Computer accessibility Ease of Access Center and accessibility for the visually-impaired
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This article, Computer accessibility, was last updated on 11 April 2009 and is now out of date and held in our online archive for reference. Explore our latest Technology articles.
Windows Vista's Ease of Access Center
Windows Vista has a feature called the Ease of Access Center.
Using Vista's Ease of Access you can easily tweak or customise your computer's accessibility settings.
A computer's accessibility settings are designed to make the computer easier to use for people with disabilities, such as visually-impaired people, hearing impaired people or those with limited dexterity.
To launch the Ease of Access Center click Start > Control Panel and then select Ease of Access Center.
This will launch a separate dialogue box.
Computer accessibility for visually-impaired people
Make text easier to read on your PC
Those who have difficulty reading small fonts might like to increase the size of text on-screen.
To make text easier to read, go to the Ease of Access Center, and click the blue link marked Make the computer easier to see.
Scroll down and click the blue link marked Change the size of text and icons. If a User Account Panel warning box appears, click Continue.
Under the box called DPI Scaling select Larger Scale (120 DPI) – make text more readable > OK and restart your computer.
Voice recognition for the visually impaired
Windows Vista also includes speech recognition, which enables you to open applications, surf the web, dictate text, fill in forms or navigate Windows without the need for a keyboard or mouse.
The tool will come to ‘learn’ your voice the more you use it, so its accuracy should improve over time. You’ll need speakers and a microphone or headset.
To use Vista’s built-in speech recognition tools go to Start > Control Panel > Speech Recognition Options.
The first time you use speech recognition, you will need to set up your microphone, so click Set up Microphone to launch the wizard that will help you get started.
Once you have read out a test sentence and tweaked the volume, the microphone is ready to use.
To improve the accuracy of speech recognition you will now need to click Take Speech Tutorial to learn how to use it.
Magnify images and text for those with poor eyesight
The Magnifier is a virtual magnifying glass and is helpful for tasks such as typing documents or reading a news story online.
To turn it on, go to the Ease of Access Center and click Start Magnifier. The Magnifier box that appears lets you adjust certain settings, including scale of magnification and the location of the magnified content.
If you keep the box next to Follow Mouse Cursor ticked, the magnifier will enlarge the area around your mouse pointer.
Close the Magnifier box to exit the magnifying mode.
Audio alerts
Visually impaired people can use a narrator on their computer, which describes what is on screen and will even read aloud.
From the main Ease of Access Center screen, click on Start Narrator.
The Narrator box will appear; click Exit to leave the mode.
Once you've tried this feature, if you like it, you may want to consider buying dedicated screen reader software to interpret the information on screen.
High contrast for better visibility
The high contrast setting changes the colour scheme to display Windows in high-contrast, high-visibility mode (for example a white text on black background).
To change your display to high contrast mode, first go to the Ease of Access Center and then click Set up High Contrast at the top of the screen.
Click the blue Choose a High Contrast Color Scheme link.
In the resulting dialogue box, choose one of the pre-set schemes under the heading colour scheme. Click Apply and then OK.