Memorizing the most common shortcut keys will preclude the necessity to refer back to the Universal Access window on the Mac whenever you want to change something. For example, pressing Opt + 2-Finger Drag Up/Down increases and decreases the level of magnification, respectively.

When Zoom is loaded, there are some gestures on the touchpad that allow limited access to the program's options. Left-clicking the icon resembling a small gear in the top-right corner of the window opens another called Magnifier Options, where you'll find additional options such as the tracking of mouse, pointer, and text focus, and color inversion.Īpple Zoom does not provide an onscreen window or user interface when in use, which might be a disadvantage for users who are more dependent on the mouse. Visit the Magnifier keyboard shortcuts webpage for a list of shortcut commands. For those of you who prefer mouse commands over shortcut keys, this can be convenient. The advantage to the partially transparent magnifying glass is that it allows immediate access to the basic options within Magnifier using the mouse. Minimizing the magnifier removes this image from view while preserving the level of magnification and any other changes that you've made.

Unless one of these options is accessed within three seconds, the basic options window will be automatically replaced by an image of a small, partially transparent magnifying glass. Both Magnifier and Zoom allow their respective screen magnification programs to be loaded at startup as well.Īfter Magnifier is launched, a small window appears in the center of the screen that displays some basic options within Magnifier, such as controls that increase and decrease the viewable area and modify the available views. Zoom can be launched on the Mac by pressing Opt + Cmd + 8 or via the Universal Access window. If you prefer to not memorize shortcut keys, Magnifier can be launched through the Ease of Access Center in Windows or through the Start menu. Magnifier can be launched at any point by pressing the Windows key and +.

Magnifier and Zoom can be launched in a variety of ways. With their latest software releases, both Microsoft and Apple have made improvements to the level of accessibility within their respective operating systems, including each screen magnification program.įor this review, Microsoft Magnifier in Windows 7 and Apple Zoom in Mac OS X Lion were evaluated in eight categories:

Zoom on windows 7