Magnifier In Windows 7
Can't Read Small Text on your Monitor?
Accessibility Tools: Magnifier
The magnifier is one of Windows 7 most underused accessibility tools. The tool is actually so underutilized and unknown that there are actually physical physical magnifying screens that connects to the monitor. They can be found here. One simple check and play-through with the accessibility tool however will make you realize how easy it is to magnify your screen without changing the physical aspects of your computing space.
What does it do?
It does exactly what you think it would do. It simply magnifies an area on your screen by a certain percentage. You can magnify the entire screen, a portion of the screen, or use your mouse as if you were holding a magnifying glass over particular region.
How do I access the magnifier?
The most simple and common way to access the Magnifier tool is to use the start menu. Click start, and type in "Magnifier" into the "Search Programs And Files" search box.
Students Can't See The Board from the Back of the Classroom?
Use the magnifier on anything that is too small for students to see from the back of the room. This is great for students who cannot see from far away, but you have to sit them in certain places due to other behaviors.
Before 100%
Changing to 200%
Result with mouse pointer hovering over certain position.
Want to show that something is important? Zoom in!
Showing importance of a particular idea or concept in class by zooming in is also a great way of using this tool. This is especially pertinent in mathematics class. For calculus, you can easily zoom on and highlight areas such as the second derivative or first to provide emphasis on these characteristics in particular.
What types of options are there?
VIEWS
You can easily magnify the view up to 1600% by clicking the plus sign and conversely zooming out by clicking the minus sign. The types of views are
- Fullscreen- Magnifies the entire screen.
- Lens - Follows your mouse pointer.
- Docked- Shows the magnified portion only at the top margin of your monitor.
SETTINGS
There are many settings the user can tweak to get the desired result that they want. These settings are
- Following the mouse pointer.
- Following the keyboard focus
- Following the text insertion point.
- How much the view changes when zooming in or out.
- Control whether magnifier starts when your computer turns on.
Video Description
For a comprehensive video walk through of the magnifier and its options, please click here.