Advice to the Visually Impaired Users of ToonTalk

Advice to the Visually Impaired Users of ToonTalk

While ToonTalk is a visual (or more accurately an animated) programming language, it can be customized to make it easier for someone who is visually impaired to use it.

In "Free Play" mode that there is a bike pump tool named Pumpy that can be used to make any object bigger. There is a character named Marty who plays the role of a coach and guide. He also provides help and error reporting. If you add "-l 150" to the command line then the size of the letters in his talk balloon will increase by 50%. Or you can set this in "Free Play" by going to the notebook on page 10 of your main ToonTalk notebook and going to page 16.

There is also an option which controls the speed that the talk balloons change. When you start ToonTalk select "Set Options" and answer the question about talk balloons with the choice that makes the balloons stay up until you hit the "PageDown" button.

In "Free Play" you can choose between three houses. Each one has a different color floor and you might find it easier to see things with a contrasting background color.

If you have the CD-ROM version of ToonTalk then you can make Marty speak. Or if you have a text-to-speech engine installed on your machine that complies with Microsoft's Speech API then you can use it in ToonTalk. After starting ToonTalk click on 'Set Options' and one of the later options allows you to choose among installed voices.

It is also possible to change the fonts that ToonTalk uses.

The ToonTalk web pages have this icon and if clicked upon Peedy will read the current page. If the file strings.js in the ToonTalk\Doc\English folder is edited by removing "//" before the command agentStart() then every page will be read without the need for clicking on Peedy.