Tech Support Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

[SOLVED] Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

7K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  d_m_burkus 
#1 ·
My PC uses Windows 7, which I hate. Let me begin by saying that I have cataracts on both eyes. My left eye is completely blind, and the right eye is getting really bad. My PC uses gray text for everyting except WordPad. It is so light that I can no longer rad my e-mail -- it is almost impossible for me to writ this question unless I put my right eye 2 or 3 inches away from the screen.

I have searched on line for what to do, and the instructions are too complicated for me to read. I have tried clicking on the desktop and working through the the "personalize" thing, but I can not find a simple control. The instructions for color calibration were gray on gray and I could not read anything at all. The monitor is Korean, and the controls for brightness, in addition to being in Korean, are in a window so small that I can not see them. Is there some way to bring up a Windows control where I just move a slider to the left or right to increase the contrast, darken text, and so forth?

I am sorry if this has been covered before. I can not read anything so I can not search for previous threads. If it has been, just giving the URLs of such threads may be enough to help me.

A big thank-you to anyone who can help.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

There are high-contrast settings for the display as well as accessibility options that can help to make the screen more readable. People with vision issues can also benefit from using the magnifier which is also under the accessibility options.

It might help to have someone assist you in setting these options up.
 
#3 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

There are high-contrast settings for the display as well as accessibility options that can help to make the screen more readable. People with vision issues can also benefit from using the magnifier which is also under the accessibility options.

It might help to have someone assist you in setting these options up.
Thank you for taking the time to answer. The magnifier option is not useful to me; and, unfortunately, there is no one here whom I can ask for help.

1) Are the "high-contrast settings for the display" accessed through the PC, or via the control buttons on (the bottom of) the monitor? If the latter, the window that these open is too small for me to see, and I can not figure out how to make it larger; also, they are not labeled, and I can not seem to find one that actually does anything (what may be the contrast bar does nothing when I push any of the other buttons, the way it did no my old PC). If this can -- or may -- be done through the PC, how is this accomplished? (The monitor is an "Alphascan" widescreen. I am sorry, I can not find a model number.)

2) "Accessibility options": what are these? How do I access and modify them?

Sorry, but I need a step-by-step solution since I do not understand Windows 7.

Thank you for your understanding.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#5 · (Edited)
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Thank you for taking time to try to help, D. F.

With respect to the upper section, "2. Under Basic and High Contrast Themes..." There is nothing about Basic and High Contrast themes in the window that opens up.

The only tab reads Window Color and Appearance. There is a drop-down list, but it contains things like Desktop, Inactive Window, Scrollbar, etc. There is no mention of how to select a basic or high-contrast theme.


And below, "2. In the left pane, click Change color scheme." There is no such option. There are: Adjust resolution, Calibrate color, Change display settings, Adust ClearType text, and Set custom text size.

I played with all of these different controls before I wrote to TechSupportForum, but they are difficult for me to see, and I can not find any way to change or adjust anything. (For example, it shows an image and says to adjust the contrast between the man's shirt and his suit, but there is no slidebar that allows me to adjust the contrast; or it shows three examples, one of which is supposed to be too much and one too little, but they all look the same to me.)

The other day I read in the news about someone who took a revolver to his PC and plugged it with eight shots. Unfortunately, I do not have a revolver...but can sympathize with his approach.

I am sorry to have bothered you with this. Please have a good day.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#8 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

It is possible that Aero is required in order to find those settings. Also it is possible that this is a long winded project since at first glance ( I scanned through the article quickly) one has to set areas of the workspace individually ie desltop, address bar etc

see this article below

Window Color and Appearance - Change - Windows 7 Help Forums
 
#9 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Thank you for trying to help. But, honestly, I do not care about the colors of the borders or whether they are transparent or not.

I just want to change the color of the type from gray to black.

Nothing else.

From what I could read and understand the article is concerned with what I would consider aesthetic choices and little or nothing more than that.

I am going blind and just want to continue to read my e-mails, work on my translations/blog, and read the news for as long as possible before I reach that eventuality. That's all.

Why should it be so complicated? I am surely not the only person out of 7 billion or however many of us there are who is going blind! And surely not the only one of that subset who is forced to use Windows 7.

Anyway, thank you to all who have ventured to offer suggestions. Please have a good week.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#10 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Use the snipping tool and post back my post. I want to see how bold type shows up on your screen.
 
#11 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Use the snipping tool and post back my post. I want to see how bold type shows up on your screen.
I DO VOLUNTEER WORK FOR A LOCAL CHARITY AND ONE OF THE THINGS THEY ASSIST WITH IS SIGHT-IMPAIRED PERSONS. I HAVE FOUND IN CASES OF SEVERE CATARACTS THAT OFTEN NOTHING GIVES MUCH RELIEF TO THE MOST SEVERE CASES. REDUCING SCREEN RESOLUTION, (WHICH INCREASES CHARACTER SIZE) AND USING ALL CAPS SEEMS TO BE THE MOST EFFECTIVE, BUT NOT ALWAYS.

