Tips for failing eyesight? PC use

[tomos]

Hi all, an older relative of mine is having problems with his eyes. He can currently only easily read printed text when it's above 40 point size. He's coping quite well, considering, on a 17" laptop -- as he knows the menu basics in the software he uses, and can touch type. He mostly writes letters (Softmaker Office) or emails (Gmail).

I was looking at ~ 27" monitors, that we could connect one to the laptop (4k resolution doesn't seem to be any advantage, so probably 2560 x 1440).

Does anyone have any tips or advice that might be helpful in this situation?

[mouser]

It will absolutely make a big difference to have a 27" monitor.
As you say the resolution is not important, don't need 4k.
And set windows font size (dpi) higher.
Windows also has a magnifier tool but I think if you set the resolution to a reasonable value, and windows font size higher (150%?) that may be good enough.

[MilesAhead]

I notice for myself that on some web pages there is not much contrast as the background colors are often close to the foreground text color.  Depending on the browser you may be able to have it load a css page by default that may make reading text easier by overriding the background color of the page.

Just a thought.   

[BGM]

You could try "reading mode" which many browsers have.  That would help out the contrast and background colours, and you don't have to mess with addons.

[MilesAhead]

You could try "reading mode" which many browsers have.  That would help out the contrast and background colours, and you don't have to mess with addons.

-BGM (March 02, 2022, 03:37 PM)

A better idea for sure.   

[Vurbal]

No advice, but I'm interested as well. My eyesight is reaching the point where everyday tasks are challenging. I'm mostly okay with a decent size computer monitor today, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to say that in 6 months.

OTOH looking at a 7 segment LCD display, ie a digital clock, is like waterboarding my eyes.

[Stoic Joker]

Got a client that has a pair of 32" curved monitors running at 1920x1080. I'd originally panned the idea (but lost the debate) because I thought the height would be hard on the neck … But it wasn't. It's actually a really nice setup, and very easy to read on.

[tomos]

Belated thanks for the responses. Got a 27" monitor and have it set to show same as laptop screen (which is set to 175%). So, we'll see how that goes.

The monitor is so nice btw, I said I'd buy it off of him if he decides he needs a bigger one. ASUS PA278QV (Newegg) -- it has some weaknesses (uneven backlighting) but comes colour calibrated, has good brightness and contrast (in its current location at any rate) and good ergonomics. And if you're just used to FHD, the extra pixels makes it really sharp.

[tomos]

Almost a year on -- M's eyesight has deteriorated, but has been fairly stable the last while.

Current problems and some possible or attempted solutions:


(1) Windows scaling

This is the biggest problem: he can no longer read menus, or see symbols clearly.
I would like to increase Windows font size above current setting of 175%, but then dialogues would cut-off at the bottom of the screen (currently just about able to see e.g. the [Print] button in the print dialogue). Due to the regular 16:9 monitor ratio, screen height is a big problem. Yesterday I was considering rotating the monitor to portrait but I didnt have time to mess around with it. Will try it on my computer next week. Portrait would allow me to increase the size of everything -- but how much can one increase the scaling? ==>

Looking on my laptop settings here:
I can increase text to 225%, but can only increase "apps and text" to 175% (see "make everything bigger" below)

Tips for failing eyesight? PC use

Wondering, if we got a larger monitor with a higher resolution, is all this stuff is even smaller -- or does Windows allow for more magnification on e.g 4k monitors?

 
(2) Browser (Firefox). Mainly for email (gmail)

# Dark theme causes some elements on gmail page to disappear (e.g. tickboxes, symbols)
# using Ctrl and plus/minus keys to zoom contents of the page seems like a great idea, but the text within an email will go off-screen on the right-hand side -- this cut-off text can no longer be reached (unless you reduce zoom/magnification)


(3) Windows Magnifying glass

# using Winkey and plus/minus keys to zoom -- I've shown him how to do this a couple of times, but he struggles with this. The overview is lost, and it can be hard to understand where you are on the page. Struggles with navigation. Will see how/if this helps him.


(4) Windows (10) high contrast theme

This unsuccessful (see gmail/dark theme above). His text programme (Softmaker Office) shows black text on a black background.
Is currently using Windows dark theme, which usually has white background for web pages etc. This seem okay atm so I'm not going to mess with it.