Screen magnifying software

Due to screen magnification, scrolling may be required to view all elements of EMPOWWORD Inc, web pages. Visitors using magnifying software please note that the navigation panel is to the left of the website pages.

The links may be used to access additional information, relevant to the subject of the page or section of the website, or to obtain further help in finding information within the website.

Browsers

The website can be viewed across a wide range of browsers.

We recommend Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.5 or 6.0 to take full advantage of all our website's facilities.

The site will also work with the Gecko based family of browsers including Mozilla and Netscape versions 6 - 7.

The site is optimised for a screen resolution of 800 x 600.

Changing browser settings to suit you - Internet Explorer

Font size and colour

To ensure that website fonts and colours are optimised for accessibility:

• on the 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'
• on the 'General' tab, click on 'Accessibility'
• click in each of the three boxes to show ticks
• click 'OK'

Changing font

Text in a font such as Arial is easier to read than one such as Times New Roman. To change the text font:

• on the 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'
• on the 'General' tab, click 'Fonts'
• in the 'Web page font' and 'Plain text font' lists, choose the fonts you would like to use
• click 'OK'

Enlarging text

• on the 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'
• on the 'General' tab, click 'Accessibility'
• tick the 'Ignore font sizes specified on web pages' check box
• click 'OK'
• on the 'View' menu click 'Text Size'
• choose the size of text

Changing font and background colours

As a result of the fonts, typefaces and background colours used in web page design, you may find some text difficult to read. You can however choose settings to suit you. A distinct contrast can be achieved using black text on a yellow background. To change the text and background colours:

• on the 'Tools' menu, click 'Internet Options'
• on the 'General' tab, click 'Colours'
• deselect the 'Use Windows Colours' tick box
• select the box next to 'Text' and choose a colour
• click 'OK'
• select the box next to 'Background' and choose a colour
• click 'OK'

To prevent graphics from appearing on web pages:

• under 'Tools', click 'Internet Options'
• on the 'Advanced' tab, scroll down to the 'Multimedia' heading
• click on the graphics options ('animations', 'videos', 'pictures' and 'images') to remove the ticks
• click on 'Apply', and then click on 'OK'

Should graphics still appear, select 'View' then 'Refresh' from the toolbar, or press F5.

To change the size of the window:

• click 'View' then 'Full Screen' from the toolbar, or press F11

There are other options to tailor web pages that help make them easier to read. These may be found under the 'Tools' menu:

• click on 'Internet Options'
• select the 'Advanced' tab
• choose from the options available to improve visibility

For Netscape Communicator

To make any changes to your browser settings, you should first open the 'Preferences' box by clicking on 'Edit' and selecting 'Preferences'. You may then choose to make any of the changes listed below.

To change the text font:

• click on 'Appearance'
• click 'Font'
• choose the 'Variable Width Font' and 'Fixed Width Font' you want to use
• click 'OK'

If you want to set these fonts for all future usage on your browser, click on 'Use my default fonts overriding document specified fonts'.

To change the text and background colours:

• click on 'Appearance'
• click 'Colours'
• select the box next to 'Text' and choose a colour
• click 'OK'
• select the box next to 'Background' and choose a colour
• click 'OK'
• click 'OK' again to close 'Preferences'

To set these colours as your browser default, click on 'Always use my colours, overriding document'.

To prevent images from loading on web pages:

• select 'Advanced'
• click in the box marked 'Automatically load images' to remove the tick
• click 'OK'

For further assistance in changing your browser settings, there is also a 'Help' menu on your browser toolbar. Please refer to this for further information.

Access software

The following list is not in any way exhaustive - it simply provides links to some of the products currently available. A search (e.g. via Google) for terms such as "screen reader software", "screen magnification software", "text browsers", etc, will provide links to many other products.

Note that many of the following products are only available in versions designed to run within the Windows operating system.

Virtual Magnifying Glass 3.2.1 Virtual Magnifying Glass, a free, open source, screen magnification program for Windows. Download your free copy of the Magnifying Glass by Clicking this link and choosing a download site

HELP Read™ freeware is a program developed by the Hawaii Education Literacy Project (HELP) and distributed freely over the internet. This program can uses a text-to-speech synthesizer and can read text files, web pages, e-books, and text in the windows clipboard. System Requirements:: PC computer with Windows 3.1 or later, at least 4MB RAM, at least 2 MB hard disk space, and a sound card and speakers.

• HELP Read

ReadPlease 2003 Text-to-Speech Program.

ReadPlease is free software for Windows that can read text copied from text in any window. The ReadPlease display allows customization of background color, font style and color, and a slider bar to control text size.

System Requirements: PC computer with Windows 95 or later; a sound card and speakers. ;

• Information about ReadPlease.
• Download ReadPlease 2003 (Free Version)
• Free MP3 Sound Recorder. Record and save speech from ReadPlease to MP3 files playable on any computer.
• Download Extra Languages. Available languages include French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese, as well as British-pronunciation English.

Website help

If you have experienced a technical problem using this site, please e-mail our web helpdesk at sandi@empowword.on.ca.