Windows Accessibility

Is your text on you screen too small? Would you like your computer to read text back to you? Did you know XP comes with a magnifier? We explore the answers to all of these questions and more. Most operating systems come equipped with a wide variety of accessibility options. Below you will find tips and how to use them.

Accessibility and Windows XP

Accessibility options for Microsoft XP can be accessed by going to the accessibility wizard. You reach this going through the following steps:

1. Click the Start button
2. Hover over All Programs
3. Hover over Accessories
4. Hover over Accessibility

This brings up the list of accessibility options available for XP. The options are the accessibility wizard, the magnifier, the narrator, the on screen keyboard, and the utility manager. We will cover these options in more detail below.

Accessibility Wizard

The accessibility wizard will run through a series of simple questions. The first question involves text size. Selecting "Use large window titles and menus" will simply enlarge the text slightly. Many users that have trouble seeing will want to select "Use Microsoft Magnifier and large titles and menus." This will make the the text much larger and will also bring up the options for the magnifier.

The Magnifier has six options to change settings so that they are easy to use. To enable one of these options simply click the box to the left of the option. A green check mark will appear to show that this option has been activated. These individual options for the Magnifier are:

Tracking

* Follow mouse cursor: This setting will prompt the magnifying window at the top of the screen to display whatever is being hovered over the mouse.
* Follow keyboard focus: This setting will prompt the magnifying window to display any keyboard actions. For example, if you hit enter to complete a task, the magnifying window will display that screen element.
* Follow text editing: This is a very handy accessibility option. With this box checked the magnifying window will automatically follow any typing you do in an application such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works or other word processing software.

Presentation

* Invert colors: This option simply inverts colors. Checking this box will turn black to white and vice versa
* Start minimized: Checking this option will set the Magnifier to stay minimized when it is activated.
* Show magnifier: This setting controls whether or not the magnifying window is displayed at the top of the screen

As with everything, practice makes perfect you will become more comfortable with these options with experience.