ZoomText 9.1 With Speech Main Settings Panel

There are two (2) main sections in the ZoomText 9.1 with speech settings panel (dialogue box). At the very top are the menus, going progressively from left to right is "File, Actions, Magnifier, Reader, Settings and Help." Under the menus is a ZoomText logo. To the right of the ZoomText logo are two (2) tabbed panels. The first tabbed panel is Magnifier. This panel contains graphical icons for "Power (the size of the screen), Type (indicating if the view will be full screen, overlay, lense, line, docked, dual monitor, or freeze; adjust and settings are found at the bottom of this list), Color (includes normal, scheme, custom and settings, allowing the user to select the color setup of their computer screen), Pointer (includes normal, scheme, custom and settings, allowing the user to select how the mouse pointer appears on the computer screen), Cursor (includes normal, scheme, custom and settings, allowing the user to select how the cursor is displayed when working in programs such as Word, Excel, etc.), Focus (includes normal, scheme, custom and settings, allowing the user to select how the focus is displayed when tabbing through dialogue boxes and forms), Desktop (opens a search box that allows the user to either type in a word or words, or down arrow through a list, to open any item on the Windows Desktop), Web (allows the user to search an open web page, and issue commands to active links, or read), Text (allows the user for search for text on the open page, and includes a read command). Notice on the icons the three (3) categories, found just above the icons. The three categories are "Zoom Windows (just above the Power and Type icons), Enhancements (just above the Color, Pointer, Cursor and Focus icons), and Finders (just above the Desktop, Web and Text icons)."

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Power Combo Box

An up and down arrow are on the right side of this combo box. Clicking on the up arrow will increase the ZoomText magnification. Clicking on the down arrow will decrease the ZoomText magnification. A quick way to change screen magnification is to press and hold down the control key and roll the mouse wheel away from your wrist for a larger size, and toward your wrist for a smaller size.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Type Drop Down Menu

Full screen, overlay, lens, line and settings can be selected from this drop down menu. Click on the "Type" icon and this list will drop down. Click on the item you want and it will be activated. The "Overlay" item magnifies the bottom right side of the screen, magnifying where the mouse pointer goes. "Lens" makes a magnified rectangle which follows the mouse cursor (pointer). "Line" makes a rectangle that crosses the entire computer screen and follows the mouse cursor (pointer). "Docked" allows the user to split the screen in half, with on half being enlarged and the other half standard size--the dock can be top, bottom, left or right. "Freeze" allows the user to freeze any part of the screen desired. This "freeze" will stay in the forefront, staying visible when new programs or files are open. "Freeze" will remain in effect until it is turned off in the "Type" drop down menu. "Dual Monitor" can be activated if the user has two monitors to work with. "Settings" allows the user to adjust the settings for "Magnification, Windows, Freeze and View Locator." None of the items in "Type" work until the zoom is above the 1x setting (standard monitor size).

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Color Drop Down Menu

The "Color" icon has a drop down menu when clicked. The "Normal" menu item at the top of this menu leaves the color settings as standard Windows colors. "Scheme" has a sub menu containing "Invert Brightness, Reverse Video, Yellow on Black, Blue Dye, Black & White, Black & White Invert and Replace Gray." These are settings the user will want to experiment with. Simply go to the Color Scheme menu, click a menu item, and see if it works. If the screen is not the way you want it to be, click Color, then Scheme, then a different menu item.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Color Drop Down Menu, Settings Menu Item

When the "Settings" menu item is selected under the "Color" icon, the following box appears. There are five (5) tabs to this dialogue box. They are, from left to right, "Color, Pointer, Cursor, Focus and Font." Click on the "Color" tab to set the screen colors, then "Pointer" tab to select the way the mouse pointer is displayed (including crosshairs), the "Cursor" tab to change the way the cursor is highlighted in Word, Excel, and other programs, the "Focus" tab to change how the focus looks when tabbing through dialogue boxes, forms, etc., and the "Font" tab to change the way Windows text is displayed. There are many settings for each item, allowing the user great control over colors, thickness, and types of items.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Pointer Drop Down Menu

Click the "Pointer" icon and a drop down menu will appear. The "Normal" settings leaves the mouse pointer as a standard arrow. The "Scheme" sub menu allows the user to select a yellow mouse pointer with red crosshairs, a red arrow with a circle around it, a giant green pointer, control key crosshairs where crosshairs appear when the control key is held down, circle when moving which makes a visual circle when the mouse is moving, and a large yellow mouse pointer. Experiment with these menu items. If none of them are useful, click the "Normal" menu item under the "Pointer" menu. At the bottom of the "Pointer" menu is the settings menu item. We explored this above when working with the "Color" menu.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Cursor Drop Down Menu

