The development and testing of gReader : A universally designed, device-independent email client

The ubiquity of email messaging necessitates the need for anywhere, accessible design. As such, this research project proposes a plan for offering access to e-mail that is largely platform independent. The project is the design of a Text-To-Speech (TTS) application that reads e-mail to users, records the messages in two popular media types for transfer to portable entertainment devices and portable communications devices. The application is named gReader. As part of the research, a user task analysis was conducted on eight users ranging from 19 to 34. These users were surveyed for their interest in the developed application, likelihood to use the gReader product and their desire to communicate through electronic messaging. According to the feedback gathered during the user task study, the product seems to meet the needs of users but interest in the product is only moderate. The prototype succeeded in delivering email content in an easily comprehended manner. This document describes the proposed solution, the final implementation, and the results of a preliminary user-task analysis.