Incredible voice control for the Web

Browsing the Web is usually an endless round of clicks, taps and scrolling.

That’s changed with Annyang, an incredibly simple JavaScript library that enables voice commands for web sites.

Maybe not the most user-friendly for brochure sites, it’s great for complex applications where giving the user a series of verbal shortcuts to different sections, such as ‘Open my account’ or ‘Save for later’, could potentially save a lot of frustration and visits to the site map.

Any browser that supports SpeechRecognition is supported and any browser that doesn’t is left unaffected.

A simple example would look something like this:

<script src='annyang.min.js'></script>
<script>

if(annyang)
{
 var commands = {
 'hello': function()
 {
 console.log('world');
 }
 }

 annyang.init(commands);

 annyang.start();

}
</script>

Take a look at the demo. It may not be the most responsive input method, and you’ll feel a bit foolish on your morning commute; but the possibilities are tantalizing.

Have you used voice control for a web interface? What difficulties did you encounter? Let us know in the comments.

WDD Staff

WDD staff are proud to be able to bring you this daily blog about web design and development. If there's something you think we should be talking about let us know @DesignerDepot.