PC User 1998 October/Image.iso/utils/win31/adapting/WW0787.TXT

Text File | 1998-01-09 | 25.2 KB | 574 lines

======================================================================
  Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)
 WW0787: CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS(TM) 3.1 AND 3.11 FOR INDIVIDUALS
                        WITH DISABILITIES
======================================================================
                                                   Revision Date: 5/94
                                                      No Disk Included

The following information applies to Microsoft Windows, versions 3.1
and 3.11.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY     |
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| the use of this Application Note. This Application Note may be      |
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|                                                                     |
| Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Microsoft Corporation.  All Rights          |
| Reserved.                                                           |
| BallPoint, Microsoft, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and      |
| Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.                    |
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|---------------------------------------------------------------------|


         CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
         =====================================================

This Application Note provides information about the following
products and services available for computer users with disabilities:

 - Support services for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing

 - Access Pack for Microsoft Windows, a product that makes Windows
   more accessible for people with movement or hearing disabilities

 - Keyboard layouts designed for people who type with a single hand or
   wand

 - Microsoft Mouse driver version 9.0

 - Microsoft documentation on audio cassettes and floppy disks

 - Products available for individuals who are blind or have low vision

 - Help installing Windows

 - Customizing Windows without additional hardware or software

 - More information about products and services for people with
   disabilities

    NOTE: The information in this Application Note applies to Windows
    users in the United States only. If you are outside the United
    States, your Windows package contains a subsidiary information card
    listing product support telephone numbers and addresses. Contact
    your subsidiary to find out whether the types of products and
    services described in this Application Note are available in your
    area.


 MICROSOFT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD-OF-HEARING
 =====================================================================

Through text telephone (TT/TDD) services, Microsoft provides people
who are deaf or hard-of-hearing with the same technical product
support and customer service as hearing customers.

For sales information and nontechnical customer service, you can
contact Microsoft Consumer Sales on a text telephone at [phone]
between 6:30 A.M. and 5:30 P.M. Pacific time. For technical
assistance, you can contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS)
on a text telephone at [phone] between 6:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.
Pacific time. Microsoft support services are subject to Microsoft
prices, terms, and conditions in place at the time the service is
used.


                   ACCESS PACK FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS
                   =================================

Microsoft distributes Access Pack for Microsoft Windows, which
provides people who have movement or hearing disabilities with better
access to computers running Windows. With Access Pack for Microsoft
Windows, you can configure your Windows system to do the following:

 - Allow easier use of SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT key combinations for
   people who type with a single finger, a mouthstick, or a wand.

 - Ignore accidental key presses.

 - Adjust or disable the rate at which a character is repeated on the
   screen when you hold down a key.

 - Prevent extra characters if you unintentionally press a key more
   than once.

 - Allow you to use the keyboard to control the mouse cursor.

    NOTE: If you use this feature with Microsoft Paintbrush, your
    system stops responding (hangs). To work around this problem, use
    Paintbrush keyboard commands. For more information, run Paintbrush
    and press F1--each specific task help topic has information on the
    keyboard equivalent for the mouse action.

 - Allow you to use an alternate input device to control the
   computer's keyboard and mouse.

 - Provide a visual cue when a computer makes sounds.

 - Enable you to turn off these services for people who do not need
   them.

Access Pack for Microsoft Windows, which was developed by the Trace
R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is available on
the Microsoft Windows Driver Library in the file ACCP.EXE.

If you have a modem, you can download Windows Driver Library
components from network services, including CompuServe(R), GEnie(TM),
Microsoft Online, various user-group bulletin board services (BBSs)
(including BBSs on the Association of PC User Groups [APCUG] network),
and the Microsoft Download Service (MSDL). The MSDL is available seven
days a week from 2:30 A.M. to 1:00 A.M. at (206) 936-MSDL (936-6735).
The modem settings are:

   1200,n,8,1
   2400,n,8,1
   9600,n,8,1 (V.32, V.32bis, V.42, V.42bis)
   14,400,n,8,1 (V.32, V.32bis, V.42, V.42bis)

     NOTE: If you cannot connect with 14,400, lower the bits per second
     to 9600 and try again.

Customers who do not have a modem can obtain disks by calling PSS at
[phone] (voice telephone) or [phone] (text telephone).


           KEYBOARD LAYOUTS FOR SINGLE-HANDED COMPUTER USERS
          ==================================================

Microsoft distributes software to modify your keyboard layout. These
keyboard layouts can be useful for people who have difficulty using
the standard QWERTY layout. You can use these drivers to change your
keyboard configuration without adjusting your physical keyboard.

Windows has built-in support for the two-handed Dvorak keyboard
layout, which may be useful for preventing or coping with some types
of repetitive motion injuries associated with typing. To use this
layout, choose the International icon in Control Panel. Two additional
layouts are designed for people who type with the left hand only or
with the right hand only. These layouts can also be useful for people
who type with a single finger or a wand.

