Free Software Makes Computer Mouse Easier for People with Disabilities From: UW News (WA) - 04/07/2011 By: Catherine O'Donnell University of Washington researchers have developed two software-based mouse cursors designed to make clicking targets easier for users with disabilities. The Pointing Magnifier program combines an area cursor with visual and motor magnification. To acquire a target, the user places a large circular cursor somewhere over the target and clicks. The Pointing Magnifier then enlarges everything under that circular area to fill the screen. The user then clicks with a point cursor inside the enlarged area to acquire the target. The program includes a control panel that enables users to adjust the color, transparency level, magnification factor, and cursor area size. The researchers say that testing demonstrated that Pointing Magnifier users were able to acquire targets 23 percent faster than with conventional software. "It's less expensive to create computer solutions for people who have disabilities if you focus on software rather than specialized hardware, and software is usually easier to procure than hardware," says Washington professor Jacob O. Wobbrock. The researchers also developed Angle Mouse, software that slows the cursor down as it approaches the target. The researchers say that Angle Mouse improved motor-impaired pointing-performance by 10 percent over the Windows default mouse and 11 percent over sticky icons. Read the entire article at: http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/free-software-makes-computer-mouse-easier-for-people-with-disabilities Links: Pointing Magnifier http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/ptgmag/ Angle Mouse http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/angle/ Jacob O. Wobbrock http://faculty.washington.edu/wobbrock/