Click the "Cursor" icon and a drop down menu appears. Click on the "Scheme" menu item and a sub menu appears. The sub menu contains "Blue Wedge, Green Circle, Red Frame and Thin Magenta Frame" items. When you type in a program such as Microsoft Word, the cursor item you selected with follow the cursor as you type, or arrow through the document. If you have selected "Green Circle," a green circle will follow the cursor as you type, or arrow through the document. As with the "Color" and "Pointer" icon menus, there is a "Settings" menu (see above) that will allow you to adjust the settings of the "Cursor" item you selected.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Focus Drop Down Menu

Click on the "Focus" icon and a drop down menu appears. The default focus highlight is a red rectangle which appears when you tab through forms, combo boxes, menu items, etc. Click on the "Scheme" menu item and a sub menu appears which allows you to select "Red Rectangle, Thin Green Underline, Yellow Block, or Thin Red Rectangle." As with "Color, Pointer and Cursor," the user can click the "Settings" menu item (see example of settings dialogue box above) and fine tune the adjustments.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Desktop Finder

Click on the Desktop icon and a dialogue box will come up. The user is placed in a search box where a word or phrase can be typed. There is a list of what is on the Windows Desktop just below the Search box. There is a section below the list titled "Show These Items" where the user can click to have these items displayed in the list where the Desktop items are seen. There is a "Sort Items By" feature the computer user may want to experiment with before using on a daily basis. It essentially categorizes by file type, name, source, or target.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Web Finder

Open a web site, alt tab until you see the ZoomText logo, then release. You will noticed that the "Web" icon which had been grayed out is now in color--this means that it is active and ready to use. Click on the "Web" icon and a dialogue box will appear. It may take a few minutes for the web site information/links to appear in the box. You will notice in the bottom area of the "Web Finder" dialogue box "Show and Sort" areas, and three different "Actions" buttons. Experiment will all of these "Show, Sort and Actions" to determine how they best work for you.

ZoomText Magnifier Tab, Text Finder

Click on the "Text" icon and a dialogue box appears. The user can select the search area, where to start the search, and the reading. Once the word or string of words has been typed into the "Search For" box, and the "Search" button clicked, a small bar will appear in the area of the first word found. Click on the green arrow and the text area will be read aloud (if you are using speech). Click on the blue left arrow and you will be taken backward to the previous instance of the word. Click the blue right arrow and you will be taken forward to the next instance of the word. Once you have found the word you can either click the button just to the left of the "X" to go back to the "Find" dialogue box, or you can click the black "X" to close the "Find" bar. See the following three pictures to see how this works.

ZoomText Reader

Click the "Reader" tab above the icons to bring up the "Reader" panel and its set of icons.

Enable speech by clicking "Speech," then "Enable Speech."

ZoomText Reader Speech Settings Dialogue

Click the "Speech" icon, then the "Settings" menu item (bottom of menu) to bring up the "Speech Settings" dialogue box.

Click the "Synthesizer" tab to bring up the settings for the speech synthesizer. The user will be able to enable speech, select the speech synthesizer, and select the voice the synthesizer uses. Rate, Pitch and Volume can be set by clicking the up or down arrow beside each combo box. Click the "Speak Sample" button to hear the voice.

Click on the "Options" button to bring up the "English User Dictionary Editor." The user can add, delete, modify and read a word.

Click on the "Text Processing" tab to set "Text, Numbers and Punctuation" settings.

Click on the "Hints" tab to change settings for "Capital Letters, Hypertext Links and Say Beginning of and End of Document." Pitch rates and be set by click the up and down arrows on the combo boxes beside Capital Letters and Hypertext Links.

ZoomText Reader Speech Rate

Click on the up or down arrow at the right side of the "Rate" combo box to increase or decrease the speed of speech.

ZoomText Reader Speech Typing

Click on the "Typing" icon and a drop down menu appears. On this menu the user can click "No Echo" (to have nothing spoken as keys are pressed), "Keys" (to have each key spoken as it is pressed), "Words" (to have each word spoken after it is type and the spacebar pressed), "Keys and Words" (to have each key spoken as it is pressed, and each word spoken after it has been typed and the spacebar pressed).

ZoomText Speech Typing Settings

After clicking "Settings" you are taken to the following dialogue box. In this box the user can select how much is spoken, and select other types of keys that can be spoken, such as the Function keys (F1 through F12).

ZoomText Speech Mouse Settings

Click on the "Mouse" icon and a drop down menu appears. The user can click the "No Echo" icon to have no speech when the mouse moves over and icon or text. "Instant," when clicked, means the user will hear the text or icon name when the mouse moves over it. "Hover," when clicked, means the mouse pointer will be spoken when left over text or an icon for a few seconds.

Click "Settings" an a dialogue box will appear.

