Windows accessibility features for visually impaired people. Windows Accessibility for Visually Impaired Assign High Contrast Themes

One of the greatest benefits of the Windows user interface is how easy it is to customize its appearance to suit your own tastes. And although it will not be possible to make any cardinal changes to the interface, it is quite possible for any user to make its design personal and unique.

Most of the tools needed to personalize the system can be found under Control panels with a telling name Decoration and personalization. Also, the window with the design settings can be called using the context menu by right-clicking on any free space on the desktop and selecting the lowest item Personalization.

The Windows interface consists of several different elements - desktop background, window colors, mouse cursor, sounds accompanying events in the system, and others. Each of them can be individually modified to your liking. But it's easier to make changes to all these components at once using themes, which are placed right in the center of the personalization window.

Themes

Windows design themes are divided into three groups: My themes, ThemesAero And Basic (simplified) and high contrast themes. Initially, the system included 6 basic designs and one regional Aero style, as well as 6 basic ones.

Aero themes include several themed desktop backgrounds that cycle through each other after a certain time and have their own window decoration color.

Simplified or basic themes remove all Windows decorations (roundings, shadows, translucent surfaces) and give it a strict, concise look. This reduces the load on the video subsystem of the computer, which makes it possible to run Windows 7 on weak machines. Themes with high contrast are designed for visually impaired people.

In addition to the themes that are already built into the system by default, you can download additional skins from the Microsoft website by clicking on the link Other topics on the web. There you will find a huge number of various types of design, sorted for convenience by thematic areas.

Despite such a wide range of topics to choose from, sorting through them all in search of a suitable style is quite troublesome and not everyone will like it. It is much easier for someone to choose the background image and the color of the windows on their own. Moreover, some users may want to change only the picture on the desktop, without touching the rest of the design.

All the commands you need to step by step change the look and feel of Windows are at the bottom of the personalization window.

desktop background

By default, you are prompted to select an image from the built-in Windows collection, but clicking on the button Review you can specify any other folder with graphic files, for example, with your family photos.

Under the image selection window there are buttons for selecting the position of the image on the screen, changing the time for changing images if a slide show is enabled, and a check box, enabling which will allow you to show images in random order.

window color

Selecting the next item in the bottom line of the window Personalization - window color- you can change the color of window borders, taskbars and menus Start.

In the window that opens, in addition to choosing a color from the ready-made options, you can enable / disable transparency, adjust the color intensity, its hue, saturation and brightness.

If these settings are not enough, then click on the link Additional appearance options, where you can choose an individual style for almost every element of the Windows interface.

Sounds

Button Sounds at the bottom of the window Personalization is responsible for changing the sound scheme, which will set the sounds that accompany various events in the operating system and programs.

In this case, you can choose one of the already existing schemes or independently assign your own sounds to the necessary events, thereby creating a new scheme.

True, in most cases, annoying system sounds not only do not have the desire to configure, but I want to disable it altogether, which can also be done in this window by selecting a sound scheme Soundless.

Screensaver

The last setting on the bottom line of the personalization window is responsible for the screen saver, the image that appears on the monitor when the computer is idle.

In the days of CRT monitors, a screen saver made a lot of sense. Constantly changing the image on the screen, it ensured uniform burnout of the phosphor layer, which was responsible for the color reproduction of the monitor.

In the era of liquid crystal displays, screensavers are no longer of almost any use and are just decoration.

Windows 7 comes with just six pretty simple screensavers. Those for whom this will not be enough can take a walk on the Internet, where a huge number of screensavers for Windows are located. Some of them have a very practical purpose, for example, turning your monitor screen into a clock, and some are a real feast of three-dimensionality and special effects.

If you are more concerned about energy saving when your computer is idle, then it is better to turn off the screen saver altogether.

At the end of acquaintance with the panel Personalization let's look at the top of her left column. Here are additional commands that allow you to change the settings of desktop icons (their composition and icons), configure the display of mouse pointers and change the personal account icon.

Screen resolution and font size

Decorations are certainly good, but beautiful pictures, although pleasing to the eye, do not make working at a computer more comfortable. For this, parameters such as the size of the font and its clarity in the captions under the icons or in the menu, as well as the size of the icons themselves, are more responsible.

To a greater extent, these parameters are affected by the screen resolution - one of the main characteristics of the monitor, showing the number of dots (pixels) horizontally and vertically that the display can accommodate. For example, a resolution of 1280x1024 indicates that the monitor screen consists of 1024 horizontal rows, in which there are 1280 pixels each, forming an image.

