Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Screen Magnifier Options (self.Blind)
submitted by wnolan1992
Hey there,
Just wondering if anyone here might have a recommendation for a screen magnifier?
I've been using the built in Windows program for a few years, but since the upgrade to Windows 10 Microsoft have made it more and more useless for me as time goes on, because they're refusing to fix a known bug regarding colour inversion, and an update yesterday introduced some new and wonderful problems, so honestly I've just lost all patience with them.
I used to use ZoomText, but that was only because my school paid for the licence. The price seems a little unreasonable for my needs. So I'm hoping you guys will have had experience with a cheaper/free option. Basically I just need a full screen magnifier that I can easily zoom in and out with, curosr and text insertion point tracking and turn inverted colours on and off with a keyboard shortcut.
Or is ZoomText the best option and should I just stump up the cash?
Thanks in advance.
Just wondering if anyone here might have a recommendation for a screen magnifier?
I've been using the built in Windows program for a few years, but since the upgrade to Windows 10 Microsoft have made it more and more useless for me as time goes on, because they're refusing to fix a known bug regarding colour inversion, and an update yesterday introduced some new and wonderful problems, so honestly I've just lost all patience with them.
I used to use ZoomText, but that was only because my school paid for the licence. The price seems a little unreasonable for my needs. So I'm hoping you guys will have had experience with a cheaper/free option. Basically I just need a full screen magnifier that I can easily zoom in and out with, curosr and text insertion point tracking and turn inverted colours on and off with a keyboard shortcut.
Or is ZoomText the best option and should I just stump up the cash?
Thanks in advance.
Laser_Lens_4 6 points 4y ago
I've looked around and I cant find anything better than Zoomtext. I got my license paid for through the Department of Rehabilitation in the US.
I have to agree though that it's expensive, especially for how much of a buggy steaming pile of shit it is. I could rant for an hour about how crap it is. At least their support is topnotch... better be for 600 bucks for a single user license.
I have to agree though that it's expensive, especially for how much of a buggy steaming pile of shit it is. I could rant for an hour about how crap it is. At least their support is topnotch... better be for 600 bucks for a single user license.
FlickType 2 points 4y ago
Six hundred bucks?! Whoa!
Laser_Lens_4 2 points 4y ago
Yup. You can have Photoshop for less money than that. But hey ZoomText has a tiny market and it's mostly governments and employers that buy licenses so who the hell cares, right? I think a commercial license is $800. ZoomText also penetrates pretty deep into the OS and severely kneecaps performance. It caps the framers on my machine at 30 and screws with the frametimes. It also makes it unstable when running certain applications.
It's also not compatible with Chrome which blows my mind. But hey it's either that or no computer... and my old HS braille teacher wonders why I hate it so much.
It's also not compatible with Chrome which blows my mind. But hey it's either that or no computer... and my old HS braille teacher wonders why I hate it so much.
-shacklebolt- 2 points 4y ago
Unfortunately I have to agree with everyone else. I've never found anything between free built in magnifiers and zoomtext, price wise, worth purchasing.
It might be worth looking into what resources exist to help you purchase it. Common sources are rehab agencies or organizations serving blind people or your employer or school. (Also, as someone else mentioned, some blindness related conferences have had discount copies of this software available. Worth looking if you're already going or know someone who is.)
It might be worth looking into what resources exist to help you purchase it. Common sources are rehab agencies or organizations serving blind people or your employer or school. (Also, as someone else mentioned, some blindness related conferences have had discount copies of this software available. Worth looking if you're already going or know someone who is.)
Sommiel 2 points 4y ago
I got my license paid for through the State Department of Rehabilitation.
If you are job hunting or have a job and need it, I suggest you plug into their pipeline.
If you are job hunting or have a job and need it, I suggest you plug into their pipeline.
jrs12 2 points 4y ago
How old are you? I like zoomtext the most. It's available through quota funds so I can get it for my students free of charge to them.
Sight404 1 points 4y ago
Ah, Windows Magnifier! I remember the good old days (XP) before full screen mode was a viable option.
Personally, I have Fusion (a hybrid of ZoomText and JAWS) but I only install it for the authorization process, then I just use JAWS. Picked up my copy at NFB conference in 2017 for $315 (which included an SMA, JAWS remote access, and an activation dongle). 70% off is obviously a deal I had to take.
Personally, I have Fusion (a hybrid of ZoomText and JAWS) but I only install it for the authorization process, then I just use JAWS. Picked up my copy at NFB conference in 2017 for $315 (which included an SMA, JAWS remote access, and an activation dongle). 70% off is obviously a deal I had to take.
wnolan1992 [OP] 3 points 4y ago
The sad thing is, I found Windows Magnifier to be far better for me than ZoomText ever was because it was so lightweight and was on every computer by default (from Windows 7 onward anyway). And it's so, so aggravating to me that even though I first reported the issue to Microsoft in 2016 and was told "It's a known issue, we're working on it!", they still haven't fixed it.
