Microsoft’s Ability Summit this week highlighted how the corporate is incorporating accessibility into the design of Windows 11, Microsoft Edge, and particularly its incredible peripherals, however the query must be requested, but once more: Could Microsoft do extra to make Windows 11’s Start menu and taskbar extra accessible to ageing customers?

I’m fortunate sufficient to be completely cellular, with the flexibility to make use of a mouse, keyboard, and Xbox controller with none extra help. But I’m additionally one among most likely thousands and thousands of customers whose imaginative and prescient is slowly getting worse over time. That, after all, is nothing new, and we have now glasses and corrective lenses to compensate.

But my imaginative and prescient disintegrated in the course of the pandemic, as I used to be cooped up indoors and didn’t have as many alternatives to drive, take journeys, and in any other case have interaction my distance imaginative and prescient. My youngest son, who endured two years of distant studying, skilled the identical factor. And nonetheless you view what occurred over the previous few years, it’s apparent that these customers who started computing when Windows 1.0 launched in 1985 are getting older.

This issues. The means to make use of a pc is basically predicated upon the flexibility to see. Studies have linked poor visual function to depression and social isolation merely due to an incapability to work together with the world round them. And whereas Windows supplies assistive applied sciences for individuals who have extreme imaginative and prescient impairment — Narrator, Windows’ built-in display reader — there actually is a center floor for individuals who can see properly sufficient to make use of a pc however have hassle navigating by means of numerous menus.

Could Windows 11 accommodate this, with bigger icons and a resizable Start menu and taskbar? And might Microsoft do a greater job with its upcoming Start folders on this regard? I feel Microsoft might, and its reluctance to interact on the problem is a bit puzzling.

In a second, we’ll speak about what you can do to compensate for Microsoft’s determination, and assist make these components of Windows 11 extra accessible. But I’m undecided if Microsoft merely intends so that you can depend on these strategies or in the event that they plan additional enhancements for Windows 11. I’ve addressed inquiries to Jenny Lay-Flurrie, chief accessibility officer at Microsoft — once on social media, as soon as at Microsoft’s accessibility press occasion — and obtained no response.

Windows 11’s Taskbar: Difficult to parse

Windows 11’s taskbar throws up three obstacles in the way in which of accessibility: The taskbar itself just isn’t moveable or resizeable, the icons will not be capable of be independently enlarged, and taskbar buttons are all the time mixed. Windows 10 lets you alter the primary and third components. Not combining taskbar buttons permits somebody to create a big taskbar touchdown space whose operate is clearly defined, as it’s in Windows 10.

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Weirdly, Windows 10’s Settings menu (right-click the taskbar to entry it) lets you make the icons smaller, not bigger, which might additionally appear to be a problem for older customers. But Windows 11 merely doesn’t supply the pliability of Windows 10 when it comes to configuring the Start menu.

By now, you’re most likely conversant in the restrictions of Windows 11’s Start menu: your complete window can’t be resized, its icons measurement can’t be adjusted, and the dearth of Live Tiles additionally restricts the scale of the icons. In Windows 10, you possibly can enlarge the Start menu icons to comparatively monumental measurement, not solely making them simple to learn and navigate to, but in addition permitting you to visually remind your self which functions are an important, what they’re known as, and the place they dwell. (Though this may appear foolish to you, consider the difficulties some older members of the family can have with navigating a pc.)

Microsoft

One useful organizational software that Microsoft included in Windows 10 had been Start folders, which grouped associated functions collectively. Those had been neglected of Windows 11, however we’ve already been ready to try them and take a look at them out as a part of the Windows 11 Insider program.

In each Windows 10 and Windows 11, Start folders truly shrink the scale of the icons they include, making them much less seen. I’ve by no means understood this determination. At least each working techniques create popout menus housing bigger variations of the identical icons if you click on upon them.

Mark Hachman / IDG

If Microsoft isn’t going to return to Live Tiles, that’s effective. But why can’t Microsoft supply a resizeable Windows 11 Start menu that may be enlarged if wanted? The choice for bigger, individually resizeable icons? Start menu folders that may also be resized and rearranged? A taskbar that may be adjusted to broaden and fill the obtainable house with tiled icons?

This shouldn’t be the area of a third-party mod like Start11 and even Microsoft’s excellent PowerToys. I’d argue that these will not be aesthetic decisions, however practical ones. Accessible ones. Limiting accessibility on the literal Start-ing level of the Windows 11 expertise ought to be a bit embarrassing for all involved.

Workarounds: What you are able to do within the meantime

Whether Microsoft chooses to take motion or not, you do have just a few choices for making Windows extra visually accessible utilizing its built-in instruments.

Resize desktop icons

First, you possibly can resize the icons floating in your desktop. (No, this does not have an effect on the icons in your taskbar or the Start menu. Why not?)

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Simply right-click your desktop and navigate to View on the drop-down menu. You’ll then have a alternative to pick between Large, Medium, and Small icons, and you’ll decide what works for you.

DPI Scaling

The subsequent choice is what’s referred to as DPI Scaling, or simply Scale. The choice might be discovered throughout the Windows 11 Settings menu. (System > Display > Scale) Here, you’ll discover a drop-down menu with quite a lot of percentages to select from, in addition to a “recommended” setting.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Scale is a “universal” management that can resize all the pieces: textual content, UI components, browser home windows, Start, the Taskbar — the works. It’s a simple method to enlarge the entire visible components in your display — and, to be truthful, could characterize what Microsoft thinks to be essentially the most universally accessible method of accelerating the visibility of the Windows UI. It nonetheless doesn’t handle the flexibility to resize or alter Start, but it surely will make these Windows components extra seen.

The solely trick that Scale hides is that it’s controllable on a per-display foundation. So when you kind on a laptop computer display but in addition use a secondary monitor as your major show, ensure to regulate each the way in which you’d like them. It could very properly be that you just’ll have two unbiased settings for each shows.

Use Magnifier

The third choice is Magnifier, which can be utilized as a literal digital magnifying glass. Magnifier might be managed by way of the Windows 11 Settings menu (Accessibility > Magnifier) and might be toggled on by typing WIN + + (aka tapping the “Windows” and the “plus” key concurrently) and turned off by WIN + ESC. Note that the Settings menu controls how “strong” the Magnifier is, so it’s possible you’ll need to “turn it up” by rising the share. Magnifier may also be utilized in a full-screen mode or as a “lens,” which to me appeared somewhat helpful.

When in Magnifier mode, your cursor interacts with the display as traditional, so you possibly can left- and right-click on numerous visible components.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Of course, you may as well use Windows’ personal means to learn and navigate by voice, both within Word or via Windows Narrator. I wouldn’t advocate utilizing Narrator when you can already visually navigate round Windows, because it tends to get in the way in which. If you might have problem seeing, nonetheless, it may be invaluable.

Again, you will have no hassle studying your show, and navigating Windows. It’s truthful to say, nonetheless, {that a} sizeable share of customers who grew up on Windows could also be having hassle with Windows 11. The built-in accessibility instruments inside Windows could also be a great first step, however Microsoft’s Ability Summit also needs to be an event to re-examine what’s improper with Windows 11.