Mate screen zoom (accessibilty)??

[Aaardvark]

I'm helping out a family member who is legally blind and needs a full screen zoom feature (similar to MacOS, xfce, KDE and even Win11) and wants to use Mint w/ Mate. I've done numerous web searches and poked through every setting I could think of and I don't see any way to enable or activate this ability. I've checked on the "enable assistive technologies" under Preferences -> personal and logged out/in. Under Hardware -> keyboard shortcuts I see there's a "Toggle magnifier" option under "Accessibility" with a value of "Alt-Mod4+M". This does not appear to do anything. I know accessibilty is generally a distant afterthought, but I was wondering if I'm missing something.

Edit: Clean install Mint 21 Mate with all packages up to date.

[billyswong]

It may be a overwhelm but the "Magnifier" and "Enhanced Zoom Desktop" in Compiz work well for me. They are highly customisable and can be tailored for any personal need.

It's been a long time since I installed it. So I am less sure the installation procedure now. You may need to select "compiz" and "compizconfig-settings-manager" separately to finish the install. After installation, enable Compiz in Look and Feel > Desktop Settings > Windows > Window Manager

Afterwards, you will get a lot of accessibility options to try with in CompizConfig. "Magnifier" zoom the area around the mouse cursor while "Enhanced Zoom Desktop" zoom in the whole screen. Which key/mouse combinations to use are also to be set there.

There may be another set of magnifier setting for the default Marco window manager, but that's outside my knowledge and experience so I can't help here.

[Aaardvark]

Thanks for the idea. I was hoping to not muck around with the window manager and compositor but rather to get something working with Mate directly. I will consider giving that a try if we don't find a solution less invasive to the default configuration.

[rickNS]

Well it seems that the "native" Magnifier found in keyboard shortcuts, just don't work ? I can't say for sure I only have Mint 21 in a virtual machine, where it does not work.

So, like the above poster I use, and have used for a very long time Compiz > Enhanced Zoom Desktop.

It is enabled by default in Mint 21 Compiz, but there are no assigned key combo for zoom in/zoom out. I choose Ctrl + up/down arrow for zoom in/out.

One word of caution on the mouse behaviour tab be sure to uncheck the "Hide original Mouse Pointer"

And here is a Video of what it looks like when in use, from about :30 to :35.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObSY6ZDIp3Y

[rickNS]

I was wondering if I'm missing something.

Question; What size screen, and what resolution are you using ?

If you are opposed to the Compiz option. There are a couple of things you can do to help.
Like possibly lowering the resolution (depending on what it is now),
You can also try increasing the DPI, it does help make everything bigger. Appearance > Fonts > Details > +/- buttons

[billyswong]

If you are opposed to the Compiz option. There are a couple of things you can do to help.
Like possibly lowering the resolution (depending on what it is now),
You can also try increasing the DPI, it does help make everything bigger. Appearance > Fonts > Details > +/- buttons

The DPI there is usually for fine tuning font size. Since the user is "legally blind", that may not be a good method if the user need to zoom in maybe 5 to 10 times the normal size. There will be not enough screen space for interfaces of various GUI applications. If the monitor is 1440p or above, @Aaardark may try the Desktop Settings > Windows > User interface scaling: "Double (HiDPI)" there. It will reduce the zoom level required later on. Lowering resolution is generally not recommended for LCD monitors.

[billyswong]

Thanks for the idea. I was hoping to not muck around with the window manager and compositor but rather to get something working with Mate directly. I will consider giving that a try if we don't find a solution less invasive to the default configuration.

Another search show me a ticket in https://github.com/mate-desktop/marco/issues/549. Mate Desktop don't have native desktop zoom. You can skip the wait and just go with Compiz.

[Aaardvark]

I was wondering if I'm missing something.

Question; What size screen, and what resolution are you using ?

If you are opposed to the Compiz option. There are a couple of things you can do to help.
Like possibly lowering the resolution (depending on what it is now),
You can also try increasing the DPI, it does help make everything bigger. Appearance > Fonts > Details > +/- buttons

I'm not opposed to the Compiz option, but was hoping for something that was intended to be part of the MATE desktop environment like every other desktop environment he has used. With many people who are legally blind, simply scaling the fonts is nowhere near sufficient. The lower threshold for screen zoom for this person to be able to use a computer at all is 5-600%. We'll be looking at Compiz since it seems that is the best option at this point. Thank you for your suggestions.

[Aaardvark]

Thanks for the idea. I was hoping to not muck around with the window manager and compositor but rather to get something working with Mate directly. I will consider giving that a try if we don't find a solution less invasive to the default configuration.

Another search show me a ticket in https://github.com/mate-desktop/marco/issues/549. Mate Desktop don't have native desktop zoom. You can skip the wait and just go with Compiz.

Thanks for pointing out this ticket. I had missed that in my earlier searches.