Need help with vision related difficulty with editors and manuals.

[Paul_L]

Hi everybody.

I'm 75 years old and I've been growing a pretty fair pair of cataracts for about 15 years. Because of other issues I'm not a candidate for surgery. I've been able to program pretty well with a 24 inch monitor, Windoze 7 video set to high contrast (green text on a black background), and any one of the several Visual Studio program editors all of which respect the Windoze video preference settings.

The PICAXE manuals are only offered as pdf files and thus can't be viewed in reverse video. Reading the light black text on the white background is almost impossible for me. Is it possible for me to obtain the manuals as either text files or doc files? I would then be able to view them in Word or a programming editor which will respect the Windoze video preference settings.

Before I go through the learning curve for a new editor I would like to ask if the REVED PICAXE editor will respect Windoze video preference settings, or if you can somehow set it to display program text in green on a black background?

If this is not possible then will it be possible for me to write my code using one of the Visual Studio editors which I have, save it as a text file with a bas extension, then load it into the PICAXE editor for syntax checking and simulation?

Paul Lepkowski
East Fishkill, NY

 

[techElder]

Paul, the program editor has some options for changing background "colours" under File / Options / Colours / Fonts. Text color changes are a bit more complicated, because the text color changes with syntax etc.

I think only the owner of the source could provide the changes to the PDF manuals.

 

[rossko57]

PDFs are tricky. The whole objective is to present everyone with the same experience, like a printed sheet of paper.
What's needed is a helpful PDF viewer, more than changes to the original PDF.
Adobe themselves (producers of Acrobat reader) when offering 'assistance', seem more geared up to screen audio reading than allowing visual tweaking.

This Swiss PDF reader may be an alternative
http://assistivetechnology.about.com/od/AudiobookPlayerOptions/f/What-Is-The-Vip-Pdf-reader.htm
I have no idea if it is any actual use, it does say it allows contrast tinkering.

There are guidelines for the authors of PDF documents to produce docs more amenable to assistive technologies, but again I think this is more aimed at audio reading. Nevertheless, something that should be taken into account by authors.

 

[Armp]

East Fishkill, NY

Small world!! We're almost neighbors

 

[hungarian]

I wish they didn't push Adobe PDF reader everywhere on the internet. It's a memory hog.

I use PDF XChange Viewer. The Viewer is free and as far as I can tell has no form of malware.

It can be downloaded at the link below, in a box on the right hand side of the page (as of 6 Mar 2015 the version is 2.5.312.1). There are lots of download options so if you're not sure the usual option is "EXE installer"

I've tried it on the PICAXE manual and the background and text colours can be changed using: Menu > View > Customize User Interface Appearance > Accessibility > Override Document Colors, then choosing the colours you need.

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

I don't work for them!

 

[Technical]

As PE6 uses syntax colouring you can set the font colours, and text background colour, to almost any colour you like via File>Options>Colours/Fonts
Green on black is certainly possible.

 

[Pongo]

Foxit Reader is another free PDF viewer, I always install/use that instead of the bloated Adobe reader. As with all free software watch out for, and decline, any unwanted add-ons during the install process.

Foxit Reader also allows you to change the text and background colors of the help files, the option is under Preferences (the gear icon) and Accessibility. There is also a "Use Windows Color Scheme" option which may be what Paul_L is looking for.

 

[premelec]

FWIW I use Sumatra - don't know what it's unusual capabilities may be... I used to use Foxit [don't recall why I changed ]

 

[Paul_L]

Yep, that's me. Where are you?

 

[Armp]

<1 mile. I'll reply to your pm later.

BTW I've taken the street name out of my previous post.

 

[Paul_L]

Armp,

That's really close. Not many roads to choose from in that distance. Not quite far enough to include dairy cows. Thanks for removing the street name but I don't really care much if people know I exist. I really am still here.

 

[Paul_L]

The alternative pdf viewers are not much help. I've tried them all. Acrobat Viewer has a selection under EDIT - PREFERENCES - ACCESSIBILITY which sets it to respect the windoze screen preferences. The alternative viewers all do about the same thing.

The problem is that the editors who composed this pdf set many different colors which respond very strangely to reverse video. The regular text bedcomes dark red on a black background. The code snippets become dark grey on black. The only thing in the document which responds well is the white on black sub-section number. If you click on Constants in the basic language manual the number 7 in the black box reverses nicely.

Strangely, the clickable section headings in the left panel appear in the windoze reverse video colors and are highly legible.

I guess there's no way to improve the situation. Unfortunately, the doctors don't think I'm a good candidate for cataract removal surgery.

 

[Paul_L]

As PE6 uses syntax colouring you can set the font colours, and text background colour, to almost any colour you like via File>Options>Colours/Fonts
Green on black is certainly possible.

That's good to know. I'll give the editor a try. That's the way the four editors I have in Visual Studio work. I've been using those editors heavily for many years and they help a lot.

Paul

 

[Paul_L]

As PE6 uses syntax colouring you can set the font colours, and text background colour, to almost any colour you like via File>Options>Colours/Fonts
Green on black is certainly possible.

I tried setting the background to black but then the available text color choices are not bright enough. Remarks show up as a very dim green, normal code shows as a dark red against the black. Is it possible to see a full spectrum color chart like windows programs? Can you suggest a very bold monospaced font to use?

 

[Paul_L]

As PE6 uses syntax colouring you can set the font colours, and text background colour, to almost any colour you like via File>Options>Colours/Fonts
Green on black is certainly possible.

I am attaching a screen capture of the editor with the File menu pulled down. This is captured from a 24 inch monitor. I just can't read the pulldown menu choices with the light green font on the white background. Do you have any suggestions to improve the usability of the menus and the editor in general.

 

[Paul_L]

I am attaching a screen capture of a manual page. The pdf is loaded into the Acrobat Reader which has the option of following windows video preferences. When you select high visibility you don't get a nice green on black. Various parts of your text are set to different colors and these settings have unexpected results. Please note that the index text in the left pane displays as intended. The manuals are not very usable for me.