Visually Impaired Resource Guide Assistive Technology For Students With Low Vision Access Features for Low Vision Users

Access Features for Low Vision Users
(A comparison of accessibility options for Low Vision Users in the Macintosh and Windows Environments)

Macintosh Operating System

Customize the size of font on desktop:

• Go to the main menu bar on the desktop. Under the Apple menu go to Control Panels/Views. Set the view to Chicago 18. Chicago is an easy font to see so it is suggested you try this one first. Try others and choose one to meet your needs. Close the window with OK. See the enlarged views on the desktop.

Change icon views to list views for easy navigation:

• Be sure to note that if you are viewing icons, go to the menu bar along the top of your screen, click and hold on the View menu, select name or list to change to a vertical list rather than icon view. This is much easier to navigate. Now the user can use the arrow keys instead of the mouse to move through the list and make selections.

Magnify the screen/Reverse Polarity (black on white, white on black):

• CloseView is shipped with every Macintosh system. You may need to find CloseView on the Mac system disks if it is not loaded. Turn on Close View and choose magnification of choice. Toggle Close view on and off as needed. Note short-cut keystroke in the CloseView window.
• There are several shareware utilities that allow some magnification of a portion of the screen. Zoom Lens is one shareware utility the allows magnification of a given area.

Make the cursor larger:

• There are a number of different cursors available for the Macintosh. Big Cursor is a shareware utility that provides a large cursor to make tracking mouse movement easier.

Windows 95, 97, 98 Operating System

Change icon views to list views for easy navigation:

• Be sure to note that if you are viewing icons, go to the menu bar along the top of your screen, click and hold on the View menu, select list to change to a list rather than icon view. This is much easier to navigate. Now you can use the arrow keys instead of the mouse to move through the list and make selections.

Customize the size of font on desktop and menu bars:

• The user can customize the desktop, menu bars. To increase the size of the font (typeset) size on the desktop and the menu bars: Go to the Start menu (hit the windows key if you have one on your keyboard, or press ctrl+ esc, or click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your taskbar). Go to settings, click to go to control panels, double click on Display, click on the Appearance tab. See the Schemes list box. Click on the black triangle to display setting options. Choose Rose large, click on Apply, then click on OK. Try this again to choose a setting that suits you. Then Apply/ok.

Enlarge the mouse, change its color, and assign mouse pointer trails:

• To enlarge the mouse, go to the Start menu, go to Settings, click to select Control panels, double click to select Mouse. Click on the Motion tab. Click in the checkbox for pointer trails to be activated. This will leave a trail when the mouse is moved. This helps in tracking the mouse to its new location. Click on the Pointers Tab. See the scheme window. Click on the black triangle to see all options displayed. Select Windows Inverted (extra large), click on Apply, then click on OK. Inverted changes color depending on the background on which it is displayed.

Maximize the window to fill the screen:

• Use the maximize feature (alt+spacebar, x) to make the window fill the whole screen. Choose minimize (alt+spacebar,n) to place the program temporarily out of the way on the taskbar. Hint: Double click on the title on the taskbar to open the program/document again.

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