2000 Conference Proceedings
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CHOOSING THE RIGHT SCREEN MAGNIFICATION PROGRAM
Mark M. Uslan, Manager
Technical Evaluation Services
American Foundation for the Blind
11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300
NY, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 502-7638
Email: muslan@afb.net
A screen magnifier refers to either a software program
loaded into a computer's memory that will magnify text and
graphics that appear in most common applications, or a
hardware/software system that does the same thing. The
full-featured screen magnification programs on the market today
range in price from $200 to $1,350. The two screen
magnification systems on the market, Telesensory's SuperVista
and Vista PCI, cost $2,495. Additionally, there are many simple
and inexpensive screen magnification programs on the market
that cost under $30 or are available as shareware. The focus of
this article is on the full-featured screen magnification
programs and the screen enhancement features found in Windows
itself.
The first step in selecting a screen magnifier should be to
gather information. The table below presents the screen
magnification programs on the market as of this writing. Each
manufacturer is listed with contact information and information
on their product/s.
Screen Magnification Programs on the Market
AI Squared
P.O. Box 669, Manchester Center, VT 05255
Phone: (802) 362-3612
Fax: (802) 362-1670
Website: http://www.aisquared.com
Product/s: ZoomText Xtra Level I (v.7.01); supports Windows
95/98/NT and DOS. ZoomText
Xtra Level II (v.7.01); supports Windows 95/98/NT, DOS, and
sound card speech.
Arctic Technologies
1000 John R Rd., Ste 108, Troy, MI 48083
Phone: (248) 588-7370
Fax: (248) 588-2650
Website: http://www.artictech.com
Product/s: Magnum 95; supports Windows 95/98.
Dolphin Computer Access
100 S. Ellsworth Ave., 4th fl., San Mateo, CA 94401
Phone: (650) 348-7401
Fax: (650) 348-7403
Website: http://www.dolphinusa.com
Product/s: Lunar (v.3.03); Supports Windows 95/98/NT.
Supernova (v.3.03); Supports Windows
95/98/NT and comes with Hal, a screen reader.
Henter-Joyce, Inc.
11800 31st Ct. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Phone: (800) 336-5658
Fax: (727) 803-8001
Website: http://www.hj.com
Product/s: MAGic for Windows NT (v.6.1); Supports Windows NT
and the screen reader JAWS.
Visionware Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 1676, Brookline, MA 02446
Phone: (617) 738-4757
Fax: (617) 566-4812
Website: http://www.largeprint.com
Since September of 1997 the American Foundation for the Blind
has published a series of product evaluations of full-featured
screen magnification programs ( Su and Uslan, 1998; Su, Uslan,
and Schnell, 1999; and Uslan and Su, 1997; Uslan, Su, and Hsu,
1999). While some of the products reviewed have undergone
revisions in the last six months, much of the published
information is still relevant. Other useful references include
the following:
"Enlarging the Windows 95 Desktop: Hints and Tips for
improving Screen Visibility," by John Lodge and published in
the December 1998/January 1999 issue of Closing the Gap
Microsoft's web site on Windows 98:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/download/ctg98w98nt5.txt
A web site on screen magnifiers:
http://www.plex.nl/~pverhoe
The next step should be to try out the products. Manufacturers
distribute demonstration disks free of charge and make them
available on their web sites. Since the various programs on the
market are relatively similar, it should not take long to get
to know them and compare their features. Trying out a screen
magnification program is also a good way to test for program
compatibility with your video card. Five features to consider
when evaluating and selecting a screen magnifier are
magnification, color and contrast, locating items on the
screen, ease of use, and synthetic speech capability.
In Windows 95 it is possible to enlarge some, but not all
on-screen items through Control Panel settings. Icons such as
Recycle Bin, My Computer, and the mouse pointer can be
magnified to about two times their original size. Windows 95
also provides a variety of mouse pointer shapes to help
identify it. However, making these setting changes entails
doing so without magnification. Windows 98 has added more size
options for the mouse pointer and Microsoft Magnifier, which
displays an enlarged (up to 12x) portion of any screen in a
separate window. It can be used to select settings in the
Control Panel, enabling users to make any setting changes with
magnification.
