Usability
IntroWeb page text too small to read? Look for the ‘triple-A’ font-sizing widget!
Last modified on 2011-10-28 19:09:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
This is a screen shot of the 'Triple-A' widget for adjusting text font size on a web page.
As we age our eyes tend to become farsighted which makes it harder to read things close to us (such as books and computer screens). That’s why popular magazines such as Readers Digest are available in large print editions.
Thanks to the talent of Web programmers, we can now get the same benefit on many websites.
Keep your eyes open for the Triple-A tool (my term, I don’t know what it’s called officially). It’s often in the upper right corner of the web page. Clicking the first ‘A’ (on the left) will ordinarily not change the text size- it’s usually the same size as the text on the page.
Clicking the middle ‘A’ will increase text size to the Medium size. And clicking the far right ‘A’ will produce the largest text. To go back to Medium, just click the middle ‘A’ again; the left ‘A’ takes you back to the original (default) size. (The terms Medium and Large are used here as relative terms in relationship to the original (default) size. They will vary in point size from web page to web page, depending on the default size of the page originally.)
The examples below were from a recent visit to WebMD. Notice that even though the text of the article increases, the remaining text in the window remains the same size.
Figure 1- Original (small) size text
This is the original size of the text in the article. It is the Small size.
Figure 2- This is the Medium size text
This shows the original (small) text enlarged to the Medium size.
Figure 3- This is the Large size text
This is the Medium text enlarged to Large.
Note to Web designers, accessibility experts, etc.: This post is directed to end users, those who are coming upon pages with this feature and don’t know what to do with it. I realize that (a) most modern browsers have similar functionality buried somewhere within their menus; and that (b) the font-sizing widgets often are not programmed correctly to give the sizing needed by someone who truly needs text magnification.
Experiencing ‘blindness’ for an hour
Last modified on 2011-10-28 19:10:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
This is a short video from CNN. It shows a special demonstration room in which a blind guide helps sighted guests to get a better understanding of what living as a blind person is like.