The single-handed layouts are included with the PSS Application Note
GA0650, "Dvorak Keyboard Layouts." If you have a modem, you can
download GA0650 from the network services listed in the previous
section. The filename is GA0650.ZIP, except on MSDL, where this
Application Note is available in the self-extracting file GA0650.EXE.

Customers who do not have a modem can obtain GA0650 by calling
Microsoft Consumer Sales at [phone] (voice telephone) or (800)
892-5234 (text telephone).


                  MICROSOFT MOUSE DRIVER VERSION 9.0
                  ==================================

If you have trouble seeing the mouse when you are moving it and you
are using the Microsoft Mouse or the Microsoft BallPoint(R) Mouse, you
can upgrade to version 9.0 of the Microsoft Mouse driver. The optional
utilities included with the 9.0 Microsoft Mouse driver offer the
following features:

 - Larger pointer sizes--You can choose a small, medium, or large
   pointer size.

 - Larger I-beam pointer--The I-beam pointer is larger than the
   regular I-beam.

 - Pointer growth--You can make the pointer increase to the large
   pointer size when you begin to move the mouse.

 - Cursor color choice--You can choose a white, black, or transparent
   mouse pointer.

 - Snap-To--You can configure the mouse pointer to jump to the default
   button when a dialog box opens.

 - Locate--You can make the mouse pointer jump to the middle of the
   screen when you press a specified control key and mouse button.

 - Sensitivity--You can independently adjust the vertical and
   horizontal sensitivity. This can be useful for people whose control
   or range differs for vertical and horizontal movement.

 - Orientation--You can customize the mouse orientation. This can be
   useful for people who need or want to hold the mouse at a
   particular angle.

    NOTE: Mouse driver version 9.0 and the optional utilities mentioned
    above are included with Microsoft Mouse version 2.0.

If you own a Microsoft Mouse, you can order the version 9.0 driver by
calling Microsoft Consumer Sales at [phone] (voice telephone)
or [phone] (text telephone). There is a charge for the version
9.0 driver.


           DOCUMENTATION ON AUDIO CASSETTES AND FLOPPY DISKS
          ==================================================

People who cannot use printed documentation can obtain many of
Microsoft's publications from Recording for the Blind, Inc. (RFB). RFB
distributes these documents on audio cassettes and floppy disks to
registered members of its distribution service. RFB's collection
contains more than 80,000 titles, including Microsoft product
documentation and books from Microsoft Press. You can contact
Recording for the Blind at the following address and phone and fax
numbers:

   Recording for the Blind, Inc.
   20 Roszel Road
   Princeton, NJ  08540

   [phone]  Voice telephone
   [phone]  Fax


       PRODUCTS FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE BLIND OR HAVE LOW VISION
       =========================================================

If you are blind or have low vision, many products are available to
help you use Windows. For persons with low vision, there are several
screen-enlargement utilities. For blind individuals, there are screen
readers that provide alternative output by synthesized voice or
refreshable Braille displays.

For more information on the products available, see the "Getting More
Information" section of this Application Note. For more information
about customizing Windows for individuals with low vision, see the
"Customizing Windows Without Additional Hardware or Software" section
below.


                        HELP INSTALLING WINDOWS
                        =======================

Individuals who rely on some types of accessibility software may have
difficulty installing Windows because the accessibility software is
not loaded during the graphical portion of Setup. If this presents a
problem, you can bypass the graphical portion of Setup by using the /h
switch. The /h switch allows you to specify a text file that provides
answers to all the questions that you would be prompted for during the
graphical portion of Setup. For example, if you create a text file
called MYSETUP.SHH, you would then run Setup with the following
command:

      a:\setup /h:c:\mysetup.shh

For more information on the format of the setup response file, see the
SETUP.SHH file provided on your Windows installation disks.


    CUSTOMIZING WINDOWS WITHOUT ADDITIONAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE
    ===========================================================

There are many ways you can adjust the appearance and behavior of
Windows to suit varying eyesight and motor skills without any
additional software or hardware. For example, by changing settings in
your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files, you can control screen colors, font
sizes, and mouse behavior. You can change these settings in Control
Panel or by directly modifying the files. The following sections
describe how to identify which settings to modify to achieve the
desired results and how to safely modify the WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, and
other Windows initialization files.


Modifying Initialization Files
==============================

Windows initialization files (.INIs) contain information about your
system environment. For example, the WIN.INI file contains settings
about your Windows environment, and the SYSTEM.INI file contains
settings that tell Windows about your system's hardware needs.

You can configure Windows and Windows-based applications to meet your
needs and preferences by modifying the information stored in these
files. For more information about WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI, refer to the
WININI.WRI and SYSINI.WRI files located in your Windows directory. You
can print or view these files from Microsoft Windows Write.

