Web Magnifiers Bring Relief for Tired Eyes

Maybe you didn't see the time stamp on this posting?  It's midnight in NY. I've been at it since sunrise (with a few breaks while life got in the way) and my eyes feel it.

At dinner with a fellow boomer I mentioned eyestrain in my litany of not being 25 years old anymore. He told me about a new web site, Big.com. Big is just, what the name implies, a search engine that makes your web browsing experience BIG. You can use Big.com as a search engine or download the Big.com toolbar  It works with Internet Explorer web browsers, allowing you to search and then click on a single button to select from large and extra large magnification levels for viewing web pages.

Big.com is one way to go. Another easy way to magnify your web pages is part of  Internet Explorer. Just go to View,Text Size and select from a variety of type sizes.

In a press release, Big.com's CEO reports that according to the American Council of the Blind, nearly 8 million Americans are unable to read regular print even with reading glasses, and the number is expected to grow as the population ages. And even if you can read the web just fine most of the time, a late night of research, type-heavy documents and other fine-print on the web makes for serious strain.  It's easy to toggle Big off and on so you can use it when you need it.

Big, and other screen magnifiers, won't do much for you on sites that use things other than HTML, like flash animation, and it can get confused about graphics heavy pages, too. Plus, there's a delay while Big springs to action to modify the page, so, it's not optimal for everyone all of the time.

But if you've ever stared at a web page and wished you could just see it a little bigger, Big might be the ticket.