Browsing with screen magnification
In our fourth post from our browsing with assistive technology series, we discuss browsing with screen magnification.
You can also explore browsing with a desktop screen reader, browsing with a mobile screen reader, browsing with a keyboard, and browsing with speech recognition.
Screen magnification software enlarges content on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone screen. It magnifies everything on the screen, including the operating system, applications, and content.
Who uses screen magnification
People who are partially sighted may use screen magnification. This includes people who have permanent sight loss due to conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma or ageing. People with temporary vision limitations such as tiredness or migraines may also choose to magnify their screens. People with situational limitations such as glare on their screen from sunlight may do the same.
Some people who are partially sighted may use screen magnification in combination with a screen reader. This is especially useful for people who may want to view magnified images and understand page layout but want a screen reader to read text. Read Browsing with a desktop screen reader and Browsing with a mobile screen reader to find out more.
People with cognitive or learning disabilities may also use screen magnification. Magnifying the screen can help people focus on critical tasks and remove unwanted distractions such as banner adverts or animations.
Commonly used screen magnification software
Screen magnification is built-in on all popular platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
Windows has Magnifier built-in and macOS has Zoom. Android Magnification increases everything on screen as does Zoom on iOS. Both mobile platforms also support pinch zoom and the ability to magnify parts of the screen.
Built-in screen magnification is limited by the level of magnification and features it supports, so some people use a separate software such as SuperNova, ZoomText or Fusion all available on Windows.
ZoomText is screen magnification with speech and, according to the WebAim Survey of screen reader users in 2021, is commonly used with the Chrome and Edge browsers. Fusion is a combination of the JAWS screen reader and screen magnification.
How screen magnification works
Screen magnification magnifies all or part of the screen. Depending on the software, content on-screen can be enlarged up to 60 times the original size. This is a percentage increase of 6000%, considerably more than the 200% or 400% recommended in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG).
Screen magnification software is used with a mouse, touchpad, keyboard or other pointer devices. It also comes with keyboard commands to help you quickly execute common actions like zooming in and out.
A valuable feature of screen magnification is focus tracking. As the pointer or cursor moves, the screen magnifier moves with it. Screen magnifiers can also smooth the edges of blocks of text and images to make content more readable.
Customising screen magnification
While magnifying content is helpful, people often use other enhancements to make content easier to see.
Colour inversion, turning text from black-on-white to white-on-black, can reduce screen glare and is helpful for older people or people with certain sight conditions such as macular degeneration.
Mouse and text cursors can often be modified to make them easier to locate on screen. This could be by enlarging them, circling them or changing the colour. Some people may prefer to use crosshairs (a cross) rather than a mouse cursor, especially if they can be customised.
Different magnification modes can be used for different tasks. Magnification can cover the whole screen, or a magnifying lens can be moved around the un-magnified screen. This is useful when browsing lists of links as by magnifying that area, the links become larger and easier to select.
Screen magnification and speech output
Screen magnification is helpful for some tasks, but speech output is better for others. For example, speech output is useful when images are blurred, and you want to listen to the text description instead.
Fly-out menus and pop-ups can be challenging to use as they take over the whole screen. Providing they are coded correctly, speech output can help people access the links and controls to navigate away from or close the menus and pop-ups.
Navigating with screen magnification
People who use screen magnification will look at the top left when opening a web page to understand where they are. Typically this is the website logo in the header. People expect to find common features such as the main navigation, search and links to login and help by scrolling horizontally.
When using screen magnification, it can be easy to become disorientated in long web pages, pages with a lot of content, or pages with large areas of white space. A common strategy is to zoom out to find your location quickly and then zoom back in again to explore the content in-depth.
People who use screen magnification rely on their mouse (or finger on a touchpad) to pan their screen and, at times, need different levels of magnification. For example, if links and buttons are small, magnification can be increased so people can select them accurately.
Transcript
[The TetraLogical logo whooshes into view on a white background. The logo flashes and stops with a sonar-like 'ping'. It then magnifies and fades out.]
[A dark purple background appears with the TetraLogical logo faintly overlaid]
Browsing with screen magnification.
Screen magnification works by zooming all or parts of the screen as if you are looking through a magnifying glass.
[The TetraLogical homepage appears. In the centre of the screen is the Magnifier application window displaying various options. A mouse hovers over the plus button. As it is selected, the screen gets larger and larger]
Depending on the software, you can enlarge content on screen to 60 times, or 6000% the original size, and more.