   IMPORTANT: Errors made when editing initialization files can lead
   to undesirable results when you run Windows. Before changing any
   entry, make a backup copy of your original file. Also, some text
   editors can damage characters that have ANSI values greater than
   127. To avoid these problems, we recommend that you use Control
   Panel or Setup whenever possible to make changes. If you must edit
   the file, use a text editor such as Microsoft Windows Notepad,
   System Configuration Editor (SYSEDIT.EXE), or MS-DOS Editor.

To change .INI file entries with a text editor:

1. Create a backup copy of the .INI file you want to edit. For
   example, run File Manager and copy WIN.INI to WIN.BAK.

2. Open the .INI file with a text editor, such as Notepad.

3. Edit the specific entries and save the file.

4. Restart Windows so that the changes take effect.

The next four sections of this Application Note discuss the
initialization file entries you can change to achieve the specific
results you want. Many of the initialization file entries discussed
below are not present in the WIN.INI file by default but you can
easily add them with a text editor.

Changing Colors
---------------

 - If you have trouble differentiating the system colors, or if they
   cause eyestrain, you can adjust them in the Colors dialog box of
   Control Panel.

 - If you have trouble reading full-screen messages displayed by
   Windows in 386 enhanced mode, you can adjust the colors by using
   the MessageBackColor and MessageTextColor entries in the [386Enh]
   section of the SYSTEM.INI file. For example, the following entries
   generate bright yellow text on a black background in message
   screens (such as the screen that appears when you press
   CTRL+ALT+DEL):

         MessageTextColor=E
         MessageBackColor=0

   The following table defines the color values you can use for the
   MessageBackColor and MessageTextColor entries:

   0 - Black   4 - Red           8 - Gray          C - Bright red
   1 - Blue    5 - Magenta       9 - Bright blue   D - Bright magenta
   2 - Green   6 - Yellow/brown  A - Bright green  E - Bright yellow
   3 - Cyan    7 - White         B - Bright cyan   F - Bright white

 - If the desktop pattern or wallpaper causes eyestrain, you can
   adjust them in the Desktop dialog box of Control Panel.

 - If you have trouble differentiating the colors used by Windows
   Help, you can adjust them by using the IFJumpColor, IFPopupColor,
   JumpColor, MacroColor, and PopupColor entries in the [Windows Help]
   section of the WIN.INI file. The syntax for these entries is

      <entry>=red <value> green <value> blue <value>

   where the <value> is a number from 000 to 999, with 999 giving the
   highest intensity. You must include three digits for each value,
   and you must include each color value. You can experiment with this
   setting to create a color that works best for you. The following
   table lists some colors you can work with:

   Setting          Resulting color
--------------------------------------

   000 000 999      Blue
   000 999 000      Green
   999 000 000      Red
   999 999 000      Yellow
   999 000 999      Magenta

   For more information on these entries, see the WININI.WRI file in
   your Windows directory.

Changing Fonts
--------------

 - If you have trouble reading the Windows system fonts (which are
   used to display window titles, menus, and dialog boxes), you can
   increase the font size using the FIXEDFON.FON, FONTS.FON, and
   OEMFONTS.FON entries in the [boot] section of the SYSTEM.INI file.
   However, you should replace the default fonts only with other
   system font files supplied with Windows. These fonts include
   8514FIX.FON, 8514SYS.FON, and 8514OEM.FON.

   For example, if you are using a VGA video driver, your .FON files
   are probably set as follows:

      fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon
      fonts.fon=vgasys.fon
      oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon

   To increase the size of the system font, expand 8514FIX.FON,
   8514SYS.FON, and 8515OEM.FON from the original Windows disks to
   your Windows program directory (usually C:\WINDOWS). For example,
   type the following command at the MS-DOS command prompt, and then
   press ENTER:

      expand a:\8514fix.fo_ c:\windows\system\8514fix.fon

   Then, edit the [boot] section of your SYSTEM.INI file to read:

      fixedfon.fon=8514FIX.FON
      fonts.fon=8514SYS.FON
      oemfonts.fon=8514OEM.FON

    WARNING: Do not use font files other than the system .FON fonts
    supplied with Windows. For example, you cannot use TrueType(R)
    (.TTF) fonts.

 - If you have trouble reading the titles of icons, you can adjust the
   appearance of these titles with the IconTitleFaceName and
   IconTitleSize entries in the [desktop] section of the WIN.INI file.
   For example:

      [desktop]
      IconTitleFaceName=Arial
      IconTitleSize=12

 - If you have trouble reading small fonts used by some applications
   and do not want to install a screen enlarger utility, you can
   restrict the fonts available to Windows-based applications by
   removing the fonts you do not want in the Fonts dialog box of
   Control Panel. You do not need to actually delete the font files.
   If you remove all the fonts, only the system fonts remain available
   to applications.

