is there anything to help the sight impaired see computer better

[knekers67]

 Hi      I have a family friend who is going blind and at the moment can still see but with great difficulty. She loves her computer but it has become a challenge just to read email. Is there any products out there to enlarge the things on the computer screen? Like a magnifying glass to go over the screen? Any ideas would be a great help.

[bigtoe]

Sandy wrote a review of a program called "Web Eyes" for helping folks who might be site impaired and having difficulty reading the screens of computers .... http://www.compukiss.com/reviews/webeyes.html

Another trick which your friend can do is to use key shortcuts to increase the view size of the screen they are looking at .... while holding down the Control key (Ctrl key) they can tap the " + " (plus) key to enlarge the screen viewing.... it brings the screen closer to the surface so to speak and may require them to then have to use the scroll keys of left arrow or right arrow to move the screen horizontally but they will have the larger text and sizing that makes things easier for them..... and similarly clicking both the CTRL and the minus ( - ) key will take the screen back to "normal" sizing for anyone else using the computer.....

In a similar fashion they can click in the Menu bar at the top of the page View >> Zoom and move in or out, or in Firefox browser click on View >> text only to enlarge the print.........

The key strokes of " Ctrl and the + key or the  - key " is quick and easy and seems to be used a lot, including by me at times when I find web page print to be just too small even with bifocals....  .

If using the Internet Explorer browser and versions IE7 or IE8, the user can also increase the viewing area up to a max resolution of 400% for the really hard of seeing user..... Click on the Menu bar at View >> Zoom >> and then select the percentage of change that is desired....... and similarly, the shortcuts of Ctrl key and the + key will also increase..... Down on the status bar above the clock at the bottom of the page in IE7 or IE8 is a percentage button that can also be clicked to enlarge the screen (depending on the settings for IE7 or IE8 that your friend has chosen for the IE browser)..........

I rarely use the IE7 or IE8 browser, but there is also a Text size adjustment that can be done as well.... on the Menu bar at the top click on View>>Text size>> and change from smallest to largest settings (5 different adjustments can be made)....


Hope that is helpful.... there are some other settings that can be adjusted, but they are more permanent and using the shortcut key combinations has been the most appreciated from user responses that I have read at various forums.........


Happy Puterin' .... Al