What's worse is I have a Bachelor's degree in software development, so every fibre of me being tells me the issue is like a one day job to fix if they actually gave a damn. Figuring out why a fairly basic keyboard shortcut doesn't work shouldn't take a massive corporation like Microsoft more than two years.
What's worse is I have a Bachelor's degree in software development, so every fibre of me being tells me the issue is like a one day job to fix if they actually gave a damn. Figuring out why a fairly basic keyboard shortcut doesn't work shouldn't take a massive corporation like Microsoft more than two years.
CVRTCOMSCATIS 1 points 4y ago
I’d be interested in what features you found more convenient with windows Mag. I strongly think Zoomtext Mag (or Mag/Reader) is the way to go. As others have said there are resources available to help pay for the software. Sounds like it might be beneficial to work with a CATIS or CVRT to make sure you learn all the great features ZT has. Their website has a demo version you can try out. There are also tutorials and trading modules if you prefer self-study
wnolan1992 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
The main reasons I preferred Windows Magnifier would be the following:
- It's free
- It's on every Windows PC by default. This is very important for me as I can invariably end up using anywhere between 2 and 5 different computers a day (personal laptop, personal PC and when I was working I would use a couple of different machines depending on the task). I know ZT has a USB version (it's the one I had when I was using it) but even with this it's less than convenient if you're regularly switching machine.
- Windows Magnifier is a lightweight program. I found ZT to be a bit of a resource hog. It may have improved in recent years (last version I had was 9) but Windows Magnifier sits nicely in the background and doesn't require any startup time.
- ZT 9 didn't support multiple monitors. You could only magnify your main display. Secondary displays were left unusable. Windows Mag's support for multiple monitors isn't ideal either, and maybe ZT has added support now, I don't know.
- Finally, I think the main thing I like (or at least *liked* before Microsoft made a mess of it) is that it literally has the two features I need, nothing more, nothing less. Zooming in and out and inverting colours is all I need really. It's hard to justify the price of ZT for me because I know I won't use most of the features. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure ZT's features are invaluable to some people, I'd never say ZT is bad software or anything. It's just my use case means Windows Mag is more suitable.
Anyway, as way of a wrap up. I've actually found a work around for the broken invert colours shortcut a few days ago while digging through settings. Windows has an option to overlay a filter on the screen that you can activate with a shortcut. There's an inverted colours filter. So now I can just toggle the filter on and off for inverted colours. It's still immensely aggravating that I'm resorting to a workaround rather than the designed functionality, but for now at least I can go back to using Windows Mag.
(Until they break something else in a month of course :) )
- It's free
- It's on every Windows PC by default. This is very important for me as I can invariably end up using anywhere between 2 and 5 different computers a day (personal laptop, personal PC and when I was working I would use a couple of different machines depending on the task). I know ZT has a USB version (it's the one I had when I was using it) but even with this it's less than convenient if you're regularly switching machine.
- Windows Magnifier is a lightweight program. I found ZT to be a bit of a resource hog. It may have improved in recent years (last version I had was 9) but Windows Magnifier sits nicely in the background and doesn't require any startup time.
- ZT 9 didn't support multiple monitors. You could only magnify your main display. Secondary displays were left unusable. Windows Mag's support for multiple monitors isn't ideal either, and maybe ZT has added support now, I don't know.
- Finally, I think the main thing I like (or at least *liked* before Microsoft made a mess of it) is that it literally has the two features I need, nothing more, nothing less. Zooming in and out and inverting colours is all I need really. It's hard to justify the price of ZT for me because I know I won't use most of the features. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure ZT's features are invaluable to some people, I'd never say ZT is bad software or anything. It's just my use case means Windows Mag is more suitable.
Anyway, as way of a wrap up. I've actually found a work around for the broken invert colours shortcut a few days ago while digging through settings. Windows has an option to overlay a filter on the screen that you can activate with a shortcut. There's an inverted colours filter. So now I can just toggle the filter on and off for inverted colours. It's still immensely aggravating that I'm resorting to a workaround rather than the designed functionality, but for now at least I can go back to using Windows Mag.
(Until they break something else in a month of course :) )
narfarnst 0 points 4y ago
I'm glad to hear you're doing software stuff. It will make my suggestion way less radical.
Switch to Linux. I use Kubuntu and it's default screen magnifier is basically the same as Windows 7/10 (as of a year or so ago at least). I tried the default Ubuntu's as well, but wasn't as happy with it.
For various other reasons I abandoned Windows several months ago. If what you say is true, and the screen magnifier has also gone down the wayside, I'm even happier I switched. Out of curiosity, what did they recently change to make it worse?
Switch to Linux. I use Kubuntu and it's default screen magnifier is basically the same as Windows 7/10 (as of a year or so ago at least). I tried the default Ubuntu's as well, but wasn't as happy with it.
For various other reasons I abandoned Windows several months ago. If what you say is true, and the screen magnifier has also gone down the wayside, I'm even happier I switched. Out of curiosity, what did they recently change to make it worse?
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