Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Low Vision and Computers


How many times have those of us with less than perfect vision (even corrected) had to put our face almost on the screen to read some small print or worse a horrible font and background color combination?

Too many.

There are several solutions that you can use.

One – the built in Windows magnifier. Not perfect but when all else fails, it helps. Information can be found here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-xp/help/turn-on-magnifier

Two – Using Firefox as a web browser, the keyboard shortcut CTRL + “+” will enlarge the font (CTRL + “-” will reduce). If a page is not setup correctly, then you'll get some funky duplication, but for most pages and text, it enlarges very well. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Accessibility_features_of_Firefox#Resizing_page_text

Three – Using Internet Explorer same basic technique as in Firefox http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Zoom-in-on-a-webpage

Four – a simple screen enlarger program name DeskTop Zoom, which does not need administrative privileges to install or use. It can also be used from a flash drive as a portable program. Download the program from here http://users.telenet.be/littlegems/MySoft/DesktopZoom/Index.html

Other tips and tricks to come in later posts

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