Customising Word for Visually-Impaired

  • Thread starter Thread starter Geoff
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Geoff

I need to make Microsoft Word's I-bar (the vertical flashing line indicating
the insertion point ) more visible for a visually-impaired user.

I've already tried the following in Windows XP and they don't work:

Control Panel > Accessibility Options > Display > Cursor Width
Control Panel > Mouse > Pointers

(Incidentally, the Insertion-Point I-bar is different to the Select-Text
I-bar in the Mouse-Pointers window. They look the same but are different.)

Any suggestions please?

TIA
Geoff
 
I need to make Microsoft Word's I-bar (the vertical flashing line indicating
the insertion point ) more visible for a visually-impaired user.

I've already tried the following in Windows XP and they don't work:

Control Panel > Accessibility Options > Display > Cursor Width
Control Panel > Mouse > Pointers

(Incidentally, the Insertion-Point I-bar is different to the Select-Text
I-bar in the Mouse-Pointers window. They look the same but are different.)

Any suggestions please?

TIA
Geoff
Click to expand...

Geoff, I've thought about this for a while and all I can come up with is to
search for a cursor set that is more visible. You could try alternatives
offered in Control Panel> Mouse> Cursor. You can even select a cursor set
and then modify it - changing just the icon used for the Insertion I-Beam.

Also, there are 3rd party sets available. It just takes some time to find
these and a bit more time trying them until you find one that does what you
want.

After changing the I-Beam or getting a more visible cursor set installed,
it may not be necessary to do further adjusting with the Accessibility
Options.
 
Sharon,

Many thanks for your suggestions and apologies for not replying before now.
(My default Outlook Express setting for this, a new newsgroup for me, was
not set to download.)

The person I was trying to help has, unfortunately, a very low tolerance for
anything that's in the least bit complicated for him - even things that
ordinary mortals might think were relatively simple. (I guess you can't help
everyone: they're simply not ready.)

I'll give your suggestions further thought if the person comes back to me.
In the meantime, I seem to recall that, when I tried the different cursor
sets, I found that I could indeed change the I-beam which moves with the
mouse, but not the insertion-point caret, ie the vertical beam flashing at
the insertion point.

FYI:

Here's some supplementary information I post as a courtesy to you and the
group.

I did write some VBA code in an attempt to change the caret manually, but it
seems that my textbooks and the Microsoft website imply that continuous
control of the caret is in the hands of the application itself and that to
intervene in the way I was attempting is pretty pointless: sooner or later
the application will grab hold of the cursor and do its own thing with it.
If you're interested, I posted my code to the following newsgroup in a
conversation thread that started on September 9, 2006 (see my post dated
September 24):

microsoft.public.winapi

It would seem that, if such a route were taken, the only realistic
possibility might be the suggestion made by "Michael C"; that is, to open
perhaps a black-bordered window around the insertion point to draw attention
to it. But I've found it impossible to get the handle of the Word window
with the focus. I know a bit about MDI windows and their layering, but I
gave up in the face of my lack of progress and lack of enthusiasm on the
part of the person who made the original request.

I mention this only by way of background information as I don't intend to
pursue it further at this stage.

Many thanks, once again, for taking time out to offer some help.

Regards
Geoff
 
it
seems that my textbooks and the Microsoft website imply that continuous
control of the caret is in the hands of the application itself
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply and the copy of your notes. Windows does provide a
global setting for the caret : Mouse> Cursors. It is certainly bad news
that it's only used when the active application doesn't have its own ideas
about that particular cursor icon.
 
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