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[swinster]

Hi,

I have just bought another licence for MC15 and set-up my mother PC, however have immediately come across some potential accessibility issues.

Here current monitor only support 1024x786 and she is running XP. With list she have the fonts DPI set to 120 AND has large fonts set in the windows theme. This makes the screen real estate quite small and so certain windows over extend the boundary of the screen. One of these is the is when she want to rip a CD which fails on the Internet look up so that the CS Submission Dialogue is shown. Unfortunately the OK/Cancel button are off the bottom of the screen and you can even do a blind tab round to them. This has the unfortunately sid affect that you can enter any information, and in fact I have just managed to move the title of the window  off the top of the screen so that I could not even close down the window - I have to forcibly kill MC to get out of the screen.

Other dialogs come close to this problem, but not quite so pronounced.

Obviously, any suggestions regarding her changing the font sizes simply can't happen.

[glynor]

I use large fonts with MC on my HTPC without issue.  Of course, I'm running at 1920x1080.

My recommendation for your mom?  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112017

[swinster]

I use large fonts with MC on my HTPC without issue.  Of course, I'm running at 1920x1080.

My recommendation for your mom?  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112017

Whilst not entirely what I was after, something similar is on the cards. I'm, actually looking at a 27" screen for her. Still, this might not happen immediately and it would be nice to see if  someone at J River can come up with a fix.

I will try to post a screen grab, but it will have to wait util I'm back from holiday - I have saved it in the wrong format and this laptop doesn't have the right app.

[glynor]

I understand.  However, I think they'd be somewhat justified in replying "you're trying to do something non-standard and unsupported".  The large font support in Windows causes problems in a WIDE swath of applications.  MC actually handles it quite well.  Combining large fonts with a very low screen resolution (and probably small monitor) is just asking for trouble.

[Alex B]

My retired father was using an old 17" CRT @ 1024x768 until it died a couple of months ago. I bought him a second hand 19" LCD display that has a native resolution of 1280x1024. He is very happy with the new (it looks as good as new), sharp, and bright monitor. The apparent size of the objects on the screen didn't change and the programs and web sites that are designed for a modern monitor are easier to use and see now.

The last generation 19" LCD non-widescreen monitors are very good, but they are becoming rare in the computer shops. However, it shouldn't be difficult to find an inexpensive second hand unit in excellent condition. I paid 50 Euros (about 65 USD).

[swinster]

I understand.  However, I think they'd be somewhat justified in replying "you're trying to do something non-standard and unsupported".  The large font support in Windows causes problems in a WIDE swath of applications.  MC actually handles it quite well.  Combining large fonts with a very low screen resolution (and probably small monitor) is just asking for trouble.

Fair point. I'm never sure if these accessibility features should be controlled better by the OS, or down to the program developers to make sure there dialog boxes do not misbehave. She currently uses a 19" CRT (a very good monitor in its day), but running at 1280x1024 is not something she can handle. She suffers from macular degeneration which means there are spots in her vision. I think if she could have her own way, the fonts would be around the size of the top line of an optical exam board!!

In XP you had the option of applying different themes AND adjust system font size. This is not possible in Vista (and I assume the same is true in Windows 7) where you only have the choice to increase system font size. This is the recommended course of action to increase font size by MS.

Of course, as monitor sizes increase, so do the resolutions, hence the actual font sizes remain the same or even decrease on smaller sized monitor with high resolutions. Hence the reason for looking at a 27" screen with a 1920x1080 resolution. Hopefully the large size of the screen with a resolution more commonly found on 22-24" screens, couple with a large system font, should do the trick.

This is only one of my headaches as my mother is looking to go fully digital for her dance classes. Essentially, I want a second mobile PC that she will sync with her main PC to maintain the same catalogue etc. The mobile PC can then be used to play music when she is running her dance classes instead of her carrying CD's and a portable CD Player. I was thinking about using the theatre mode on the mobile unit but set it in such a way that there is only a few bits of info on the screen (not sure how configurable the Theatre mode would be to use it in this fashion). The other option is to get a simple remote where she effectively learns where the buttons are - however the J River remote is not ideal as it is only IR - she would prefer an RF unit that can be used from any part of a hall and where she might be out of line of sight of the IR receiver.

[glynor]

I know quite well what macular degeneration is, unfortunately. The research laboratory where I work actually does a lot of work on that exact disorder, and one of my best friends here does a lot of bench work on that very issue!

Yeah.  I might actually look for a HDTV for her, rather than a monitor.  You can probably find a 32-37" HDTV that does 1080p resolution, and that might be a better option even than a monitor (a 27" at 1080p might be still be pretty small for her).  I'd look for a nice 37" 1080p TV and then just hook it up via a DVI-HDMI cable and you should be able to get nice big sizes for EVERYTHING.  The quality will be somewhat crap compared to a "real" monitor, but she doesn't care.

Theater View would probably be PERFECT for her mobile use.  You can easily make an icon for her desktop that launches MC in Theater View mode, check the command line options here.  You can modify the Theater View font size in Options -> Theater View.  In the same dialog, you can also fully customize the menus you see in Theater View, so having a default view come up on launch, organized just how you want (maybe with her different classes listed as "albums" or whatever so she just needs to select one and hit enter) should be a pretty simple task.  You can just remove all of the Video, Television, Images, and other views listed (so they aren't there confusing her), and then just set up your own and it'll show up.  Ask if you want help.  I'd be happy to give you some tips along the way!

[swinster]

Cheers Glynor. The help is very much appreciated. I should have though of an HDTV off the bat. Something I will definitely look into - and of course gives the secondary benefit of getting a TV in that room! Once we have the main screen sorted we will move onto the mobile solution - I would hope this happens sometime before Christmas.

Had a look at the Lab site, looks like you guys cover a lot of bases. I wish you all the best in you research endeavours.