README.TXT for K/oS Zoomer 2.0 ------------------------------ Zoomer 2.0 replaces version 1.3 This program was created to help people with weak sight. It is Freeware. You are encouraged to distribute it. If you find it useful however, it would make me feel great if you'd drop me a mail to or to my ordinary mail address: Dr. Schadt Gyorgy 7624 Pecs, Kacsoh P. u. 14. HUNGARY Zoomer is part of the freeware collection developed by the K/oS team. You can reach K/oS at: www.kos.org What is Zoomer? --------------- Zoomer is a small program, that when launched opens a small window where it displays the area around the cursor magnified 2 or 4 times. The Zoomer window can be moved, resized or set to occupy the top 1/8th of the screen, as a system toolbar. It also supports two different refresh rates. The contents of the window can also be freezed and copied onto the clipboard. Zoomer was first developed for visually impaired people, but I have received feedback from graphic artists, web page designers and user interface designers that they also find it a great help with their work. Installing Zoomer ----------------- If you got Zoomer in an archive package, you should unpack it first into a temporary directory. Among the files you receive with Zoomer, there is one named ZOOMER.INF. This is an install script that Windows uses to set up your software. To execute the script, you should right-click on the file in Windows Explorer, and choose 'Install' from the popup menu. After the installation is finished, you can delete the files from the temp directory. * Note If the path to the temp directory you have unpacked Zoomer files to contains long filenames, Windows Setup will prompt you for the location of Zoomer files. Just click Browse and select the directory. This is not our fault, it seems like the Windows Setup API fails to handle long filenames correctly (no comment). Usage ----- The program runs on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. To exit Zoomer, right-click on the Zoomer window, and select Exit. * Moving the Zoomer window Left-click and drag the window to reposition it. * Resizing the Zoomer window Resize the window by dragging it's border (like any Windows window) * Menu Functions Right-click the window to access the menu. You can also activate the menu by clicking on the small Zoomer icon that appears in the taskbar tray. - Hide/Show : Hides or shows the Zoomer window - 2X Zoom/4X Zoom : select 2 or 4 times magnification - Cursor Indicator : select the type of the preferred cursor position indicator (None, Crosshair, XORing Crosshair, Zero Sight or Arrow) - Always on Top : toggle whether the Zoomer window stays always above other windows. - Toolbar mode : toggle system toolbar mode / window mode - High Sample Rate : the Zoomer window is refreshed more frequently - this results in a smoother display at a cost of using more processor time. - Update Always : toggles whether the Zoomer window is updated only when the mouse cursor moves, or always. - Enable Hotkeys : Enables or disables the freeze and copy keys. You might want to disable the hotkeys if they are interfering with another application. - Help : On-line help (also accessable by pressing the F1 key when the Zoomer window is active). - About Zoomer : displays the About Box - Exit : Exits from Zoomer. Zoomer saves the state of it's window and your menu settings, and restores them at next startup. * Tray Action Zoomer displays a small icon of a magnifying lens in the system tray (the place where the clock is displayed). The icon indicates whether the Zoomer window is hidden (grayed icon) or displayed (color icon). You can hide/unhide the Zoomer window by double-clicking the icon. You can also access the Zoomer menu by left-clicking or right-clicking on the icon. Left-clicking also brings the Zoomer window to the front if it is not in the "Always on Top" mode. * Zoomer Hot Keys If you enable them in the menu there will be two hotkeys available: - ALT+F11 copies the contents of the Zoomer window to the clipboard - ALT+F12 freezes/unfreezes the Zoomer window * Loading Zoomer at Startup You can have Zoomer loaded up at system startup by creating a shortcut to Zoomer.exe, and placing it into your StartUp folder. If you set the shortcut to start Zoomer minimized, Zoomer will be started with it's window hidden. Notes ----- 1. Zoomer currently does not handle changes in screen resolution. You will have to restart it if you change the resolution. 2. When using Zoomer with custom pointers (like those fancy 3D pointers that come with the Plus! package), the cursor blinks at each update. This is not particularly disturbing unless the program is in the 'Update Allways' mode. I believe that this problem arises from the way Windows handles multi-color cursors, so the only thing I can recommend is to change back to the normal system cursor. 3. Zoomer may not display colors properly in 256 color display modes. Changes from Previous Releases ------------------------------ 1.1 The first publicly released version 1.2 Added an indicator for the current cursor position. This change was recommended by Mike Added 'Update Always' function 1.3 Added two new indicator types. Corrected spelling errors in the menu and in this document (Thanx for Jack for pointing these out). 2.0 Added saving/restoring settings, tray action, freeze and copy keys. Added On-line help (by TeX HeX). Zoomer became part of K/oS freeware collection. Disclaimer ---------- Zoomer is provided as is. I will not take any responsibilities even if it manages to wipe out Life as We Know It. Gyorgy Schadt MCSD Author