Full-featured screen magnification programs offer up to at
least 16x magnification and some offer considerably more
magnification. Most can magnify all screen items including the
mouse pointer, windows, icons, and buttons. Some allow for
selectively magnifying a portion of the screen, and some can
split the screen horizontally or vertically, so that one
portion is magnified and the other is not. Some full-featured
screen magnifiers offer "font smoothing," the ability to
smooth-out the jagged appearance of computer graphics and text.
Another common feature is "stretching," the ability to magnify
the screen display in the horizontal direction, which makes a
screen object appear wider, and in the vertical direction,
which makes an object appear taller.
Choosing colors and inverting colors, such as changing from
white on black or black on white is an important feature for
many low vision users. It is also helpful to be able to chose a
high contrast mode where, for instance, black is "more black"
and white is "more white."
Windows 95 provides 27 different preset color schemes for the
desktop and high contrast selections for some on-screen items,
including the title bar, pull down menus, and desktop
backgrounds.It also provides many colorful mouse pointers. It
is possible to set black on white and white on black on some
preset items on the screen, such as text and text background
and the menu bars. Widows 98 provides additional high-contrast
schemes for desktop and application environments. There are
also additional color options for the mouse pointer including
the ability to invert its color to opposite the background
color.
All full-featured screen magnifiers can invert foreground and
background in black and white and most can invert colors in the
Windows environment.
Windows 95 offers some help in finding the mouse pointer. It
is possible to slow it down, use a "sonar" feature whereby a
shrinking concentric circle identifies its location, and
activate a comet-like tail that traces its path. Windows 98
offers several higher-visibility mouse pointers.
Most full-featured screen magnifiers offer two unique options
for keeping track of where you are on the screen: tracking and
panning. Tracking allows users to jump to a location on the
screen when Windows event occurs, such as the opening of a
dialog box. For example, if the user is three screen displays
away from the center of a text document where a pop-up menu
occurs, it is possible to jump to the location of the menu
automatically. It is also possible to track the text cursor and
the mouse pointer. Panning allows for scrolling through lines
of text, or up and down a magnified page at a preset speed.
Using panning it is possible to read a cramped web page at high
magnification with relative ease.
Using Windows 95 access features requires knowing how to get
to them and how to activate them without magnification. For
example, changing icon size requires going into the Control
Panel, finding and clicking on the Display icon and then the
Appearance Tab, and cycling through the options until the
desired icon and size are found. Windows 98 offers an
Accessibility Wizard which greatly simplifies setting up
accessibility options. The user selects examples instead of
having to change numeric values or individual settings in the
Control Panel. If magnification is needed, Microsoft Magnifier
is available.
All full-featured screen magnifiers provide magnification when
selecting features. In general, they also provide shortcuts to
features such as using a keystroke to zoom in or out.
Specialized speech programs for blind users, or full-featured
screen readers, read text and can be customized to read control
buttons and specific items on the screen such as graphical
objects. Users can vary the amount of speech spoken for each
control and change the punctuation level of speech. However,
these programs are quite sophisticated, they can conflict with
screen magnifiers, and they have separate, often complex
command structures. Solutions offered by screen magnifiers
include integrating a simplified screen reader, integrating a
full-featured screen reader, and making sure that an existing
screen reader is fully compatible with the screen magnification
program.
Summary
When selecting a screen magnifier it pays to be deliberative.
Be aware of the accessibility features in Windows. Gather
information about the various products on the market and
consider how the products handle magnification, color and
contrast, locating items on the screen, ease of use, and speech
capability. Always try out the various products, comparing
similarities and differences and weighing benefits and
drawbacks.
References
Su, J.C. and Uslan, M.M., 1998a. A review of ZoomText Xtra
screen magnification program for Windows 95. Journal of Visual
Impairment and Blindness (JVIB), Vol. 92, No. 2, pp
116-119.
Su, J.C., Uslan, M.M., and Schnell, B., 1999. A review of
Supernova screen magnification program for Windows 95. Journal
of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVIB), Vol. 93, no.2, pp
108-110.
Uslan, M.M. and Su, J.C., 1997. A review of two screen
magnification programs for Windows 95:Magnum 95 and LP-Windows.
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness (JVIB), Vol. 91, No.
5,pp 9-12.
Uslan, M.M. and Su, J.C., and Hsu, C.Y., 1999. Product
Evaluation: Henter-Joyce's MAGic for Windows NT. AccessWorld,
preview issue, pp 1-6.
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