I blog quite a bit about acceptability and one of my favorite topics is the Firefox browser. One of the programmers who helps make Firefox such an accessible way to use the internet is a guy named Ken Saunders. And he is now famous. BusinessWeek featured Ken in a recent article, Mozilla’s Crowdsourcing Mystique...
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Finding accessibility add-ons for Firefox can be tricky. There is no add-on category for accessibility. Different searches yield different add-one. I have blogged about my favorite add-ons, but not everyone reads this blog. So I have put together all the accessibility related add-ons that I use inot one ‘collection‘, a new way to group...
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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...
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I downloaded the beta version of the next iteration of Google’s Chrome browser. The big accessibility improvement is the switch from text zoom to full page zoom. From the Zoom – Google Chrome Help page. If you’re using Google Chrome Beta, try out the new full-page zoom functionality. Go to the Page menu and select Zoom....
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I have collected all of the results of all my musings on and tinkering with internet accessibility in a new web page, Web Access, here on tim o’brien photos. Getting online is not always easy when you are visually impaired. Font sizes can be too small, images hard to see and colors hard to make...
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Last week, Google announced that its Book Search would be available for iPhone and other mobile device users. I like to read, so I thought I would see how it works and how accessible it is. I looked at another e-book reader, Stanza, in an earlier post, so I will look at the differences. As...
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Yesterday’s post on iPhone zooming gave me an idea for an interesting zoom feature for Firefox. Since I am no programmer, I thought I would trhow it out there and hope the idea catches on. The idea is based on a neat iPhone zoom feature. As I noted yesterday, if you double tap on a...
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Image Zoom is one of my favorite Firefox accessibility extensions. In Access the Web!, I extolled the virtues of this little program. Image Zooma allows you to zoom an image in and out while it stays in place. There is no need to open it up in another window or to download it. Image...
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There is no need to take the web as it comes. Fonts too small to read, color schemes that make you squint, bright white backgrounds that scream for you sunglasses, images too small to make out. These issues can be solved. You can take control. Changing colors, fonts and image size is no longer...
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Following up on my earlier post about the lack of accessible Vista themes and my current feelings on standard internet color schemes, I posted the following to the accessible Google Group: Alternative Google Color Schemes – accessible | Google Groups< For the visually impaired, Google’s (as well as MS and most websites) color scheme is downright...
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To continue the theme of useful Firefox extensions, I also find myself using Image Zoom all the time. This extension adds another option to the context menu (the one that pops up when you use the right click button). With it installed, you have the option to increase the size of the image (i.e....
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Having just moved to a new computer, I have been installing software and making the system more accessible. In trying to find all the little ways to make Firefox more accessible, I ran across this website, AccessFirefox.org. They do a remarkable job of collecting all the Firefox themes ans extensions that help make Firefox...
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Firefox has a number of large icon themes, available here. They are easy to install and to change if you do not find them useful. If you find this post useful or interesting, please consider buying me a cup of coffee.
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To follow up on my last post, I thought I would show the ways to increase font size in Firefox. The first way is to select Text Size from the View menu, then click on Increase Font Size on the submenu that appears. For me, I need to increase the font size substantially, so...
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Firefox is a recently released alternative to Internet Explorer. Firefox is open source, meaning that Firefox and its underlying computer code are publicly available for free. It has a reputation for better security (less viruses, etc.) and better adherence to WWW standards (websites display more nicely). In terms of ease of access, I find that...
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