As February comes to a close, we want to recognize Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Low Vision Awareness Month. The American Academy of Ophthalmology reports nearly 2.1 million Americans age 50 and over are diagnosed with late stage AMD, which can lead to acute visual impairment. This makes it a leading cause of vision loss in the United States.
AMD is an eye disease that damages the macula, the small part of the retina that affects the central vision. This can result in significant vision loss, though blindness does not typically occur.
The academy’s findings also reveal more than 2.9 million Americans age 40 and older are diagnosed as having low vision. They define low vision as a visual impairment not correctable through medicine, eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery, with “best-corrected visual acuity worse than 20/40 in the better-seeing eye.”
Vispero provides a number of solutions to help those with low vision read printed and digital materials. One solution is ZoomText, a screen magnifier and magnifier/reader software product that enlarges and enhances screen content so it is easier for those with visual impairments to read and navigate.
A feature we introduced in our February update of ZoomText is True Center Tracking. As you move the mouse, type text, and navigate menus, dialogs and other program controls, the zoom window automatically scrolls to keep the focus in view. This is known as tracking. However, at high magnification levels, it can be easy to lose your place since the screen, mouse pointer, and text cursor may all be moving at once.
When using True Center Tracking, the focus is always at the center of the screen. As you approach the edge of the screen, the edge moves to the center of the viewing area, and a background color fills the area past the Windows desktop.
Watch our video to learn more about True Center Tracking in ZoomText, and get instructions for enabling it.
Visit the What’s New in ZoomText 2023 page to display a list of all software enhancements. Visit the Freedom Scientific Software page or the Freedom Scientific Software Licensing Portal to download ZoomText.