Enlarging the View: ZoomText and MAGic Screen Magnification Software, Part 2
By Salmon, Amy; Anzlovar, Doug; Access World, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 12-26Publication Date: September 2003
Article evaluates ZoomText Version 8.0 from Ai Squared, and MAGic Version 8.02 from Freedom Scientific. Both products are evaluated in terms of eight commonly used features and problems with integrated screen-magnification and speech programs: (1) documentation and help, (2) ease of installation, (3) navigating the control panel, (4) magnification settings, (5) setting the view, (6) color/contrast settings, (7) tracking, and (8) speech output. The authors contend that both ZoomText 8.0 and MAGic 8.02 are powerful screen magnifiers with integrated speech support. After 20 hours of testing both products in Microsoft Office 200 and Internet Explorer, the authors experienced no instances of crashing. ZoomText demonstrated strengths in magnification and view settings, color and contrast options, mouse and cursor enhancements, automatic smoothing, and speech support. MAGic showed strengths in magnification settings, automatic smoothing, tracking, speech-support options, the ability to team MAGic magnification with the JAWS screen reader, and support of popular applications. The weaknesses of ZoomText included inconsistency in speech support and the confusing number of choices to perform similar tasks, such as the AppReader and DocReader. MAGic’s weaknesses included its split view settings, limited color and contrast options, tracking from menus to windows, and erratic speech support. The authors concluded that both products could address documentation and installation issues.
Assistive Products Discussed: MAGIC STANDARD EDITION & MAGIC PROFESSIONAL EDITION
ZOOMTEXT MAGNIFIER / SCREEN READER
Published by: AFB Press (Website:http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=46)
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) (Web Site: http://www.afb.org )