It is important that in Windows the screen resolution be set equal to the physical resolution of the monitor, since only in this case the clarity of the output image is guaranteed. That is, if your monitor has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, and the resolution of the operating system is set to 1680x1080 pixels, then in this case, the font doubles, the outlines of the icons are blurry, and the image itself becomes more grainy and “rough”.

To set or check the permission, right-click on any free point on the desktop and select the command in the context menu that appears. Screen resolution.

If the resolution item, next to its value, says “recommended” in brackets, then the system has the optimal resolution for your monitor.

On the one hand, the higher the resolution of the monitor, the clearer the image is obtained, the picture quality becomes better, and more information is placed on the screen. However, at the same time, the icons and the system font become smaller, and people with visual impairments are less comfortable working at this resolution.

Of course, in this case, you can simply set the monitor resolution to a lower one instead of the recommended one and all captions, menu windows and icons will become larger. But at the same time, the overall image quality will drop dramatically due to the reasons mentioned above. So how to be?

Fortunately, the developers have taken care of this problem, and in the Windows system, you can increase the size of text and icons without changing the optimal resolution. To do this, in the panel Screen resolution click on the link Make text and other elements bigger or smaller.

In the window that opens, you can select the required scale from three standard values, or set it manually by clicking on the link Other font size in the left column.

By the way call a window Screen possible from the panel Personalization by clicking on the link of the same name in the lower left corner.

If you're having trouble adjusting the brightness or contrast of your laptop screen, keep in mind that every laptop model (and every operating system) is slightly different. In this article, we will discuss some common ways to adjust brightness and contrast on a portable computer. If, for example, you have any questions, you can immediately write them in the comment form on the site. Also be sure to include your laptop model and operating system version.

How to reduce the brightness on a laptop and computer?

This is done, as always, very simply. Follow our instructions, further in the list on the site. And in a few minutes you will be able to understand how this function works.

Adjusting the brightness using your laptop's keys

On most laptops, you can adjust the display brightness using special keys on the keyboard. The keys are usually denoted by a brightness symbol (the Unicode brightness symbol).

Brightness keys are often function keys that have a special function if you press them while holding down the Fn key.

The Fn key is usually located to the left of your spacebar. The brightness function keys can be located at the top of the keyboard or on the arrow keys.

For example, on a Dell XPS laptop keyboard (picture below), hold the Fn key and press F11 or F12 to adjust the screen brightness.

Other laptops have keys dedicated entirely to brightness control. The HP Chromebook keyboard (pictured below) doesn't have an Fn key - just press the brightness keys.

Using the battery icon on the taskbar

Click the battery icon on the taskbar.

In the power status window, click the brightness icon. Each time you click on a tile, the brightness will be adjusted by 25%.

Using the Windows Mobility Center

Open the User Tasks menu by right-clicking on the Start Menu icon or by typing Win + X (press and hold the Windows key and press X).

• Click Mobility Center (or press B).
• In the mobility center, adjust the brightness slider.
• Using the Control Panel
• Open Control Panel.
• Click "Set up commonly used mobility settings".
• In the Mobility Center window, adjust the brightness slider.

Adjusting brightness in Windows 8

• Open the Charms bar.
• Select "Settings".
• Select the brightness icon.
• Move the slider up and down with your mouse or by pressing the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard.

Adjusting brightness in Windows 7

• Open Control Panel.
• Select Hardware and Sound.
• Select Power Options.
• Use the mouse to move the brightness slider at the bottom of the window.

Contrast adjustment

Most laptops do not have hardware level contrast controls, but you can set your operating system to use a high contrast display mode.

Adjusting Contrast in Windows 10

While holding down the Shift and Alt keys on the left side of your keyboard, press the Print Screen key.

After you ask if you want to enable high contrast mode. Click Yes.

To return to normal contrast mode, repeat step 1 and the high contrast mode will be cancelled.

If pressing the key combination doesn't bring up the "High Contrast" tooltip, you can turn it on in the "Ease of Access" menu:

• Open Control Panel.
• Click "Ease of Access".
• Select Ease of Access Center.
• Select Make Your Computer Easier to Browsing.
• Make sure "Turn high contrast on or off when..." is enabled.
• Click OK.