Screen magnification software is used with a mouse, touchpad, keyboard or other pointer device. It also comes with keyboard commands to help you quickly execute common actions like zooming in and out.
[A zoomed-in TetraLogical homepage appears. As the mouse pointer moves around, the screen tracks it so different elements of the page are displayed]
A really useful feature of screen magnification is focus tracking. As you move the pointer or cursor, the screen magnifier moves with it. Taking Magnifier on Windows as an example, note how the zoomed-in view scrolls to follow the mouse pointer. When navigating using the keyboard, note how the view scrolls to always maintain the currently focused element in view.
While magnifying content is helpful, people often use additional enhancements to make content easier to see.
[The screen displays the Magnifier settings. The user checks the "Invert colours" box]
For example, colour inversion, turning text from black-on-white to white-on-black, can reduce screen glare and is helpful for older people or people with certain sight conditions such as macular degeneration.
[The TetraLogical homepage is displayed again. This time, the ZoomText Magnifier/Reader settings are displayed]
Mouse and text cursors can often be modified to make them easier to locate on screen.
[The user navigates to the "Pointer" drop-down. "Normal" is currently selected. Next to the option "Scheme" a range of different options are available. The user selects "Large yellow" which increases the size of the pointer and changes the colour]
This could be by enlarging them, circling them, or changing the colour.
[The user selects the "Yellow with crosshairs" option. The cursor changes to a hand icon. Large red grid lines are displayed across the entire screen. The horizontal and vertical lines meet at the point where the cursor sits]
Some people may prefer to use crosshairs rather than a mouse cursor, especially if they can be customised.
[The screen changes back to the Magnifier settings. It shows the option "Change Magnifier view" and offers a dropdown for the user to choose a view where full screen is currently selected.
You can use different magnification modes for different tasks.
[The user selects "Lens" which creates a highly magnified rectangle that focuses on the element the cursor hovers over]
You can magnify the whole screen, or use a magnifying lens that can be moved around the otherwise un-magnified screen.
[The TetraLogical homepage reappears with the ZoomText Magnifier/Reader settings displayed]
Many screen magnification solutions also include speech output or integrated screen reading capabilities. Taking ZoomText as an example, you can enable "Mouse Echo" which will read out any text underneath the mouse pointer.
[The user selects the "Mouse" drop-down and changes the settings from "no echo" to "instant"]
[ZoomText] Mouse, No Echo checked, Instant, Mouse Echo set to Instant mode, Hello, we're TetraLogical, We're a company with inclusion at its heart.
Matching functionality is also available if you're navigating with a keyboard instead.
[The TetraLogical homepage is displayed again, zoomed in to 300%]
When opening a web page, people who use screen magnification will generally move the viewport to the top left of the page (for content in a language that is written left-to-right).
[The user slowly moves their mouse across the screen displaying the menu bar from left to right]
Typically this is the website logo in the header of the web page. People expect to find common features such as the main navigation, search, and links to login and help by scrolling horizontally.
[The page changes to the "Contact us" heading as the user navigates down to the page footer]
People who use screen magnification often rely on their mouse (or finger on a touchpad) to pan their screen and at times need different levels of magnification.
[The user zooms in further, then uses the cursor to navigate to the social icons for Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn in the footer]
For example, if links and buttons are small, magnification can be increased to enable people to select them accurately.
[The cursor moves around in a blank space with no content in sight]
When using screen magnification, it can be easy to become disorientated in long web pages or pages with a lot of content or large areas of white space.
[The user zooms out, locates the content they need, then zooms back in]
A common strategy is to zoom out to find your location quickly and then zoom back in again to explore the content in-depth.
These are some of the high-level details about screen magnification, and common strategies that people browsing with screen magnification use.
[The screen fades to white and the TetraLogical logo appears again]
To find out more about accessibility visit tetralogical.com.
Summary
People use screen magnification because they have partial sight or have a cognitive or learning disability, which means magnifying content is helpful.
People who use screen magnification have many options available to help make content more visible. This includes inverting colours, customising the mouse pointer and cursors, using a crosshair cursor and an on-screen magnifying glass. They can also combine screen magnification with speech output.
People can navigate using a mouse or touchpad and often zoom in and out of content to orientate themselves, find their location in a page and enlarge controls to make them easier to select.
Next steps
Read an inclusive approach to video production to learn more about how to produce accessible videos and how our embedded accessibility service can help you achieve sustainable accessibility.
Updated Thursday 2 March 2023.