     NOTE: You may also need to adjust the icon spacing in the Desktop
     dialog box of Control Panel and choose Arrange Icons from the
     Window menu in Program Manager to make all your icon titles
     visible.

 - If you have trouble reading the file and directory names in File
   Manager, you can adjust the font settings by choosing Font from the
   Options menu.

 - If you have trouble locating the text-selection cursor (also known
   as the caret or insertion bar) in your applications, you can adjust
   the rate at which it flashes. To do this, choose the Desktop icon
   in Control Panel.

Changing Mouse Behavior
-----------------------

 - If you have difficulty controlling the Microsoft Mouse, you can
   adjust its speed in the Mouse dialog box of Control Panel.

 - If you have trouble seeing the mouse when you are moving it, you
   can try using the Mouse Trails feature in the Mouse dialog box of
   Control Panel. If your third-party video driver does not support
   the Mouse Trails option, contact your video card vendor for more
   information.

 - If you have trouble double-clicking the mouse, you can adjust the
   sensitivity using the Double-Click Speed setting in the Mouse
   dialog box of Control Panel. You can further adjust the double-
   click functionality by adding the DoubleClickHeight and
   DoubleClickWidth entries to the [Windows] section of the WIN.INI
   file. For example, if you add the following entries to your WIN.INI
   file and restart your computer, you no longer have to hold the
   mouse in exactly the same location when you double-click:

      DoubleClickHeight=30
      DoubleClickWidth=30

 - If you have trouble positioning the mouse on window frames so that
   you can adjust the size of the windows, you can increase the window
   border width setting in the Desktop dialog box of Control Panel.

Changing Keyboard Behavior
--------------------------

 - If you have trouble using the keyboard because of the speed at
   which it repeats or the delay time before it begins repeating, you
   can adjust these settings in the Keyboard dialog box of Control
   Panel. (You can adjust keyboard settings even further using Access
   Pack for Microsoft Windows, which is described on page later in
   this Application Note.)

   If you cannot use Control Panel to adjust the keyboard, you can
   adjust the corresponding KeyboardDelay and KeyboardSpeed entries in
   the [Windows] section of the WIN.INI file. KeyboardDelay
   establishes how much time elapses after you hold down a key before
   the key starts to repeat (the default is 2 milliseconds).
   KeyboardSpeed establishes how much time elapses between repetitions
   of a character on the display when you hold down a keyboard key
   (the default is 31 milliseconds).

 - You can use Windows Recorder to automate common tasks. For more
   information about using Recorder, run Recorder and choose Contents
   from the Help menu to open Recorder Help.

 - You can use two methods to reduce the number of keystrokes
   required to switch between applications. You can use Task List to
   display a list of all applications currently running, or you can
   assign a shortcut key to each application. Task List can be invoked
   by pressing CTRL+ESC, or by choosing Switch To from any
   application's Control menu. Application shortcut keys can be
   assigned by creating an icon for the application in Program Manager
   and using the Properties command on the File menu. For more
   information on Task List and shortcut keys, see the "Microsoft
   Windows User's Guide."


                       GETTING MORE INFORMATION
                       ========================


Information from Microsoft
==========================

For more information on Microsoft products and services for people
with disabilities, contact Microsoft Consumer Sales at one of the
following numbers:

   [phone]      Voice telephone
   [phone]      Text telephone


Third-Party Product Information
===============================

The Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison produces a
book and a compact disc (CD) that describe products that help people
with disabilities use computers. The book is titled "ResourceBook" and
contains nearly 500 pages of descriptions and photographs of
approximately 2,000 aids. The CD provides a database of more than
12,000 products and other information for people with disabilities. It
is issued twice a year and is also available in many public libraries.
You can contact the Trace R&D Center at the following address and
phone and fax numbers:

   Trace R&D Center
   S-151 Waisman Center
   1500 Highland Avenue
   Madison, WI  53705-2280

   [phone]   Voice telephone
   [phone]   Text telephone
   [phone]   Fax


Assistive Technology Programs
=============================

For general information and recommendations about how computers can
help specific individuals, customers should consult a trained
evaluator who can best match the individual's needs with the available
solutions. An assistive technology program in your area can provide
referrals to programs and services available to you. To locate the
assistive technology program nearest you, contact the Center for
Developmental Disabilities at the following address and phone and fax
numbers:

   National Information System
   Center for Developmental Disabilities
   University of South Carolina
   Benson Building
   Columbia, SC  29208

   [phone],  Voice or text telephone, outside South Carolina
    extension 301
   [phone]   Voice or text telephone, in South Carolina
   [phone]   Voice or text telephone, outside the United States
   [phone]   Fax