Chrislip College Journal

Introducing FMReader! 

FMReader is an Internet Explorer enhancement that: 

1. Allows you to "speak" directly to your audience, 
2. Can increase your site's traffic, 
3. Allows you to retain your visitors longer, 
4. Can turn your web pages into an Internet Radio Station, 
5. Costs nothing to implement, and 
6. Costs your visitors nothing to use. 

You Type, It Talks! 

The Chrislip College Journal is an example of how you can easily make your pages listener-friendly.  

Simple Codes! 

Normally, FMReader will read the correct passage of text.  But since FMReader cannot be tested on every page on the Internet, you, the web page author, can override the program's behavior.  You can specify where to start and stop reading and what page, presumably one of yours, to read next.

By just adding simple HTML codes in each of the 26 chapters in the Chrislip College Journal, each of the files are read sequentially and the listener is spared from listening to the table of contents 26 times.  You can view the source of this page, which includes the codes.

Read From Here To Here...

To specify to FMReader where to begin and end reading, add this tag at the beginning of the text you want your visitor to hear:

<div id="FMReader">

This tells FMReader to begin reading here.  The program will continue to read until it reaches the end of this tag, specified by:

</div>

...And Then Read This!

If FMReader finds a link with "Next" in it's anchor text, this URL will be read next.  For instance, at the end of this page, we have added the following html tag:

<p align="right"><a href="X">Next &gt;&gt;</a></p>

Instead of the X, substitute the URL of the page you want your listeners to hear next. 

The Power of Mint!

If you're listening to this page using FMReader, you'll notice that you didn't hear the codes out loud.  That is because their background color is set to "mintcream".  FMReader skips text that it encounters with this background color.  This spares the listener from hearing, in this case, raw HTML codes, which would be tedious and annoying.

From Web Site To Radio Station! 

As the 26 chapters of the Chrislip College Journal demonstrate, this process can continue indefinitely,  turning your web site into a radio station.

Listeners Linger! 

An important fact to remember is that it takes much longer to listen to a page than to skim it.  You can retain your visitors longer as they attentively listen to each word you agonized over. 

Click To Hear! 

You'll notice in the left column of this page a link that says "Hear This Story".  This link will launch FMReader, which will read the page aloud.  A second link instructs the visitor how to obtain the necessary FMReader software.   

Reciprocity Rules!

If you include both of these links on your pages, let us know.  In return, we'll include your site in the library on the program's interface.  In the future, each time any FMReader listens to any web page, they'll be presented with an easy avenue to your site.

And now, onto our first chapter entitled "Editorial: Upward Mobility".