Using a PC is pretty much an essential part of everyday life, but we can forget that some people find it very difficult to interact with computers. Luckily, Microsoft hasn’t neglected any of its users and has built plenty of features into Windows Vista to help people with visual and hearing impairments.
In the lead up to the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft commissioned a study to find out how many people could benefit from accessibility options, and the results were illuminating. The survey revealed that a massive 57 per cent of users aged 18-64 would benefit from accessibility functions.
As a result of this study, lots of accessibility functions were added to Windows Vista, so all consumers, including severely impaired users, could get as much usage as possible out of the new operating system.
Some of these functions were available in Windows XP, but they were rather obscurely ‘hidden’ in the Control Panel. In Windows Vista the presence of these visual and audio tweaks are there for all to see and can be amended to suit the user’s preferences by hitting Windows + U. (If you need to make adjustments before you log in, simply hit the Ease of Access icon on the User Account screen.)
The Ease of Access Center offers minor and major adjustments to Windows Vista in all aspects, from slightly adjusting background contrasts for those with poor eyesight, to setting up special input and output devices for people with severe impairments.
If you want to find out how you, or your family and friends, could benefit from Ease of Access Center simply press Windows + U while on the desktop. In this window you will see the option to Get recommendations to make your computer easier to use. This will take you to a questionnaire, with different scenarios of access problems ranging from finding words difficult to see in certain lights, to being dyslexic. Just check any that apply and Windows Vista will suggest several visual changes to the display that could help.
Suit yourself
Before and After
You can easily make tweaks to improve your experience. Just hold left ALT + left SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN to turn on high contrast mode
Using the backgrounds supplied with Windows Vista can make day to day tasks difficult for people with visual impairments
Windows Vista should look and act. You can make lots of minor adjustments to the appearance of Windows Vista, in order to make it a little easier to use. Say you’re not happy with the size and colour of the mouse pointer, which is something a lot of people struggle to interact with; if the ordinary white design makes using the mouse difficult, it can be changed to black, or even flash different colours so it’s impossible to miss.
Users who are particularly poorly sighted can opt to have the magnifying tool open when your computer boots up. This is a great tool and can transform the use of fiddly features into simple tasks once again.
The level of zoom in the area around the cursor can be set anywhere between 2x and 16x in the window which accompanies the magnifier, which is displayed in a window which sits at the top of the screen.
There is also an interesting function in Windows Vista where a narrator reads out options you hover your mouse over, while navigating the screen. Don’t worry, you won’t need to a hire a suited man to dramatically dictate your online antics; instead an electronic voice will read out on-screen commands – a big help to users with poor sight.
Some computer users suffer problems using the keyboard and mouse, so the Ease of Access Center provides possible solutions by integrating voice recognition to replace the traditional input sources. This means users can speak commands rather than click with the mouse, so that programs can be navigated more quickly and easily than ever before. The voice recognition in Windows Vista is much improved over previous incarnations, and it is now entirely possible to use your PC with a microphone instead of a mouse.
It is not only physical impairments that Ease of Access Center caters for; learning difficulties are also addressed. Dyslexic users will find a host of options available, such as adjustments to the time messages are displayed for, changes in background colours to provide better contrast and, again, that option to have the narrator read out on-screen options.
The Ease of Access Center provides lots of quick and easy ways to make the Windows Vista experience as productive as possible.
Five visual aids
1. High Contrast. This setting can be turned on at anytime by pressing left ALT + left SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN. It changes the background to black and text to white, which can make on-screen text much easier to read for people with poor sight.
2. Magnifier. The magnifier displays an up-scaled view of the immediate area around the mouse in a window at the top of the screen. Users who find reading the screen difficult can choose to magnify anywhere between 2 and 16 times.
3. Mouse matters. The mouse pointer can easily be adapted for people who find using it hard. The size can be increased, it can be turned to black instead of white, and even have a flashing aura so it can’t be missed.
4. DPI. For users with bad eyesight, changing the DPI settings for fonts in Windows Vista is an easy fix. Just right click on the desktop and choose Personalize. On the right, click Adjust font size (DPI), and you’ll find an option to change to a larger scale (120dpi instead of 6).
5. Distractions. Some users find the flashy interfaces and animations found in modern software distracting when using the PC; in the Ease of Access Center you can choose to turn off busy images to make focusing on important tasks much easier.
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