Magnifying the screen

If increasing the text size via the browser or Windows options does not make text easy to read then the next step is to magnify the screen.

All recent versions of Windows include magnification software which can help some people more easily read text on the screen.

The Windows magnifier lets you increase text to a very large size. It is, however, restricted to a small portion of the screen so most vision impaired people find that they require fully-functional magnification software.

Open the Windows magnifier using the following steps:

1. Open the ' Start ' menu by clicking on the ' Start ' button orby pressing the Windows logo key (located between the ' Ctrl ' and ' Alt ' keys on most keyboards ) alternatively press ' Ctrl ' + ' Esc '.

2. Click on ' Programs ' or alternatively press ' P ' on the keyboard until 'Programs' is highlighted and then ' Enter ' .

3. Click on ' Accessories ' or press ' A ' on the keyboard until ' Accessories ' is highlighted and then press ' Enter ' .

4. Click on ' Accessibility ' or if you are using the keyboard, it will already be highlighted so just press ' Enter ' .

5. Click on ' Magnifier ' or press ' M ' and when ' Magnifier ' is highlighted, press ' Enter ' on the keyboard.

6. The magnifier is now turned on and the settings box appears.

7. You can click in the magnification level box to change the level of magnification (highlighted in Fig 1 below ) or use the up and down arrow keys.

8. You can minimise the magnifier settings box by clicking the minimise button orby pressing ' Alt ' + ' Space ' and then press ' N ' .

In addition to Windows inbuilt magnifier there is a range of third-party magnifier software you can use for Windows.

Making your mouse pointer easier to see

The pointer changes shape depending on where it is on the screen. Most often it appears as a small white arrow with a black outline; over a white background this is simply a black outline.

In some cases it is even less easy to see. For example, over any area where you can type it turns into a 'I' cursor (called an ' I-beam ' ).

This section shows you how to increase the size of your mouse pointer so that it will be easier to see under all conditions
 

Example of How to Change The Pointer in Windows XP

 

1. Open the ' Start ' menu by clicking on the ' Start ' button or by pressing the ' Windows ' logo key (located between the ' Ctrl ' + ' Alt ' keys on most keyboards) alternatively press ' Ctrl ' + ' Esc '.
2. Click on ' Control Panel ' or press the letter ' C ' on the keyboard.
3. If you see the text ' Pick a category ' as the main title on the page and under the Control Panel title you can see ' Switch to Classic View ' you need to click the ' Switch to Classic View ' (you are currently in 'Category View' ) by clicking on the link or by pressing tab until the ' Switch to Classic View ' is selected and then press ' Enter ' .

 

Once in 'Classic View' double click on ' Mouse ' or press the ' M ' key repeatedly until ' Mouse ' is highlighted and then press ' Enter ' . 
 

1. Click on the ' Pointer ' tab or press ' Control' + 'Tab ' until the ' Pointer ' tab is at the front.

2. Underneath ' Scheme ' is a drop down box which contains predefined sets of mouse pointers you can use. Click on this box, or press ' Tab ' until the scheme drop down box is highlighted, and the list appears.

3. Use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to move through the list. As you do so, you will see the pictures changing to reflect the scheme that is highlighted at the time. Some of these sets are labelled as' Large ' , ' Extra Large ' or ' Inverted ' schemes - these are the ones you should try first.

4. To choose a scheme either click on it or if it is already highlighted press the ' Enter ' key on the keyboard.

5. Click ' OK ' or press ' Enter ' to exit the ' Mouse Properties ' page.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Other Operating systems may be different.

Changing your colours

Some people find certain text and background colour combinations difficult to read, while others prefer to always have a specific colour such as white text on a black background. In either case it is easy to set your own colours in Windows.

1. Open the ' Start ' menu by clicking on the ' Start ' button or by pressing the ' Windows ' logo key (located between the ' Ctrl ' + ' Alt ' keys on most keyboards) alternatively press ' Ctrl ' + ' Esc ' .

2. Click on ' Control Panel ' or press ' C ' until ' Control Panel ' is selected and then press ' Enter ' if necessary.
   Note: in earlier versions of XP you will need to click on ' Settings ' or press the letter ' S ' on the keyboard first.

3. If you see the text ' Pick a category ' as the main title on the page and under the Control Panel title
   you can see ' Switch to Classic View ' you need to click the ' Switch to Classic View ' (you are currently in 'Category View' ) by clicking on the link or by pressing tab until the ' Switch to Classic View ' is selected and then press ' Enter ' .

In Classic view double click on ' Display ' or press the ' D ' key repeatedly until ' Display ' is highlighted and then press ' Enter '.

1. Click on the ' Appearance ' tab or press ' Control ' + ' Tab ' until the ' Appearance ' tab is at the front.

2. Click the drop down box below the ' Color scheme ' heading, or press ' Alt ' + ' C ' to jump there. Use the mouse or the up and down arrow keys to browse through the list and click on the scheme you want, or press ' Enter ' , to select a scheme. Click ' OK ' or press ' Enter ' to exit the ' Display Properties ' dialog box.

Using your own style sheets

Web style sheets such as Cascading style sheets (CSS) give you the flexibility to change the way a web page looks by separating the structure and content of a web page (html) from its design (style sheet).

Unfortunately not all style sheets are designed to make the page look as clear and easy to read possible, so in certain situations you might need to create your own style sheet to override the way a web page looks. This means with style sheets you can change the colours of text and background to make them clearer as well change the size and font style of text to make them easier to read.

A number of browsers allow you to use style sheets than can override web page settings,

Instructions on how to create a style sheet are outside the scope of this website, but there are a number of free tools available on the web to help you create your own.

Making your computer talk

Many people who have a significant vision or literacy difficulty would benefit from having their computer speak back what they are typing and other text on the screen.

Windows Narrator is a basic screen-reading program. It offers speech feedback for all menus and dialog boxes, Windows Explorer and Notepad but will not speak out a whole Word documents or web page.

Please note: Window's Narrator is only available for Windows 2000 and XP.

To start Narrator:

1. Open the ' Start ' menu by clicking on the ' Start ' button or by pressing the Windows logo key (located between the Ctrl and Alt keys on most keyboards), alternatively press ' Ctrl ' + ' Esc ' .

2. Click on ' All Programs ' or alternatively press ' P ' on the keyboard until All Programs is highlighted and then press ' Enter ' .

3. Click on ' Accessories ' or press ' A ' on the keyboard until ' Accessories ' is highlighted and then press ' Enter ' .

4. Click on ' Accessibility ' or if you are using the keyboard, it will already be highlighted so just press ' Enter '.

5. Click on ' Narrator ' or press' N ' until ' Narrator' is highlighted and then press ' Enter '.

6. The ' Microsoft Narrator ' window will then appear and ' Narrator ' immediately starts talking and reads out the instructions on how to use this feature

After clicking on the ' OK ' button or pressing ' Enter ' , another window appears which has various options which you can select by clicking on the checkbox or tabbing to the checkbox and pressing the ' Spacebar ' . You can also adjust the voice settings from here by clicking on the ' Voice ' button or pressing ' V ' on the keyboard.

Although Windows' Narrator (available in Windows 2000 and XP) can offer some speech output to help those with a vision impairment or literacy difficulty, it does not allow for the speaking back of chunks of text in your document or web page.

There are a number of text to speech programs that are either commercial, freeware or shareware that allow any text that can be selected with the keyboard or mouse to be spoken back in a range of different voices.

This may be a very valuable facility for someone who needs to give their eyes a rest or who has difficulties with reading.