With the domestic release of ZoomText 9.1 just a few weeks away, its time for Ai Squared’s dealers to polish up their sales pitch for selling this exciting new product. To help you and your staff with that pitch, here are the key new features to tell your customers about when they ask “What’s New in ZoomText 9.1?”
The new ZoomText 9.1 provides exciting new features that will allow you to improve your productivity in all of your applications.
New Dual Monitor Support. ZoomText’s new dual monitor support allows you to utilize two monitors to “expand your magnified view”. At any magnification level you can now have twice as much information in view at all times. You can also use the second screen to share a magnified or unmagnified view of your desktop with another person or group. Note: Dual Monitor Support is available in Windows Vista and XP only. New Focus Enhancements. The new Focus Enhancement feature makes it easy to locate and follow the control focus when you tab and arrow key through menus, dialogs, tool bars, and other application controls. When a control has focus, a bright, colorful rectangle or underline is placed around or under the control, making selection of controls much clearer. Support for Windows Vista. ZoomText 9.1 offers robust support for the new Windows Vista operating system, allowing you to take advantage of Vista’s improved security, stability and of course, it’s fresh, eye-catching user experience. New Windows Vista Logon Support. ZoomText's new logon support provides essential magnification and screen reading features when logging into Windows Vista. Support for Microsoft Office 2007. ZoomText 9.1 is ready for the new look and feel of Office 2007. In Word, Excel and Outlook, all of the new user interface components are tracked and spoken with the clarity you’ve come to expect in previous versions of Office. Support for Adobe Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader 8. ZoomText's reading tools, including AppReader and DocReader, allow you to create and read documents in the latest releases of Acrobat and Reader. Support for Mozilla Firefox 2.0. ZoomText offers advanced support for Firefox 2.0, allowing you to accurately navigate and read complete web pages. In addition, you can use ZoomText’s Web Finder and Text Finder to quickly locate the links, controls and text that you’re interested in. With the clearest text, clearest voices, and now twice the magnified view, ZoomText is the clear choice. So let’s show low-vision users everywhere how they can benefit from the industry-leading advancements we’re making at Ai Squared.
Dual Monitors Are a Wish Come True. by Cathy Gettel
I’ve been using ZoomText for two years and like many of you, I’ve always wished I could see more of what I’m working on. I want to have the text large enough to read, but I want to see more of my work at one time. You might think it sounds like I want to have my cake and eat it too. Well, yes; that’s exactly what I want!
To my delight, Ai Squared has granted my wish. With the advent of ZoomText 9.1, I can now connect two monitors to my computer and see twice as much as I was able to see before. And let me tell you, it makes a huge difference in my life. I have monster spreadsheets I use to keep track of sales, including columns for the company names, monthly sales, year-to-date sales and notes. It makes for a lot of panning back and forth. But with ZoomText 9.1, I can use the new Dual Monitor feature in what is called “Span View”, and see all of the columns at once. Note: I use ZoomText at 2 times magnification.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept of dual monitors, you may be thinking “How does that work?” Imagine two monitors side by side on your desk, together displaying a wider magnified view of the screen. ZoomText takes care of splitting the magnified view between the two screens automatically. All you have to do is appreciate the difference. The image below will help you picture what the dual monitor Span View can do for you.
Span View
On my system, when I use the dual monitor span view, the ZoomText user interface is split across the two screens. If I were working with only the left hand monitor, I’d have to pan the magnified view to see the right half of the ZoomText user interface. With two monitors, I can see the whole ZoomText program at one time.
With two equal size monitors set to the same resolution, the image split is seamless. I usually have the edges of my monitors touching so there is no space showing between the two. In no time, my brain adjusted so that I can ignore the monitor frames and concentrate only on the work in front of me.
Occasionally, I work side by side with one of my coworkers writing articles for ZoomNews and copy for our product brochures. With a simple hotkey, I can switch to “1x View”, allowing me to have one screen magnified for my needs, while the other is unmagnified for my fully-sighted coworker.
1x View
I can also set the dual monitor feature to “Clone View”, which is very useful when I’m training other ZoomText users. With Clone View, both screens display identical magnified views. I can spin one monitor toward my audience and have the other monitor facing me. This helps me maintain the student/teacher feel rather than having everyone gathered around me trying to see one monitor, and making me feel as if I’m in their way.
Clone View
In order for ZoomText to work in dual monitor mode, you must have a system running Windows Vista or Windows XP. You must also have either a dual-head video card or two video cards. To run two external monitors on a laptop you’ll need a docking station that accepts two monitor cables. I can tell you from personal experience, it’s a joy to go from only viewing my laptop screen, such as when I’m traveling, to my desk where I slip the laptop into its docking station and turn on both of my monitors.
If you’ve been wishing for more of what you buy ZoomText for, check out the new dual monitor feature in ZoomText 9.1. In “span view” you’ll see more of the magnified image. And for greater productivity in sharing situations, whether you share with people who are fully sighted or low vision, the “1x view” and “clone view” options is just what the doctor ordered.
The ZoomText 9.1 beta is available now for download from the Ai Squared web site, www.aisquared.com. The official product will begin shipping in the U.S. and Canada in April. Look for the International version in May. Perhaps Ai Squared has granted your wish too.
Editors note: Cathy Gettel is Ai Squared’s Dealer Network Manager. She is not a person with low vision, but rather a person with “over 40 eyes” who appreciates working with the world-leading magnification software.