Adjusting Contrast in Windows 8

• Open the Charms bar.
• Click "Settings".
• Select Ease of Access.
• In high contrast mode, press the button to enable or disable high contrast mode.

Adjusting Contrast in Windows 7

• Open Control Panel.
• Enter the color of the window in the search bar.
• Click "Change Window Color and Label".

Under Basic and high contrast themes, select a high contrast theme.

Controlling screen brightness in power options

After adjusting your laptop's brightness, it should automatically save the new settings. If the brightness settings are not retained after restarting the computer, they are probably overridden by the settings in the Power Options menu. If so, you will need to create a custom power plan, which can be done using the Power Options utility in the Control Panel.

Driver Issues

If the keyboard shortcut method doesn't work and you've made the appropriate adjustments to your power options, it's likely that your computer has a problem with the video driver. Driver issues usually occur after updating video drivers. The monitor driver may also be causing this issue. To resolve possible monitor-related issues, reinstall the monitor by following the steps below.

• Open Windows Device Manager.
• Click the "+" arrow next to "Monitors" to expand the list.
• Highlight all detected monitors in the Monitors section and click Remove to remove them from your computer.

Once the monitors are removed from Device Manager, under Action, select Scan for hardware changes to allow Windows to re-detect the monitor and install the appropriate drivers.

Finally, we also recommend downloading the latest video drivers directly from the video card manufacturer's official website. If this issue is due to you updating your drivers, please install an earlier version of your video drivers to see if that fixes the issue.

Currently, many mobile applications and desktop systems have a dark interface. This is not a surprise, because a dark background requires less attention and it is better to read the text on it. You can have such a cool background on your Windows 10 Dark Theme PC. Read on to find out how to switch your OS to the "dark side".

Windows 10 Dark Theme

We know that the OS gives users the ability to customize almost every detail of their work environment. If you want to flip the background of some apps from white to black, you can switch to the Windows 10 Dark Theme theme. Or you could try a high contrast theme, for example.

To switch, do the following:

1. Press key Windows + I, to open Settings. Or go to the menu "Start" and select the gear icon (Settings).
2. In chapter "Settings" select "Personalization" > "Colors".
3. Scroll down the page to the section "Main Color Choice" and then select "Dark". You can also choose any custom color for application windows.

Dark color works in some Windows 10 apps, but not all apps will have a black background. Internet browsers and File Explorer are among those applications where you won't see any changes.

High contrast settings in Windows 10

To make a universal switch, apply "High Contrast Settings". You can find this in the Personalization window in the Application Mode settings. Are you having trouble doing it?

Do the following:

1. In area "Main parameters" click icon "Special abilities".
2. In the window "Special abilities" select "High Contrast". You can then select your preferred color combination from the drop-down menu.

Keep in mind that the Microsoft Office suite and the Edge browser have their own dark themes. Mozilla Firefox has a similar add-on, while Google Chrome also offers a High Contrast extension. If you're interested, macOS will give you the same functionality. You can adjust contrast and color in System Preferences. Just go to Accessibility > Display to start personalizing OS themes.

Other Ways to Reduce Eye Strain on Windows 10

If your work involves a computer and you work for several hours in a row, you may experience eye discomfort. Of course, there may be other ways to help you better protect your eyes when using Windows 10.

Here is another way to make the operating system work easier:

Using F.Lux

MacBooks use Night Shift to automatically change display colors based on the time of day. This causes the computer screen to match the lighting in the room, so your circadian rhythm won't be affected by overexposure to blue light. Therefore, it will not be difficult for you to work at dusk.

You can apply the same feature on Windows 10 with F.Lux tool. This is an application that helps protect your eyes while using your PC by eliminating the blue background. Its creators have reportedly made the app available in the Windows Store. Even if you are still using a previous version of Windows, you can freely download the application from its official website.

PC Position Adjustment

What most of us don't know is that we constantly put a lot of strain on our eyes whenever we look up or down at a computer. It goes without saying that the monitor should be at eye level and at a comfortable distance from your eyes.

Temporary interruption

Our eyes are not designed to stare at screens for hours. Computer breaks, it turns out, are crucial if you're looking after your eyes. If you can't make it a habit, your best bet is to set up reminders. Fortunately, there are many tools designed for this purpose. They either completely block your computer to force you to get distracted for a moment, or simply set up reminders that it's time to take a break. Here are some of the popular programs that we know of that will help you get done during your break - PCWorkBreak and EyeLeo.

