Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Pobman Nov 30, 2010 4:31:45	As I mentioned here: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758... I am severely partially sighted and I am having trouble using the new character builder as the font used throughout the program is so small. I have resigned myself to use it at work if I need to, until my subscription runs out or WotC makes it easier for me to use. I was wondering if there were any beta testers of the VT that are visually impaired and could give me their impressions of the VT?
#2 frothsof Nov 30, 2010 15:38:33	i dont have bad eyeseight, but there is a zoom feature to zoom in on maps, as well as some abilty to change font size in some areas
#3 lokiare Nov 30, 2010 17:28:16	I'm socially impaired does that count? so far it looks as though the text is kind of on the small side, so I wouldn't count on it being too friendly...
#4 nelderson Nov 30, 2010 17:40:37	You can manage with the maps..... The character sheet you might have problems with. The text box does have a zoom, but you are better off with the voice chat feature.  The dice roller is going to be your biggest issue......I have trouble picking out which die is what.  However, once you roll it, the screen at the bottom displays in very large text the result (Like 48 font).  The Map zoom will be more than enough for you to see what is going on. I have horrible eyesight without my glasses.....so for the purposes of this I tried to do everything without them (I still have bad eyes with them.....).   Overall....you might need a little time to get used to where everything is, but you should be able to use this with little minor problems. I suggest you sign up for the Beta, they could use input from someone who can't see well.....
#5 Pobman Dec 01, 2010 3:01:29	Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm a bit more hopeful about it than I was before @Nelderson When I complained to Customer services about the Character Builder I suggested making sure there was someone with poor eyesight in the beta. I have signed up for the beta and made sure I can get sent e-mails from WotC, but I never got an invite. I know that there are other people out there with eyesight problems that pay D&D, so hopefully one of them got in.
#6 dimus Dec 01, 2010 3:27:49	But ... if the problem is the small font, why you don't use the Windows Magnifier? (Unless your OS of choice, doesn't have a similar feature).
#7 Pobman Dec 01, 2010 7:05:28	Thanks for the suggestion Dimus. Unfortunately the Windows magnifier is a bit rubbish (even Microsoft acknowledge this, suggesting you may should explore alterntives). I have magnification software at work (which is rather good), but at home I've never needed to as every single program I use has either been OK from the outset or has zoom built in to it. I normally have my PC set at a lower resolution than other people do, so hopefully that will help with the VT.
#8 frothsof Dec 01, 2010 7:14:39	you can magnify the chat text easily, and you can make the maps huge. the rest, the stuff never moves to a different spot so the more you use it the easier it will be
#9 asmodeuslore Dec 01, 2010 12:39:31	Here is a picture of the VT at full zoom.   The chat text is at max size.  Hope this helps give you an idea. Click to enlarge
#10 Pobman Dec 02, 2010 6:46:52	Thanks Asmo. I can read the chat window so that's a good start
#11 Pobman Dec 14, 2010 4:53:31	I got an invite into the VT and have had a brief play around. My eyesight problems means that I mainly have trouble reading text, images aren't so bad. Obviously with the main part of the VT being the map and tokens, these are fine (and can be zoomed in on). A lot of the text I don't seem to have trouble reading, but I guess that is the high contrast and the type of font used. Where there isn't as high contrast (the chat window), the text can be magnified, so I can read that easily. So all in all, this is a lot better for me to use than the online CB.
#12 Dane_McArdy Dec 14, 2010 6:26:11	With the CB, when you resize the window, everything scales. So if you make it full screen and have a good size screen, everything scales up, text included. Have you tried that?
#13 Pobman Dec 14, 2010 7:20:33	Yes it is maximised. No I don't have a very big screen. It was the biggest I could afford 6-7 years ago. I really should invest in a bigger screen to be honest, despite not needing it for other programs it would be nice to have a bigger screen.
#14 frothsof Dec 14, 2010 7:26:20	luckily a lot of it is over the mics, you only really need the chat window for dice rolls
#15 RedSiegfried Dec 16, 2010 11:19:25	Kind of related ... I mentioned in another thread that I'm red/green colorblind and have problems determining the difference between encounter powers and at-wills on the right side.  For my own character I'm familiar with it so it's not a problem but if I put monsters in there I can run into difficulties from not being able to see the difference between the red and green. Other than that I don't have a problem with the small text but I can understand that some people do.
#16 karasua Sep 17, 2011 13:38:14	The newest verion of the character builder is even less supportive of the visually impaired. I bought a large screen laptop so that I can use it instead of textbooks and the gamebooks when I game and this version of the character builder will not zoom out to fill the screen for easy of viewing. Also, the print size on printing the character pages is way too small to read.
#17 old_dog Oct 04, 2011 5:58:29	Print the character sheet to a PDF and use the highlighter function