobody speaks aloud. Panel descriptions add a short spoken account of what each panel shows, played just before the lines in it, in the narrator's voice. Turn them on for an issue and the art comes through as well. They can also be read as on-screen text instead, for anyone who wants the words without the extra audio.
What this does not do yet
Nobody here has read the “Panel text” landmark on physical braille hardware. It is written for a braille display and it reads correctly through VoiceOver's on-screen braille panel and through TalkBack, but until someone has put it on a real display we are not going to claim it. Panel descriptions are a per-issue addition rather than something every title in the catalog already carries, so an issue without them has no description line in that landmark. And a comic you import is read aloud only once you have it voiced, which is paid per issue. All three are things we would rather state plainly here than have you discover after signing up.
Straight answers
Are there comics for blind people?
Yes. Every comic on the free streaming shelf is read aloud from the first panel to the last, and you can import your own CBR, CBZ or PDF comics and have them voiced too. The reader works with VoiceOver, TalkBack, JAWS and NVDA, and you can add panel descriptions to an issue so the art is spoken as well.
Can I read comics here if I cannot see the page well?
Yes, and it is the whole point of the reader. A voiced comic reads every line aloud, so you can listen rather than read: that is every issue on the streaming shelf, and any comic of your own that you have voiced. The reader also shows one panel at a time, blown up to fill your screen, instead of a whole page shrunk to fit it, and that costs nothing on any comic.
Does it work with VoiceOver, TalkBack, JAWS or NVDA?
Yes, and we have tested it with all four. The library, the store, the menus and the reader controls are all keyboard and screen reader navigable. Inside a comic your screen reader announces your position, such as page 3, panel 5 of 40, and the panel's words wait in a hidden landmark named “Panel text” that is never announced by itself, so you can read the description, the dialogue and the drawn lettering without anything talking over the narration. VoiceOver reaches it from the rotor's landmark list, TalkBack by heading navigation, and JAWS and NVDA in browse mode.
What are panel descriptions?
A short spoken account of what a panel actually shows, played just before that panel's dialogue, so the art reaches you and not only the words. You can add them to an issue and have them read aloud in the narrator's voice, or shown as text on screen. They are something you turn on per issue rather than something every title already carries.
Which comics can I listen to?
Every issue on the streaming shelf, start to finish: classic and openly licensed comics, free to listen to with an account. Some have a separate voice for each main character, and the rest are read by a male and a female narrator. Your own comics too: import CBR, CBZ or PDF files and have an issue voiced, and the two narrators read every line, matched to whoever is speaking, with the drawn sound effects performed. Panel descriptions are the per-issue addition on top of either.
Is there braille support?
Yes, with one limit we would rather state than bury. Every panel puts its words in a hidden landmark named “Panel text”: the description, the dialogue line by line, and the drawn sound lettering, sitting there for a braille display or a screen reader's virtual cursor to read at your own pace. Nothing in it is ever announced by itself, so it never talks over the performance. Reach it from the rotor's landmark list in VoiceOver, or by heading navigation in TalkBack. We have read it through VoiceOver's on-screen braille panel and through TalkBack, never on physical braille hardware, so that is the part we will not claim. It also carries only what an issue already has, so an issue you have not added panel descriptions to has no description line in it.
Does listening cost anything?
The streaming shelf is free to listen to with an account, and no card is asked for. Reading your own comics is free too: every account gets 1 GB of hosting, about 20 single issues, and reading one panel at a time costs nothing. Having your own comics voiced takes a monthly plan or a top-up, every import shows its price first, and panel descriptions are priced the same way. Once an issue is voiced, listening to it again costs nothing. Plans voice a set number of issues every month, and in many countries you can start with a 7-day card-trial.
Read this page in: Español · 日本語 · Português · Français · Deutsch · Italiano · Polski · Türkçe · Indonesia · Tiếng Việt