Aside from aesthetics, the Windows 10 Dark theme can best protect your eyes while spending long hours on your laptop. If this is not enough, feel free to try other options. We're sure they'll do wonders for reducing eye fatigue when you're in front of your PC (or Mac).

If you're wondering what other, more interesting themes Microsoft has to offer in Windows 10, in that case, you can download hundreds of other Windows theme packs.

The article is good, but I have a laptop with Windows 8 and I was surprised to find that the Aero effects in the "eight" are completely absent. In theory, in Windows 8 they should be even better than in Windows 7, but they were completely removed! In this regard, I want to ask a few questions on your useful site.

1. Why is the Aero Glass effect widely used in Windows 7 completely missing in Windows 8?

2. How to get Aero effects back in Windows 8: beautiful animation, fade, slide, fade out.

3. Our system administrator at work uses only high-contrast themes on his Windows 8 computer and why, does not say. What's the secret?

Friends! The fact is that Windows 8/8.1 has a completely different design concept than all previous versions of Windows. Along with the implementation of the tiled Metro interface in Windows 8, the Aero Glass effect in the desktop part of the system was removed, and themes became simpler, lighter, and the focus was shifted from the beauty of window design by Microsoft to a variety of wallpapers for the desktop. They can be downloaded in a huge variety from the official website of the software giant absolutely free. You can make windows translucent in Windows 8/8.1 only by adjusting the color intensity.

But, of course, it will only be a pathetic parody of the Aero Glass effect in Windows 7. There will be no that depth, that volume, that atmosphere. However, the Aero Glass effect in Windows 8/8.1 can be implemented by installing unofficial third-party software patches. Another question is why do this if Microsoft, when creating Windows 8, planned to simplify the interface design so that the hardware resources of low-powered computer devices were used to the maximum for the operation of the system and programs?

You can make the system a little faster in both Windows 7 and 8/8.1 versions by setting a high-contrast theme.

High contrast themes are based on a different engine than regular themes. True, their intended purpose is completely different, and saving system resources is only a collateral benefit. High-contrast Windows themes are designed for visually impaired users. All unnecessary distracting elements are removed, and thanks to the contrast of colors, find the necessary buttons, options, list positions, etc. can be done quickly and easily.

High-contrast themes are also used by programmers for health prevention - to protect eyesight and reduce fatigue during daily active work with a computer. And, perhaps, many of them are simply nostalgic for the old days of monochrome displays and the simplicity of the non-diverse DOS operating system.

Windows 8/8.1 comes preinstalled with four basic high contrast themes. But flexible settings of high-contrast themes allow you to customize the system interface to individual user preferences.

To install and configure a high contrast theme, call the context menu on the desktop and select "Personalization".

Basic high contrast themes will be at the very bottom of the list of preset themes.

Select a theme with a set of colors that appeals to you and it will replace your current theme.

And you can set some nice image.

After that, return to the personalization section and click the "Color" link.

High contrast themes will fully work in Windows system services and only in some programs, but not in all. For example, the content of the windows of some third-party browsers will be the way the whole world sees it.

The high-contrast look of the interface in the style of the selected theme will only be within the browser menu.

But regular Internet Explorer will dutifully follow all the color trends of the installed high-contrast theme.

Some Metro applications will not agree to the inferiority of the colors of reality.

However, many Metro apps will change their original look and feel to a high contrast theme style.

Naturally, the Windows 8/8.1 Metro start screen will lose all its beauty and will resemble a kind of prison, through the barred windows of which application tiles will timidly look through. At the same time, dynamic tiles will also periodically change the appearance of the picture, as in the full-fledged Windows 8/8.1 interface theme.

A high-contrast theme will not interfere with working with graphic editors in any way - on the contrary, it will allow you to concentrate on the image being edited.

But perhaps the biggest effect of using a high-contrast theme can be obtained when working with text editors. It is simply impossible not to notice and not correct errors in the typed text.

Question from user

Hello. My brightness on my laptop began to spontaneously change: with a dark image, the brightness drops, and with a light image, it is restored to its normal level.

How can I get rid of this problem, otherwise my eyes began to get tired because of it? OS: Windows 8, graph. accelerator (video card) Intel HD 4000 (built-in).

Good day!

