I find that when I am trying to read very small sized text the free LED light app can be incredibly useful. It can act as a torch and also has a flashing option and SOS setting!. Just double tap the touch screen to turn it on providing you are not using VoiceOver – when you have select the icon first and then double tap. The menu items can be read back with voice. The battery drains pretty quickly if the light is used for too long.
Jane – Researcher
“I use the free university iPhone bus timetable and map app when I am in a hurry and need to find my way about. It also has my timetable and modules.”
Nicole – Engineering
“A problem of using a laptop in class can be the light given off by the laptop’s display. I found sitting at the back of the class stopped a lot of this unwanted attention, but this also had the disadvantage that you might not be able to see/hear what the lecturer was saying. Instead, I found a simple remedy which is free. 99% of laptops have the ability to dim the screen’s brightness, either by using the function keys (FN + F6 & F7 on some laptops) or from the graphics display properties available in control panel – under the display settings. Some laptops also offer dimming as part of the Power options in Windows.
Dim laptop screen
By dimming the screen you will reduce glare – reducing eyestrain, reduce unwanted attention and will also save your laptops batteries from being drained – advantages all round!”
Jim – Information Technology in Organisations
“I would like to see a strip highlighter for text with and without TTS. It would highlight a line but the user needs to have the choice of how many lines can be highlighted. I don’t use any strategies like this at the moment but I have worked with individuals who are VI [visually impaired] and use similar strategies for reading.”
ClaroRead and TextHelp Read and Write can be used with the text to speech turned off and just use the settings for highlighted words, phrases and sentences.
However, if you do not need text to speech then there is the option to use an overlay such as the Claro screen ruler separate from ClaroRead or the free FX software T-bar, which is also available in Arabic.
Anirban – Computer Science
“I use Inspiration for mapping out topics then add keywords and explanations, perhaps with the different verb endings – Then I have a paper based colour coding system when I am revising that highlights those endings.”
Becky – Medieval Renaissance Culture.
“I have discovered that the Kobo e-reader can open protected (DRM’d) epubs from libraries. They are synced by connecting the device to a PC with Adobe Digital Editions installed. But as far as I know it has no TTS.”
The Kobo wifi has adjustable fonts and views but these can depend on the book that has been downloaded.
Using the free Calibre ebook management service is another alternative when documents need to be converted to an accessible format
Neil – Psychology