In the "Echo Settings" dialogue box the user can adjust the echo, the hover time for the pointer, and how much will be spoken.

ZoomText Speech Verbosity Settings

Click the "Verbosity" icon to bring up a drop down menu that allows you to click on "Beginner" (a lot of text is spoken), "Intermediate" (some text is spoken), or "Expert" (very little text is spoken).

Click on the "Settings" menu item and a dialogue box will appear.

The "Verbosity" tab of the "Echo Settings" dialogue is displayed. The user can select the level of speech (Beginner, Intermediate, Expert), and what the types of items spoken.

Note: There is a fourth tab in the "Echo Settings" dialogue box called "Program." This box allows the user to select items to be spoken when they are active. Examples are menus, the text cursor when typing, The user can also decide (or check) whether the word, or the entire line is spoken.

ZoomText Speech Application Reader

Click on the "AppRdr" icon to read the application you are working with.

ZoomText Reader Document Reader

Click on the "DocRdr" to bring up an inverted window that will read the text of the document, email, or web page that you are in. A shortcut key command to bring up the DocReader is alt shift d.

When the DocReader comes up, it is an inverted screen. This can be adjusted by clicking the "Settings" at the top of the screen. Click the green "Play" arrow to start reading, and click it again to stop reading. Tapping enter will start reading, and tapping enter a second time will stop reading. A pink rectangle will highlight each word as it is read. In the bar at the top the "Rate" (how fast DocReader speaks), and "Power" (how large the text is) can be set. "Ticker" when clicked makes one enlarged line that is read, with the rest of the document staying a standard size. The yellow "X" when clicked, closes the DocReader. You can also tap the escape key to close the DocReader. If you are reading a document that you are editing, and hear something you want to change, tap escape. The DocReader closes and places you in that area of the document.

ZoomText Reader Zones

Click on the "Zones" icon to bring up a drop down menu.

The user can click the "New" menu item to create a new zone for the application that is active, or click the "Edit" menu item to edit an existing zone for the active application. In the example above a zone "one" has been created for the top right of the active Adobe Dreamweaver. This zone will be spoken when moved to. To move to the created zone, the user clicks the "Trigger" menu item, then "one." Zone "one" is highlighted and read aloud. Tapping the escape key leaves this zone and returns the user to the application.

Click on "Settings" to bring up the "Zones" tab in the "Reading" dialogue box.

Creating and editing zones are done in the following dialogue box.

Zoomtext Reader Speak It

Click the "Speak It" icon to activate a cursor that allows the user to click on a word to have it spoken. Tap the escape key to close "Speak It."

ZoomText Hot Keys

Click on the "Help" menu at the top right of the ZoomText panel.

Click on "Hot Keys."

The following is copied directly from the ZoomText Help Hotkeys section. This will be taken down an altered soon.

ZoomText Hotkeys

The following tables list the command names and default assignments for all ZoomText hotkeys (by Hotkey Group). Hotkey assignments can be changed in the Hotkeys dialog box.

Note:   AppReader and DocReader 'Navigation Commands' and all 'Text Reading Commands' have fixed key assignments that cannot be changed. These commands do not appear in the Hotkeys dialog.  

AppReader and DocReader Hotkeys (Magnifer/Reader only)

Configuration Hotkeys

Magnification Hotkeys

Magnifier Toolbar Hotkeys

Miscellaneous Hotkeys

Reader Toolbar Hotkeys (Magnifer/Reader only)

Reading Zones Hotkeys (Magnifer/Reader only)

Screen Reading Hotkeys (for screen reader only)

Scroll Hotkeys

Text Reading Hotkeys (Magnifer/Reader only)

In addition to the Text Reading commands listed above, ZoomText will also speak when using the standard text navigation and editing keys listed in the following table.

Note:   When holding down the SHIFT key to select text by character, word, line or paragraph, the visible text that is selected or de-selected will be spoken.

User Interface Hotkeys

Windows Vista Logon Support Hotkeys

At this time this web page is not complete. In order to facilitate further learning a few items are mentioned below. Once complete, these items will become a part of this web page.

DocReader--On a web page, in a Word document, or wherever text it, press alt shift d to bring up the DocReader. Tap enter to start reading, and tap enter to stop reading. Tap escape to leave the DocReader. If you are editing a Word document, and hear a part that needs changed, tap the spacebar to stop the speech, then tap the escape key. You will be at the spot in your document where the DocReader was reading. Fix the text, then press alt shift d to start the DocReader again. When you are finished using the DocReader tap the escape key.

ZoomText Help

Look at the top right menu of the ZoomText main panel. This is the "Help" menu.

Click "ZoomText Help" and the following dialogue box will appear. Click an item on the left, and the information concerning it will appear on the right. If you are one the right, try using the DocReader to listen to it.

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