The first step to making a computer more accessible is to make everything on the screen bigger. This involves tricks like lowering the rsolution, zooming and using large fonts. These adjustments definitely increase readability and overall usability.
There is a cost. Screen real estate becomes more valuable. Even larger monitors experience this problem. I use a widescreen monitor. Thee costs are particularly high with this type of monitor. Taskbars and toolbars take up large amounts of vertical space, squeezing the usable vertical screen space to a narrow strip.
One solution is to use full screen mode. Many applications offer this as an option. Internet browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer, have this option hidden in one of their menus. Most photo editors also offer this feature. Below is a screen shot of Firefox in full screen mode. Clearly, thereis substantial reclaimed screen real estate.
Firefox Full Screen Mode
Here is how to access the full screen mode on some common applications on Windows Vista:
- Firefox: Full Screen on the View menu or F11
- Internet Explorer: Full Screen on the Tools menu or F11
- Open Office: Full Screen on the View menu or Ctrl+Shift+J
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