TWO CLIENTS I CORRESPOND WITH REGULARLY INSIST ON LARGE, BOLD TEXT AND ALL CAPS, HENCE WHY I AM POSTING THIS WAY.
 
#14 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

"For the internet, You can change the Font size and boldness in your browser in Options or in IE go to Tools/Internet Options/General tab/Accessibility or Fonts"

D.F., Thank you! This is what I needed to know!

Sorry I did not reply sooner, but I was out of the country, and returned yesterday evening.

Have a good week!

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#16 · (Edited)
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

I considered marking it "Solved" as you suggested, but wanted to try it for a day first. Increasing the size was a big help, but on some web pages (mostly news -- and, oddly, this site) the text is still too light for me to read easily. (I do not understand why this should still be the case, because I set the text color at black on the options page of Firefox browser).

I wonder if, leaving the question open for a few days more, some kind Angel might not come along with another suggestion -- since this matter of making the text black was my original question.

A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to help.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#19 · (Edited)
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Thank you, Joeten.

I, however, have no problem with the icons on my desktop. I have set them in such a way that I can read their labels and so forth.

The only problem is that the text in e-mails, news pages, and the like is gray rather than black. In some cases it is a slightly darker gray (which increasing the resolution more-or-less solved), but in other cases the text is a very light gray, and this requires me to stick my nose virtually against the screen to read. It makes it difficult when I am trying to type the text since it is impossible to type from such a position.

I use Mozilla Firefox, and have (as per a previous suggestion) made sure the color of text is set to black. But other than an exercise in doing something I never knew could be done before (the same place allowed me to adjust the size, which was universally helpful), this has had little impact on anything, so far as I can see: the text in my e-mail, on this page, and so forth, remain the same shades of gray that they were before I played with the setting. This is frustrating. (And yes, I was careful to save the changes -- though in this case, I should note that it was already set at black as the default color for text.)

How, how, how? My eyes have better days and worse days, and on the worse days increasing the size of the text alone really does not help much.

Thank you -- and everyone else -- for taking the time to help. Please have a good day, everyone!

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#21 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

you can increase the text size in webpages just by using the control and plus (+) key. It should remember the setting the next time you visit the page.

also go to firefox addons and do a search for addons for those with impaired vision. there are several that may help.
 
#23 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

I posted the page earlier sobeit.
you must make allowances for those you are using devices where they cannot check links easily. a repost does not hurt nor does it require a comment about it since we all will do it once in a while.
 
#25 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Hey, Joeten, thanks a lot! Some of these look very useful. It is a little late in the day for me to try playing with them right now. I will try tomorrow and see how it goes. If any of them are helpful, I will mark this question "solved."

Please have a good day!

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#27 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Keep us posted, I hope something works for you.
I couldn't agree more .. it's extremely difficult for us reasonably sighted people to understand the problems of those who have disabilities or less than perfect sight .. trying to find a solution that fits individual requirements will not be easy ... although I am wondering if some sort of scripting might be possible (of which I regret to say I have no experience) that would grab text from sources that cause you problems and place it in a word document for example with formatting according to your choice.

Obviously the problem here would be how it might be done. Possibly drag and drop into a box at the side of the screen where a new window would open up with the text converted according to your specific needs ?? Just ideas that I am throwing at you now .. I have no idea how difficult this would be to put into operation or even if it is feasible
 
#28 · (Edited)
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

First of all, let me begin by thanking you all for your help. I have been away attempting to arrange for cataract surgery, which it seems will be possible toward the end of the month.

The Mozilla add-ons (specifically NoSquint 2.1.9.1; though possibly others in the list would be helpful, too: < https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...accessibility/>) seem to have resolved the issue as well as it can be resolved. I am glad that I did not mark the thread "Solved" before.

That said, I am going to mark it "Solved" now. Once again, I would like to thank all who have given their time to suggest a solution. They were all deeply appreciated! Please have a good week.

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
#29 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Personally, although I hope that I also express the opinions of others who have contributed to this thread, YOU ARE MOST WELCOME!! I'm glad you asked and I'm glad we have managed to provide some help. likewise I wish you the best with your cataract surgery and sincerely hope that your problems are lessened due to it.

As an individual (in fairly good health) and as a technician, I am blessed with the good fortune of living a fairly trouble free life in the modern world. It's only when someone like yourself asks for help due to a particular health problem that I get an insight to the difficulties of those who are not so lucky. It opens up a completely new world to me that is difficult for me to imagine in spite of how much I try.

THANK YOU FOR ASKING AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR OPERATION !!


:wave:
 
#30 ·
Re: Making all the text as dark as possible on the whole PC.

Thank you, DF, thank you. I sincerely hope you never have to experience it, because the more high-tech the world becomes, the less it seems to take into consideration those who are not -- or no longer are -- "average." The solutions are helpful, but they are more work-arounds than things that really allow those with disadvantages and disabilities to participate fully in life on line.

Please have a great day!

-- Daniel M. Burkus
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top