Summary of course taken

Hello, I'm Andy, I work for ECS, as well as study here on an MSc course that includes a module about assistive technology and web accessibility so I have become more involved in the LexDis project than I anticipated! I am working on the delivery side of the database to the website so that users can browse and search for items of interest related to the student issues and strategies. I have also been involved in making the Flash audio and video player accessible. My eyesight is poor, so most of the strategies I have devised are to compensate for this.

Description of strategies used.

I tend to customise my computers to use text labels rather than the images of items as I’ve no idea what they are, not being able to see the small ones. In some applications you can display balloons or menu buttons as either pictures or text. Certainly like FireFox and Web Browser where it says Back and Forward in text, rather than just pictures. I tend to have all my windows as icons, again coming from a Mac background I’m used to that and I have the pointer larger with mouse trails.

My learning process is still just the same despite using some assistive technologies, the text just needs to be a bit bigger so that I can read it. I find it easier to read off paper than I do a computer screen, because I think it’s eye strain and tiredness from looking at a bright screen too long. Having been to the assistive technology lectures, I’m seriously considering changing my text backgrounds to a pale blue rather than bright white, to see if that makes life any easier.

In most cases I leave icons as they are, but sometimes I make them a bit larger and I have the pointer larger with mouse trails. But I am more concerned with the text. I make it bigger than normal depending on the work but I usually aim for between 18 and 24 point text – pretty large. I have a large monitor which reduces scrolling. I can view Word documents on my wide screen with 200% zoom and have it fit left to right on screen – a 20 inch wide screen. That resolution allows me to look at a Word document. You still have to scroll up and down, but at least you don’t have to scroll left and right as well.

When I started work here I had a Microsoft Natural keyboard on the desk, and frankly I find it remarkably comfortable to use. I’m very happy with it. When I came to get my new computer with a new keyboard, I wanted another Microsoft Natural with it despite the fact that I now have a Mac! I got used to it. Because it’s a Windows keyboard, put into an Apple Macintosh – it doesn’t have a Windows key.I swapped them round, I use bright yellow stickers for labelling important keys and 'mapped' others so they fit the Mac commands.

When it comes to going on-line I use MSN, FaceBook and LiveJournal. I use wikis, a blog on LiveJournal, and that sort of thing. Not that I post much, but yes, I’ve got one. I have played with most of the toys on Google and used Google Scholar for finding research papers, and the Google Sets Tool where you specify a short list of things and it will fill in the gaps. I mostly use if for generating the host names for the undergraduate lab pcs.

Again, the vast majority of this stuff is things that I found out myself. From a young age I could find my way around computers. It doesn’t occur to me to look for this information. I’m not afraid to poke all the buttons and click all the settings and see what things do. I know I’m not going to break it and I can always reinstall it. An example is the accessibility tools I have added for this Flash player so it can be used for the LexDis Project.

I usually try to say to people, " Try not to be afraid of them – and fiddle around with the settings. You are very unlikely to do anything wrong, or do any permanent damage! "