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The Pocket PC operating system has few user interface options built-in. In Pocket Word, Notes and Excel the user can specify the zoom level (75 to 300 %) for the text as one would with Microsoft Windows desktop versions. Unfortunately in Tasks, contacts and Calendar you only have the choice of a slightly larger font. This may not be sufficient for those with visual impairments.
There are no native facilities of the Pocket PC operating system that allow you to change the resolution or orientation of the screen.
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As time as passed, we have seen Screen Magnifiers appear for use with Pocket PC 2003. The one offered by AdisAsta is quite useful and allows you to magnify any part of your mobile device's screen in any application and in real time.
T here are currently no screen magnifiers available for the Pocket PC operating system however it would be possible to write such a program. The DeBuzz Page demonstrates how within an application a magnification window could be generated.
An alternative approach to providing screen magnification is to reduce the screen resolution, which tends to increase the size of icons and text. However the programs mentioned later only allow the user to increase the resolution and the virtual screen area.
Nyditot (Shareware)
With this utility you can change the resolution from the default up to 2000 x 2000. The larger screen resolution and therefore larger screen area is achieved by using a virtual screen area that can be panned with Arrow Keys using the hardware arrow keys or if the pen is held at an edge, the view window will pan continuously in very small increments. The utility also allows the user to toggle between zoomed and compressed modes.
It may be beneficial to be able to change the orientation of the screen as this can allow the user to have the PDA in an upside-down position, which may be essential if it is to work with an infrared keyboard if the infrared port of the keyboard is located at the top.
Using the PDA in a landscape mode means that the reading and writing width is 320 pixels instead of 240 pixels. Having a slightly larger screen width means that the sentence width is closer to the optimum reading width of 60 characters. The Nyditot software above has a facility to allow the screen to be seen in lanscape mode. Also see
JS Landscape (for Pocket PC 2002)
In the portrait default mode (at 100% zoom) you can fit 33 characters per line (21 and14 characters per line at 150 and 200 % zoom respectively). In landscape mode you can fit (32 and18 characters per line at 150 and 200 % zoom respectively). Viewing text in the landscape mode can increase the readability and it has been accepted that scrolling vertically tends to be easier than scrolling horizontally.
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On the Pocket PC any major changes to fonts, colours or other applications tends to have to occur through the registry. In fact there are only two specific programs at present that offer an easy way of changing the basic settings other than by moving cautiously into the realms of the operating system. Each have completely different capacities and limitations.
Changing any of the system setting can result in crashes especially when using third party software and it is advised that you complete a full system backup before adjusting any settings.
Pocket Tweak
(Freeware) (use with care)
This is a small program that allows you to change the setting of the Pocket PC operating system without having to use a registry editor (as in a desktop equivalent). You can choose to turn off the windows and menu animations, which can be distracting to those with visual impairments. The user can also set the whether the operating system displays horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars; you are also able to set the height and width of the bars.
One of the interesting functions is the ability to set the size of the system, menu-Bar and popup-menu font size (given by unusual height and width values), and font family. The user can choose from the default Tahoma or Bookdings, Courier new and Frutiger Linotype.
This is a program that allows you to change some of the registry settings that affect the GUI. You can change the background colour of some of the windows, all the dialog boxes, and pop-up menus. You can change the font type (limited to the default four font faces), colour, size and style of the text.
With this application it is possible to change the default window background from white to a dyslexic friendly colour such as pastel yellow. However this change will affect not all the window background colours. It will not affect the background colour of files opened with Pocket Word or the central body text of an email.
Changing the size text is easier in this application since the text size is given in the familiar point size. However changing the window text size can have unusual effects throughout the operating system. There is no way to change the size of the text shown in an email or task.
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The pocket PC contains a choice of 4 alarms that are recorded as wav files. These files can be edited or replaced using a host PC in the same way as any standard sound file. This means that if the alarm tone is not suitable for someone with a hearing impairment an appropriate audible sound can be recorded. User defined sounds can also provide memory jogs, or be chosen specifically for someone who has Autism or Aspergers where some sounds may cause discomfort.
When alarm set you can choose to have the ActiveSync LED flash if available on the specific Pocket PC model.
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