This problem began to appear more and more often after the release of Windows 8 (this OS introduced the ability to adaptively adjust the brightness, depending on the picture on your screen). Also, some laptops are equipped with special software and sensors that determine the level of illumination in the room, and adjust the brightness of the screen according to it.

There is nothing wrong with this, but in certain cases such a change does not allow it to work normally and interferes with the user. In the article I will tell you in detail how you can turn off this spontaneous change in brightness ...

Eliminate automatic monitor brightness changes

1) Disable adaptive brightness control

This is the first thing to do. This option is available in Windows 8, 8.1, 10. Whoever has Windows 7 can omit this part of the article.

You need to open the power settings section:

1. or via the following address: Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options
2. or by pressing the Win + R keys and entering the powercfg.cpl command (see screenshot below).

In power settings: follow the link "Setting the power plan" in the selected mode (on the screen below it is balanced mode. The selected mode is marked in bold black).

And now find among the settings tab "Screen" and open it. Here in the tab there are 3 key settings:

1. screen brightness on battery and mains: set the values ​​​​that suit you;
2. screen brightness level in dimmed mode: set exactly the same values ​​that you have set in the tab "Screen Brightness";
3. turn off adaptive brightness from the mains and battery (see screenshot below).

Now save your settings and try looking at bright and dark pictures (for example) to see if the brightness changes. As a rule, such settings completely eliminate this problem ...

Update 06/10/2018

If you are using Windows 10, pay attention to its control panel (to go to it - press Win + i). In chapter "System/Display" there is a special a setting that allows the laptop to change its brightness as the ambient light changes. Turn it off too!

2) Setting the power supply of the video card

The laptop itself can reduce the brightness under certain operating modes. For example, Intel HD graphics cards support Display Power Saving Technology, extended gaming time on battery power. Similar technologies exist in both AMD and nVidia.

First you need to go to the video card driver settings (you can through - see the screen below), or you can through the tray icon, next to the clock.

Intel graphics settings (tray)

Important!

If you do not have a tray icon, and there is also no link to graphics settings in the control panel, then most likely you do not have drivers installed (it is likely that you have a "universal" driver that was installed during Windows installation). In this case, I recommend programs for updating drivers:

They need to set the following:

1. set the power saving option to maximum performance mode;
2. turn off extended game play time on battery power;
3. disable display power saving technology (screen below - see arrows).

Note!

For example, in AMD video cards, you need to open the "Power" section, then enable maximum performance, and disable Vari-Bright technology (this is AMD's technology that allows you to adjust brightness).

Vari-Bright disabled! (AMD Graphics settings) / Clickable

3) Sensor Surveillance Service

There is one service in Windows that monitors the sensors and adjusts the display lighting, depending on the illumination of the room in which your device is working.

I can say that sometimes the service does not work properly and can affect the brightness adjustment, even if you do not have any sensors!

How to disable sensor monitoring services

Open a window with services: the easiest way is to press the keys Win+R, enter services.msc, press Enter. The method works in all versions of Windows.

Next in the list you need to find the service "Sensor Monitoring Service" , open it. In the graph "launch type" put [disabled], and stop the service itself so that the status is listed as "Stopped" (see screenshot below).

Then save the settings and restart the laptop.

4) Laptop Control Center

Certain laptop models have a control center among the software installed with the drivers. For example, in the VAIO laptop line from SONY, there are VAIO control center .

In this control center, for example, you first need to open the tab "Power supply" and set high performance, as well as disable the function that extends battery life (see screenshot below).

High performance // Power // VAIO control center

Image Quality // VAIO Control Center

Actually, it is hardly possible to give a description for each of these centers. The VAIO Center is shown above as an example of such software.

Something similar is also in Lenovo laptops: a variety of night modes, dynamic changes in brightness, contrast, and other things can significantly change the quality of the picture on the screen. It is recommended to turn them all off (at least at the time of setup and adjustment).

5) Problems with iron

A change in screen brightness can be associated not only with software settings, but also with faulty hardware. In what cases can you determine that the laptop hardware is to blame:

• if not only the brightness changed on the screen, but stripes, ripples, dots began to run (as in the example below);
• if when you add / decrease the brightness on the monitor, absolutely nothing happens;
• if the brightness changes even without changing the picture on the screen and without changing the lighting mode in the room;
• if the brightness in different parts of the screen is different.

To help!

If you have stripes and ripples on your monitor, I recommend that you read another article of mine:

Stripes and ripples on the screen / As an example

Successful work!