Get Windows 11’s accessibility tools now
How you can use the operating system’s new accessibility features ahead of its launch
Ever since Windows 95, Microsoft has made a conscious effort to integrate accessibility features into its operating systems to make it easier to use for people with disabilities. This will continue in Windows 11, as outlined in a blog post
( www.snipca.com/38939) by Jeff Petty, the company’s Windows Accessibility Leader, who claimed the forthcoming system will be the most accessible ever.
That’s great news, but you don’t need to wait until Windows 11 launches to improve your accessibility features. By adding free programs and tweaking Windows 10’s settings, you can replicate many of those new tools today.
What’s new in Windows 11?
As with its predecessor, all of Windows 11’s accessibility tools can be accessed via the Settings app, though they’re now easier to find and use. For a start, they’re in a section called ‘Accessibility’, not ‘Ease of Access’. The icon has changed as well, from that meaningless clock/arrow/ wheelchair thing to the more recognisable ‘human’ accessibility symbol – as seen in the illustration above (it’s almost identical to Apple’s accessibility icon: www.snipca. com/38944).
Menus and settings have also been redesigned, and several tools have been added or improved. The blog singles out four improvements in particular – new sound schemes for blind users, new contrast themes to make apps and content easier to see, redesigned closed-caption themes, and an improved dictation tool called Windows Voice Typing.
Get your own sound schemes
Microsoft’s blog states that Windows 11’s new sound schemes – those system noises that indicate errors, notifications, reminders and more – include “different sounds for more accessible Light and Dark Themes”. We had a dig into our Insider Preview version of Windows 11 and – unless we’re missing something – all this really seems to mean is that the sounds change slightly when you switch between themes.
Other than that, we couldn’t find any new options that might improve accessibility for blind or partially sighted users, though it’s possible the blog is referring to options yet to be added.
Windows 10 users already have the option to tweak their PC’S sound scheme, by using themes or by manually selecting the sounds they want to hear to indicate a particular event. The easiest way to do this is by downloading a theme from Microsoft. These are free and let you customise your desktop by applying a combination of wallpaper images, colours and sounds. Click ‘Start’, Settings, Personalisation, Themes, then click ‘Get more themes in Microsoft Store’.
We couldn’t find any themes aimed specifically at blind or partially sighted users, but some offer a colour and sound scheme that may make Windows easier to use. It’s very much a case of personal taste, but we like Windows Throwback ( www.snipca.com/38942), which has high-contrast themes inspired by the first version of Windows in 1985. We also recommend Mountain Light ( www. snipca.com/38943, pictured below left), containing spectacular 4K photos of 18 mountains from around the world.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to preview the colours or the sounds other than by clicking Get, then Apply once it’s downloaded. Note that some themes don’t alter the sound scheme at all.
To manually change your PC’S sound scheme, click Start, Settings, Personalisation, Themes, then Sounds. Windows 10 comes with two sound schemes – Windows Default and No Sounds – but you can create your own by clicking Save As, typing a name, then changing the sounds for Program Events below.
Click a sound type – Exclamation
( in our screenshot above right), for example, which are sounds played when you try to do something not supported by Windows. Now click the dropdown menu below to select an alternative sound for these 2 . Click ‘Test’ 3 to hear a preview.
You don’t have to stick with Microsoft’s
own selection of sounds. By clicking Browse next to the Test button you can select any sound file from your hard drive, such as those you’ve downloaded from the internet – try Bigsoundbank.com
( https://bigsoundbank.com) for thousands of royalty-free sounds.
Get new contrast themes – and more
Elsewhere in Microsoft’s Accessibility blog post, it mentions “reimagined High Contrast Themes” that include “aesthetically pleasing, customisable colour combinations” to make Windows easier to see. We took a look at these and, sure enough, they offer a big improvement over Windows 10’s high-contrast themes, which look crude in comparison.
The new themes can be found under Settings, Accessibility, then ‘Contrast themes’ for anyone testing the Windows 11 preview. There are four to choose from: Aquatic, Desert, Dusk (pictured below) and Night sky, which all use different combinations of colours to make text, buttons, program windows and other on-screen elements easier to see.
Sadly, Microsoft hasn’t made these high-contrast themes available for Windows 10, so you’re stuck with its existing tools (under Settings, then Personalisation), which are somewhat limited. There are powerful programs, though, that let you change almost any aspect of your computer’s appearance. Our favourite is Winaero Tweaker, which you can download by visiting https:// winaerotweaker.com and clicking the green Download button.
You may see a Microsoft Defender Smartscreen warning when you run the tool, but Winaero Tweaker is safe to install, so click ‘More info’, then ‘Run anyway’. Browse through the options listed under Appearance and Advanced Appearance Settings to see what you can change. You could create your own high-contrast theme by selecting Custom Accents then going to Start, Settings, Personalisation, Colours and choosing up to eight colours.
Winaero’s options go beyond even what Windows 11 offers. Under ‘Icons’, for example, you can change the horizontal and vertical spacing of your icons, and even the font. You can also make scrollbars, window borders and title bars easier to see. In each section, make your customisations, then click ‘Apply changes’ to see the results. If you make a mistake, click ‘Reset this page to defaults’ at the top of each setting, then try again.
Get Windows 11’s new closed-caption themes
Windows 11 comes with redesigned closed-caption themes for deaf and hard-of-hearing users (under Settings, Accessibility, then Captions). It has four new themes to choose from: ‘White on black’, ‘Small caps’ (large lower-case characters), ‘Large text’ and ‘Yellow on blue’. In each case you can click Edit to launch the new customisation tool that lets you refine the colour of the text and background, as well as the size, opacity, font and effects employed for the text.
Windows 10 has similar options (under Settings, ‘Ease of Access’, then ‘Closed captions’), but there are no themes. They’re also harder to tweak because you have to click fiddly dropdown menus. That said, it’s relatively easy to recreate Windows 11 themes in Windows 10.
To get ‘Small caps’, for instance, just click the dropdown menu under ‘Caption style’ and select ‘Small caps’ (see screenshot above), then adjust any of the other settings – background, font and so on – to your liking.
Use a better dictation tool
The final new tool Microsoft mentioned in its blog is Windows Voice Typing, which is a revamped version of the Windows Dictation tool in Windows 10 that lets you enter text with your voice. Make sure your microphone is switched on, then press Windows key+h to launch Voice Typing in the preview version of Windows 11.
Windows 10’s Dictation tool works in more or less the same way (and can be turned on using the same keyboard shortcut). The only thing that’s missing is the clever automated punctuation offered by Windows 11’s equivalent. Other tools offer this, but they’re expensive – Dragon Home ( www.snipca.com/38946), one of the best, costs £180.
Otter ( https://otter.ai), however, has various price plans, including a free tier for individual users that’s missing a few advanced features and is limited to 600 minutes per month. It’s not an exact equivalent of Windows 10’s Dictation tool, because you can’t use it across the operating system (such as in Notepad or search boxes), but you can cut and paste what you’ve dictated into Word documents, Outlook emails and so on.
You’ll need to sign up for a free account, then you can use Otter via its web portal on your desktop – just log in and click Record – or via a mobile app on your Android or IOS device.