|
Tips for Making Your PC More Accessible
Tiny text and mouse clicks begone! With these tricks, you can
customize your computer display and toggle between windows like
a pro.
These tips are for PCs running Windows. Apple has some great
Macintosh
accessibility tips on its website. Additionally, Microsoft
has extensive Windows
accessibility documentation for individuals with physical
and cognitive impairments on its website.
Contents:
Making your e-mail text bigger
Making text bigger in your web browser
Slowing down the mouse
Keyboard shortcuts
Using StickyKeys
Jumping between open programs using Alt+Tab
Assistive technology
If you are having difficulty increasing the font (print) size of your
e-mails or using any other accessibility features (e.g., sticky keys), you may
need to access your e-mail through what is called an "e-mail client" (e.g.,
Outlook Express or Eudora) rather than going directly through a web-based
e-mail service such as "Hotmail.
To find alternate
ways of reading your e-mail, contact your e-mail service.
Making your e-mail text bigger
The text of your e-mail messages can be made larger by performing
the following steps.
In Outlook:
- Go to the Tools menu.
- Select Options.
- Click the Fonts... button.
- Under When composing and reading plain text:
click the Choose Font... button .
- Choose a larger size.
Making text bigger in your browser
The text on most web pages can be made larger by performing the
following steps. Try it on this page!
In Internet Explorer:
- Go to the View menu.
- Select Text Size.
- Choose a larger size.
In Netscape Navigator 4.x and earlier:
- Go to the View menu.
- Select Increase font.
- Repeat until the font is large enough.
In Netscape 6:
- Go to the View menu.
- Select Text Size.
- Choose a larger size (for example, 200%).
Slowing down the mouse
You can slow the speed of your mouse in Windows by doing the
following:
- Go to the Start menu.
- Select Settings.
- Select Control Panel.
- Choose Mouse.
- Click on the Motion tab. (Every mouse has different
properties. So, if you don't have a Motion tab, try clicking
on each tab until you find Pointer Speed.)
- Move the Pointer Speed slider toward Slow.
- You also have the option of adding pointer trails to
help you follow the mouse's path.
Keyboard shortcuts
Many programs provide shortcut keys for popular commands so that
you don't have to use your mouse. Shortcuts are listed in the
menus next to the command (see picture below).
Example: Most programs will let you type Ctrl+N
(meaning hold down the Control key while pressing N)
to open a new document.
Additionally, most commands and menus can be accessed with the
Alt key and a particular letter. Look at the menu bar at
the top of this window: see how some of the commands' letters
are underlined? Holding down Alt and that letter will open
that menu.
Example: To open the File menu, type Alt+F.
While the menu is open, type Alt+S to save the current
page.
Using StickyKeys
If you have trouble holding down multiple keys at once (like
Ctrl and S), you can turn on the StickyKeys
option to press one key at a time.
1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Control Panel.
4. Select Accessibility Options.
5. Check the Use StickyKeys box.
6. You also have the option to make your computer ignore brief,
repeated keystrokes (FilterKeys) and play a sound when
you hit CapsLock, NumLock, or ScrollLock (ToggleKeys).
Jumping between open programs using
Alt+Tab
You can jump between open programs without using your mouse by
holding down the Alt and Tab keys at the same time.
When you do, you'll see a box with icons:
While holding down Alt, press Tab multiple times
to move the blue rectangle from icon to icon. The name of the
selected program will appear. When you let go of Alt, the
program whose icon you selected will be in front.
Assistive technology
Many devices are available to magnify your screen, read the content
of pages, and allow voice input. Microsoft has a
catalogue
of many vendors' products on its website.
|
