Thread: Configure Easy of Access Center in Vista

For anyone with visibility, mobility or hearing difficulties using a computer can be tricky. Previous wersions of Windows included some accessibility features, like the high- contrast colour schemes to make displayed items easier to see,but Vista's Ease of Access Center includes more options than ever before. Moreover, it provides one central location from which they can all be accessed. In this Workshop we'll explain how to use each of these tools and show how they can make a computer much easier to use. It is possible to configure options to suit individual requirements or enable Vista to use the settings it thinks are best based on a short questionnaire.

STEP 1
OPEN WINDOWS VISTA'S CONTROL:- Panel by clicking the Start button followed by the Control Panel link. In the pane to the left of the Control Panel window, click the Classic View link so that all available utilities are visible and then double-click the Ease of Access Center entry. Perhaps the easiest way to configure accessibility options is to click the link labelled 'Get recommendations to make your computer easier to use'.A five-stage questionnaire is used to determine which accessibility options should be enabled.

STEP 2

THE various tools and options, head down to the 'Explore all settings' section in the lower half of the dialogue box.To customise Vista for use by someone with visibility problems, click the 'Use the computer without a display' link. By ticking all the option boxes, Windows can be made to read out on¬screen text as it appears,as well a disabling potentially-distracting animation effects. Use the dropdown menu to indicate how long Windows should display notification dialogues.

STEP 3

has been selected, it is possible to preview how dialogues will sound when they are read out and also customise the speed of the speech. Click the link labelled Set up Text to Speech and click the Preview Voice button to hear a speech sample -the default text can be change by simply typing into the text box. By moving the slider in the lower portion ofthe dialogue to the left or right, voice speed can be adjusted to make it easier to hear.

STEP 4

BACK AT THE EASE of Access Center, click the'Make the computer easier to see' link.The first option makes it possible to quick switch to a high-contrast colour scheme by pressing the left Shift, Alt and Print Screen keys simultaneously. Note thatthe result may look odd to users with good vision. From here, the Narrator tool can also be enabled. At the bottom ofthis screen, the blinking cursor can be made thicker and therefore easier to see, while the options to disable animations and background images can remove unwanted distractions .

STEP 5
IN THE CENTRE OF this screen click the link labelled 'Change the size oftext and icons'to adjust the dots-per-inch (DPI) scaling Windows uses to draw various on-screen objects. Initially there is a choice between the default setting of96dpi,and the slightly larger 120dpi. Click the Custom DPI button and other sizes can be chosen, either by making a selection from the dropdown menu or by clicking a point on the ruler and dragging it to the left or right.A preview of new text sizes is displayed .

STEP 6

TO SET UP VISTA with alternative input methods, click the'Use the computer without a mouse or keyboard' link in the Ease of Access Center. Tick the box to enable the on-screen keyboard or if the preference is to control Windows using a microphone, click the Use Speech Recognition Iink.The dialogue that appears can then be used to configure a microphone and to train Windows to recognise the user's voice. For a guide to common commands, click the Open the Speech Reference Card link.

STEP 7

IF YOU FIND THE mouse pointer difficult to see, or the mouse hard to control then, back in the Ease of Access Center, click the 'Make the mouse easier to use'link.At the top of the dialogue box, there are a number of high-visibility cursor options to choose from and by enabling the Mouse Keys options, keyboard cursor keys can be used to control mouse movement.To reduce the amount of clicking, select the option
labelled 'Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.

STEP 8

TO AID KEYBOARD ACTIVITIES, click the'Make the keyboard easier to use'link.A feature called Mouse Keys can also be enabled here, which means the mouse pointer can be moved using the arrow (cursor) keys on the keyboard's numeric pad. Sticky Keys can also be activated here, making it easier to execute certain keyboard shortcuts. Use the Filter Keys option to ignore repeated keystrokes¬useful for those with mobility problems - and enable Toggle Keys to play an audible alert when keys such as Caps Lock are pressed. Keyboard options such as key repeat rate can be configured by clicking the Keyboard settings link .•

STEP 9

VISTA USERS WITH HEARING problems may not find sound effects particularly useful. Click the 'Use text or visual alternatives for sounds'and tick the first box so that Windows will display a visual warning when a system sound is played. Below this it is possible to choose an additional action to draw attention to the alert, such as flashing the Taskbar or even flashing the entire Windows Desktop. A few special programs include captioned dialogue - tick the bottom checkbox to activate this if available.

STEP 10

HAVING CHOSEN THE ACCESSIBILITY options, return to the starting screen of the Ease of Access Center and click the Change administrative setting link in the pane to the left. By ticking the box in this section, the settings which have been chosen will be applied from the moment the logon screen appears rather than waiting until a user account has been selected. When the logon screen loads, accessibility options can be accessed by clicking the Ease of Access button.