How to change web page settings

There are a range of tools available to help make it easier to read web pages. Most web browsers have the option to add additional features, for example the ability to change the colours, adjust text size or have the text read aloud.

One example of this is to download a plugin in to your web browser (Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc). Examples of this include:

AT Bar (any browser)
Chirpy (Chrome)
Chirpy (Firefox)
Select and Speak - Text to Speech (Chrome)
Care your Eyes (Chrome)

If you use a Mac, you can also adjust the settings so that text will be read aloud in Safari.

Adjusting the text size in your browser

You can also adjust the text size in your browser:

Edge

Click on the menu icon.
Go to "Settings" and then "Appearance".
Scroll down to "Fonts" and choose your font size.

Firefox

Click on "Tools" menu.
Scroll down to "Options".
Click on "Content".
Choose text size.

Chrome

Click on spanner icon (top right hand corner).
Adjust "Zoom".

Safari

Click on piece of paper icon (top right hand corner).
Scroll down to "Zoom".
Select "Zoom in" or "Zoom Out".

Advice for visual stress

People with dyslexia/SpLD may experience visual stress as part of their condition, which can look something like the image to the right (see more examples of visual stress).

Coloured backgrounds have been found to reduce this effect. For research, please see the work of:

Professor Stein: Visual reading problems and coloured filters
Professor Wilkins: Colour in the treatment of visual stress

Increasing the font size and using dyslexia-friendly fonts such as Trebuchet, Comic Sans, Arial, Verdana also help, as does having the web page read aloud. You may also like to try Dyslexie, a font specifically designed for people with dyslexia.